Community Development Officer, Mike Smith, delivered a presentation on the work the Foundation does in the local community, which included a speech from Dave Broxton from sponsor's, Bohle Ltd. Following that, Sue O'Brien, from The National League Trust gave an in-depth presentation on what the Trust does nationally and how it is funded.

Delegates then took to the stand to watch a demonstration of walking football, followed by a group photo, with a Q&A session to finish with. All in all a very successful morning!

Delegates included representatives from Greater Manchester Police, Tameside MBC, The Prince's Trust, Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service, Bohle Ltd, West Hill School, Its Not Okay Tameside, People First Tameside, Celtic Juniors, Stalybridge Celtic FC, The Believe and Achieve Trust, New Charter Housing, Works 4U, Stalybridge Correspondent, Tameside Reporter, The Community Scheme, Tameside College, Brother UK, Active Tameside, Back the Bridge, LocalCommunity Matters, The Non League Mag amongst others.

After the presentations, the Foundation was presented with a cheque for £40,000 from The National League Trust. This is for a two year period, which was awarded in March 2017 and runs until February 2019. 

Photo - (from L to R) Derek Drabble (Vintage Celtic), Gerald Crossley (Trustee), Sue O'Brien (The National League Trust), Mike Smith (Community Development Officer), Mary Gibbons (Trustee) and Brian Coll (Trustee). 

Mike Smith commented 'It was great to see so many people attend the launch of the Foundation, we are looking forward to working with them going forward as a charity. Gaining charitable status is a great achievement and will enable us to apply for pots of funding outside of the football family, giving us the opportunity to deliver more community based projects to a wider audience, the future looks good!'

For more information on the Foundation visit our website www.stalybridgecelticfoundation.uk