Bolton Wanderers are delighted to announce that this Saturday’s game against Watford at the Reebok Stadium has been designated as the club’s official community fixture for the 2013/14 season in partnership with Bolton at Home.
In the run up to kick off, the Bolton Wanderers Community Trust will be offering a variety of activities and initiatives to support the fixture with the Trust’s Street Stadia set to be erected outside Bolton Central prior to kick off.
Alongside this, the players will also be warming up in Bolton at Home t-shirts which will be signed and auctioned off to raise money for local charities, while a number of volunteers will be situated around the stadium itself to run a bucket collection in aid of Winston’s Wish.
A partnership which was formalised after years of working alongside each other in the Bolton community, the ultimate goal is to encourage hundreds of teenagers from across the town to get involved in positive activities including sport, education and work readiness.
This formalisation has seen Bolton at Home invest £20,000 in the Community Trust as a whole, with £15,000 being designated to the highly esteemed Premier League Kicks scheme.
Open to both boys and girls of all abilities who are aged between 14 and 19, the youngsters will also get the chance to take part in a range of qualifications and volunteering opportunities.
The project itself, which was launched last August, has since seen sessions held at Castle Hill, Harper Green Leisure Centre and the John Holt Centre in Washacre.
Jon Lord, Chief Executive of Bolton at Home, revealed his excitement ahead of Saturday’s fixture, going on to explain the importance of the charity’s relationship with the club.
“We’re very pleased to be in partnership with Bolton Wanderers Community Trust,” he said.
“We have big plans in place for what we can do in the community together, many of which are already happening across Bolton.
“This Saturday’s match will provide us with an excellent opportunity to profile exactly what has been happening so far and help to cement the partnership even further.
“There will be plenty on offer – from the Hoot Credit Union to the pop-up Street Stadia, there will be a lot of events going on around the ground and also it will be great to see a lot of our tenants attending courtesy of the concessionary tickets provided to us."
Ben Laycock, Head of Strategy and Development for Cohesion within the Community Trust echoed Jon’s sentiments, saying, “We are extremely pleased to be working alongside Bolton at Home – it is a charity which has similar targets to ourselves, and one we that we hope we can cement a long term relationship with.
“The partnership has allowed us to not only work with Bolton at Home residents, but also to offer a variety of opportunities to the young people involved which they may not have had the chance to experience otherwise.”