Charlton Community Trust form an alliance with Catch 22

Football and other sports frequently get a bad press. Players greed, morals and commitment questioned,  The truth is professional clubs and players put a lot back into the community, never reported because it is deemed not news worthy. Every club will have a designated charity, that all the players and staff will fully support, as well as other more personal projects.  As an example we would like to share the following, taking in full from the Charlton Athletic website by Tony Hudd.

The Charlton Community Trust has formed an alliance with Catch 22, the national children's charity, and also received an award from Canterbury Christchurch University.

Catch 22 supports young people who are disadvantaged, in care or have emotional or educational needs.

The trust's Kent manager, Alan Dennington, explained: "We shall be working together on initiatives around education support, while mounting joint bids for funding from government initiatives.

"We also intend working together to secure European social funding. Together we can draw down funding for short courses to assist those bridging the gap between compulsory and further education and employment.

"To sum up, we're an alliance of two like-minded organisations which will become stronger by working together to help the needs of disadvantaged people."

Meanwhile, the trust has received a quality in study support award after Canterbury Christchurch University monitored the delivery of Football Association Level One coaching courses as part of Bexley Council's summer university programme.

Among the trust staff involved in the project were Barry Simmons, Mikey Cole and Nicky Potts.

Trust football development manager Sean Daly said: "Every Easter and summer we run FA Level One courses for 16 to 19-year-olds.

"The idea is to get young people doing activities while gaining qualifications. Christchurch came to evaluate our courses and to see if the youngsters involved would be employable, and we're delighted they've honoured us with an award."