Chandlers Ford based St Francis YFC is a fortunate football club, being supported very well by players and parents and also our sponsor Metabo Power Tools. It is therefore extremely rewarding that we have been able to assist fellow footballers less well off than ourselves in Gambia.

Val French (grandmother to one of our footballers) kindly offered to take our old strips to schools in Gambia during a recent holiday, she was assisted by her daughter who works for ‘The Gambia experience’ and Monarch Airlines who allowed Val to take the excess baggage, 4 complete strips, at no extra charge.

The delivery of the strips was a major event at the schools with all the children coming out to greet Val and the new strips. The picture tells the story, the pride in which these boys and girls are wearing these kits is extremely heart warming. 

St Francis Chairman, Adrian Harris, commented: “Too often our own teams take the arrival of new strips as a matter of course, it is really touching to see and hear that our very small contribution makes such a difference to the daily lives of others less off”.  Adrian continued: “I dearly hope we are able to do this again in the future, and I personally thank Val and Paul French for their efforts, and of course our Sponsors Metabo Power Tools who afford us the position of making this type of donation."