This is the main page for sponsoring all the 28 riders going from Peterborough United FC's London Road ground to Brussels in Belgium in 4 long gruelling days in May 2013.

 

At Free Kicks Foundation we raise money to give deserving children (and sometimes adults) days out at football. In 2012, we will celebrate five years since our launch. The idea came about during the 2006 World Cup from a friend of mine, Leigh Porter, who had worked for Sue Ryder but at the time was working for Peterborough United. The idea grew and grew from that day and we launched with a fundraising gig and what is now our annual five-a-side tournament in May 2007.

After much paperwork and red tape we became a registered charity in October that year, after having our first Kicks, as we call them, in August at the pre-season friendly between Posh and Manchester United. Free Kicks is run by myself and my friend Sam around our full time jobs and family commitments. I run the fundraising and administration side, while Sam organises all the Kicks, liaising with hospitals, families and clubs.

Since we started, we have taken nearly 140 deserving children and young adults to matches all over the country. The majority of children we give Kicks to go along to the matches as mascots. This generally involves a tour of the ground, a new kit, visiting the players in the dressing rooms, a kickabout on the pitch and, of course, leading the team out ahead of kickoff.

Most of our Kicks are at Peterborough United matches as this is our team. We do many Kicks at London Road but also at away games, where we treat local children to the experience. Locally the children are nominated by either Peterborough City Hospital, Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge or the East Anglian Children’s Hospice, also in Cambridge. For Posh away games we contact local hospitals, hospices or charities and ask them to nominate a fan of the home team for the treat. We also have some Kicks at matches away from Posh, recently at Tottenham, Watford and our first Scottish kick at Glasgow Rangers.

So please help us raise as much as we can, each rider will have their own individual pages but here you can show support to everyone with a donation that goes along way to helping change lives of many young children.

 

Regards

 

Steve Thorpe

Free Kicks Foundation