Greggs staff complete a 24 hour football match and raise over £10,000 for Children in Need.
24 brave volunteers from Greggs Head Office took on the challenge to play football through the night, with the matching kicking off at 3.00pm on Thursday 15th November.
Former Newcastle United star Shola Ameobi brought events to a close by blowing the final whistle at 3.00pm the next day.
The game was a seven aside match with Team Pudsey taking on Team Blush. With players taking shifts throughout the 24 hours – with some players racking up over 15 hours of playing time
Tired legs were supported by Achilles Physio who also had volunteers working through the night to provide support for players.
On the Thursday evening a separate fundraising event, Pudsey’s Bonkers Bingo had been hosted in the Neon Building and saw around 100 staff members take part in a Bingo game with a difference,
Prizes ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous with a carbon monoxide detector, a cardboard cut out of Tom Hardy and some cat bum fridge magnets amongst the prizes up for with a slightly more appealing prize of an I Pad taking top spot.
The events eight games were split into three themes – 90’s/ 00s pop, a Christmas round and then a good old fashioned rave – the atmosphere topped off with lighting and visual equipment provided by the very generous JC Events.
DJ Garry Wigham from GNG Entertainment was on hand with musical support kept the classic cheesy tunes rocking throughout the evening.
The Friday day time of the event saw a Fan Zone erected around the sports courts for well wishers to come and cheer the guys on. In order to give some tired legs a break, a number of guest slots were filled with volunteers from across the park – Directors from onsite tenants Greggs, TDR Training, Bodycare Clinics, Balfour Beatty and NCFE all took part in the event along with other volunteers from The Hub, TSG, Gleeds and Connect also taking part.
St Oswald’s Hospice came along for the ladies guest slot at 10.00am and brought Elmer the Elephant along to join in the fun.
The ladies hour was in honour of one of the footballers Tanya who took place in the 24 hour game.
The Fan Zone ran from 11.30-3.30 and saw food vendors Acropolis Greek Street Food, Shantytown Creole BBQ and Deli Churros all serving tasty delights to keep fans sated while watching the game unfold.
The event was organised by a group of volunteers from Greggs, Aaron Wright, John Wainwright, Wayne Elliot and Arthur Wilson – the boys not only planned and organised the event, waited tables at the bingo and sourced all the raffle prizes, they also played the 24 hour football too!
The final total raised on the night was an AMAZING £10,108.47 – well done guys! 🙂
We’d like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who got involved in the event, including all our footballers and guest slots, The ladies from the Greggs Foundation, Shola Ameobi, Jon Micheal Samuels, JC Events , Achilles Physio, Acropolis Greek Street Food, Shantytown BBQ, Deli Churros, Lookers Newcastle, Newcastle Falcons, St Oswald’s Hospice and Benton Dog and Cat Shelter.
http://www.jc-events.co.uk/
https://www.gngentertainment.org/
https://www.facebook.com/missdixieswallows/
https://www.stoswaldsuk.org/elmer/
http://www.achillesphysio.co.uk/