Bereaved friends launch hospice football fundraiser

"It was quite lovely to know how much of a family club they really are."

Sam Rogers' dad Duncan was receiving end-of-life care from Thames Hospice when Reading FC captain Lewis Wing came to visit.

His dad was bedbound for two months, and Lewis spent 45 minutes chatting with him at his bedside.

Grateful for what the facility in Maidenhead had done, Sam and his friend Jack Jarvis, from Winkfield, have decided to hold a fundraising event that involves a 90-minute charity football match on Sunday.

Thames Hospice FC is a team of people who lost family members who received care there and will be playing against a side comprising of friends and family.

Taking place at Binfield FC's ground on Sunday, there will also be live music, stalls, a craft station for children and massages available.

Entry fees are going towards fundraising for the hospice, and Sam and Jack have so far raised £2,235 on their JustGiving page and are hoping to reach £39,000.

Stephanie Peters, head of marketing and communications at Thames Hospice, said that to "see Sam and Jack now bringing people together through football, friendship and fundraising is incredibly special".

She added: "There is something really powerful about a group of men coming together, having a shared purpose and creating a space where they can talk openly, support one another and remember the people they have lost."

Jack lost his mum and dad 28 days apart and they were both cared for at Thames Hospice.

He recalled having to juggle being in the hospice while his mother was in the hospital and the support he received.

Looking ahead to the fundraising event, Sam said creating a football team of men whose relatives received care from Thames Hospice before they died had become "almost bigger than raising X amount of money".

It has allowed them to "create a little community", he said, with the group becoming a "safe space where everyone knows what each other has been through".

The collaboration between Thames Hospice and Reading FC meant Sam's dad was able to watch matches via a streaming service.

He also watched a match from a hospitality suite in November last year. This proved to be the last game he attended before his death in January.

Fundraising and commercial partnerships are increasingly important for Thames Hospice, which needs £44,000 a day to provide its services and recently earned additional income by hosting filming for the hit series Ted Lasso.