Hot on the heels of the Walsall FC Foundation’s Summer programme the Holiday & Play Scheme, supported by RayGray Snacks, returns to the Poundland Bescot Stadium for October Half Term.
The project offers free Soccer School places to children in Walsall and October will see us give away 120 day places across the 4 days of the holiday.
Working closely with partners at Walsall Council, the Foundation is linking up with ‘Foster For Walsall’ to make sure that free soccer school days are given out across their Fostering network.
Each day, 30 children will head to the stadium from 9am to 3pm across the Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of the school break.
RayGray Snacks have shown their support for the local community by kindly subsidising places for a 12 month period of school holidays, with over 8000 child care hours gifted to the community.
Extra to this, and thanks to RayGray, some lucky winners will also join the Foundation for the Walsall v Crewe game on November 9, experiencing match day hospitality and watching the game from an Executive Box.
Head of Walsall FC Foundation, Adam Davy, said: “Working with RayGray to offer free childcare to deserving families is exactly the type of partnership and project we should be able to offer residents in Walsall.
“Holiday courses cost an average of £108 per week in the West Midlands and we have been able to offer this provision for free thanks to Graham and the team at RayGray.”
Graham Jebb, Managing Director of RayGray Snacks, added: “I am local to the area and grew up in Walsall, so I know how tough the cost of living is for families.
“I am delighted to support this programme to offer free places to families and help them with their childcare arrangements. We’ve seen some amazing results and I can’t wait to see the project grow over the next four school holidays – it’s a pleasure to be involved.”
The Holiday & Play project brought Walsall FC and Foster For Walsall together for the first time in 2024.
The partnership has also allowed the Foundation to offer some foster fathers a ‘Dad’s Day Out’ at our recent game against Fleetwood, where a group of dads had the chance to network and share stories to forge closer links.
Foster For Walsall will also gift 3 Community Mascot packages to some lucky children this season
Emma Suddle is a Senior Specialist Supervising Social Worker for Walsall Council. She said: “This year we have been able to build a new relationship with Walsall FC and the Foundation, and the support they have offered has really blown us away.
“The holiday places will be a vital provision for many of the families in our fostering network. It has also allowed us to make people more aware of the Foster For Walsall offer and maybe consider becoming a foster family.
“Thank you to RayGray Snacks and Walsall FC for making this possible.”
Adam Davy added: “We’re delighted to work with Foster For Walsall and it will be great to see the smiles on faces at the October Soccer Schools.
“We will take great satisfaction from offering the hospitality visit in November and the Community Mascot places to the fostering network across the Borough, it was amazing to support the ‘Dad’s Day Out’ and we have plans for a family day in early 2025 too.”
Walsall FC Soccer Schools will be running through October Half Term, at the Bescot Stadium, on Monday 28, Tues 29 October and Thursday 31 October and Friday 1 November. All course days are from 9am to 3pm. To book please contact courtney.haynes@walsallfc.co.uk.
To find out more about our friends at RayGray Snacks, please visit https://raygraysnacks.co.uk/
For more information on fostering in Walsall and how you can help, please visit: https://go.walsall.gov.uk/fostering
