salford royal hospital

Players from an Eccles football club have kick-started a Coronavirus fundraiser for Salford Royal staff by doing keepy uppies in their back gardens.

Winton Wanderers FC have brought in £1,042 to support the NHS staff during the pandemic.

On Saturday at 3pm players and coaches did as many sponsored keepy uppies as they could in their gardens.

Club secretary Rob Wilson said it felt “fantastic” to hit their fundraising goal.

Mr Wilson said: “We just wanted to do something to show our support for the NHS and raise a bit of money for them really.

“They’re the ones saving everyone’s life at the moment aren’t they, it’s as simple as that. They’re on the frontline and we just wanted to show our support and help in any way we can.”

They were inspired to raise money when they heard about Salford Royal Hospital not having enough Personal Protective Equipment to keep them safe at work.

Mr Wilson hopes the hospital spend the money on this vital PPE and “anything they want to spend it on” to help tackle Covid-19.

Image credit: Rob Wilson

Many kids from their teams ranging from four-year-olds to 16-year-olds were involved in the challenge.

Mr Wilson said: “We wanted everybody to get involved.

“We just said do as many as you can, whether it is five, 50 or 500.”

Winton Wanderers FC, like all football clubs are unable to continue practices due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On how the club are adapting to lockdown, Mr Wilson said: “We’ve been putting little things on the WhatsApp groups to make sure the kids are as entertained as they can be.

“They have few little drills for them to do in the garden, nothing too heavy but it’s just to try to keep everyone involved”

Winton Wanderers‘ fundraising page will be running until the weekend so there is still time to donate here.

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