On Saturday 17th July, the family and friends of Andrew Firth celebrated his life by the way of a football tournament held at The Beaumont Landscapes Football Stadium at Newton Aycliffe Sports Club, Moore Lane. The tournament consisted of 4 teams – Newton Aycliffe Sports Club FC (who Andrew played for), The Iron Horse, Cobblers Over 40s and a team made up of Andrews family and friends.
As the sun beat down on Moore Lane, the tournament started with a minutes applause for Andrew with his dad Peter then kicking off the tournament for his sons Family and Friends team who went on to beat the Sports Club in a well fought out game. The 2nd game was slightly marred when one of the over 40s players sustained an injury causing the game to be halted, with The Iron Horse 2 goals up. With no way of continuing, it was decided to conclude the tournament with a penalty shootout, with Firthy’s Family and Friends winning the cup in what was a ‘meant to be’ result for the day.
The family and organisers would like to take the chance to thank the sponsors and all people who donated some wonderful raffle prizes and came along and supported the day. C Harrison Joinery sponsored the tournament, and the teams were sponsored by Mikes Fish Bar (Newton Aycliffe Sports Club), Andrew Turner Inventions (Iron Horse FC), Unity Groundworks (Cobblers over 40s) and Hair We Go (Firthy’s Family and Friends). AK Sports Therapy sponsored the Player of the Tournament (which was won by Stephen Richardson) and The Golden Boot for Top Goal Scorer was sponsored by Unity Groundworks and was won by Gavin Wilson.
A special thanks to referee Rob Chambers who stepped in to support at the last minute and also photographer Karen Harland, who spent the whole day with us, taking so many photographs that the family will cherish. A special thanks also to Newton Press for printing matchday programmes for us. There are far too many to thank for the donations, but special thanks to Darlington FC, The County, Redworth Hall, Spice Lounge (Bishop Auckland), Hammer and Pincers, Aviator Gin Bar, The Countryman, Newton Aycliffe FC, The Civic Hall (Shildon) and so many others who offered prizes for the raffle to help raise funds for the day.
The family have chosen 3 charities to support and will be looking to make the donations shortly and we will let everyone know the final amount raised and the charities chosen in coming weeks.
The day was a resounding success and saw the whole community come together and support each other for worthy causes and for a young man, taken too soon, who we promise will never be forgotten.