JERRY'S COMMUNITY GOSS
Hello, and welcome to a brand new feature on canaries.co.uk called Jerry's Community Goss.
This blog will feature my good self giving an account of how Norwich City are operating to ensure that the Club works with and for the community, promoting issues of mutual interest with both passion and pride to ultimately make a positive difference to people's lives.
The first thing I would like to say is that it's an absolute honour to have been appointed the new NCFC Community Ambassador and I will do my best to represent and promote the Club with the dedication and enthusiasm required.
So, what's it all about? What do I do and how can I make a difference? Well hopefully I can answer those questions within this blog. Lots to report and talk about, plenty of stories and pics from various events and engagements and plenty of news from the Club's delivery partners who are credited for entertaining over 70,000 fans in community projects.
Here are just a few examples of the many events I have been part of and helped to organise.
Wednesday, March 14 2007
One of my very first duties way back in March saw me organise a Bayer Crop Science poetry competition at Mill View school in Norwich. To help give the day the extra publicity it deserved I enticed the magical Dion Dublin to come along and be the guest of honour. Dion was his usual fantastic self in the way he spoke and signed autographs for the pupils. Paulene Guise from Bayer was delighted with the launch and even more delighted that she met her all time favourite player!
Wednesday, May 2 2007
This day saw me take a trip to the seaside to take part in the Norfolk Schools Sports Partnership event held at the Alderman Peel High school in Wells. On the day a football competition was organised to highlight the benefits of youngsters taking part in regular daily exercise. My job? To talk about the current players and the benefits of their daily training regime. A great day and an important message delivered.
Saturday, June 9 2007
Canaries for the Community and its founder, Duncan MacInnes, along with many NCFC volunteers helped with the up-keep of Wroxham FC by painting pitch railings and changing rooms at Trafford Park. CFTC is a partnership between Norwich City & Norwich Union. Its objective? To bring volunteers and fans together to work on community projects as well as keeping hospital patients up to date with the latest NCFC news and goal action.
National Poetry Day
The Bayer Crop Science/EDP sponsored Poetry Competition Presentation took place in the Study Support Centre. Sky Sports News presenter Simon Thomas was the guest of honor and judge of the competition. We both met some very talented young children who were obviously very passionate about both poetry and NCFC! Simon is also a big Norwich City fan and it gave me the opportunity, on behalf of the Club, to present him with this year's NCFC tie.
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CHAPTER AND VERSE: Simon Thomas (left) and Gossy (right) at the poetry presentation |
Local Heroes Award Dinner
Dion Dublin and my good self were honored to have represented the Club at the annual 'Local Heroes' Awards night held at the Holiday Inn by the airport. Special award categories included 'Inspirational Teacher of the Year', 'Brave Child of the Year', 'Carer of the Year' and many more. Dion was invited to present the 'Against All Odds' award and I was privileged to have presented the 'Volunteer of the Year' award. We both felt very lucky to have been part of such an important night and share the company of some very motivated and inspirational adults and children.
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ALL HEROES: Dion Dublin at the Local Heroes night |
Football in the Community - 'The Street Life Soccer Project'
The Street Life Soccer project funded by the Football Foundation is now well and truly underway with training sessions taking place at Carrow Park. Run by Gavin Coe, from Football in the Community, the project is designed to support the homeless and vulnerable housed. Children between the ages of 14 -17 will be able to participate in this new and essential FITC Social Inclusion Programme.
Nice one Gav, you're doing a great job!
The Diana Award - Presented to Darren Shaw
On behalf of the Football Club it was an absolute pleasure to travel to the Warren Special School in Lowestoft to present an 'incredible' achievement award to a young Norwich fan called Darren Shaw. With his great attitude and enthusiasm he's proved to be an inspiration to all at the School. Presenting the Diana Award to Darren is the very best part of my job. For me this is what it's all about. On the Club's behalf doing what I can to make a difference to someone's life! Well done Darren - your speech on the day was magnificent!
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SHAW THING: Young fan Darren is presented with his award |
In the photo, I'm seen presenting Darren with his Diana Award certificate. For those in doubt I'm the ugly one with a tie on. The good looking one is wearing the tracksuit - Darran Lovell from FITC! Darren does a lot of valuable football coaching at the school. Well done mate.
So that's all part of what I do and what NCFC 'community' is all about. Thanks for reading the blog and keep your eyes open for the next edition.
Cheers
Gossy
If you have any community projects you think Norwich City could be part of, contact Gossy on (01603) 218741 or email jeremy.goss@ncfc-canaries.co.uk
