LOCAL charity, The Benjamin Foundation, received a cheque for over £20,000 at the Swansea City match on Saturday, November 15, following their recent unique shirt sponsorship of the Canaries.

The Benjamin Foundation were the winners of the Community Chest Challenge - a competition arranged by main Club sponsors Aviva to give a local charity the chance to be shirt sponsor for the recent home game against Doncaster Rovers. The competition was run in the Eastern Daily Press, with their readers voting The Benjamin Foundation the winner.

As well as the publicity this created, there have been a range of fundraising activities that have helped to raise over £20,000. These included the ground collection from generous City fans at the Doncaster game, which raised nearly £3,500, and the auction of the special players' shirts with The Benjamin Foundation logo, which brought in a further £5,500. The total raised from all activities is £10,359.86. Aviva announced that they would match this pound for pound, which takes the grand total to £20,719.72.

Chris Elliott, Sponsorship Manager at Aviva, said: "We are thrilled at the way fans and the local community took to our idea of winning our sponsorship for the day. I know they will put the money raised to good use for the benefit of more young people across Norfolk."

Richard Draper, founder of The Benjamin Foundation commented: "I still have to pinch myself to ensure this is happening. I am so grateful to the good people of Norfolk for voting for us, to Norwich City Football Club who have been so fantastic right the way through this exciting time (and even managed a win on the day!), but my deepest and most sincere thanks go to Aviva, for having the idea in the first place and being so generous in so many ways.

"The Benjamin Foundation has gained significantly financially - thanks to every individual whose pennies have added together to make this wonderful total. But we have gained most through the fantastic increase in our profile, something no amount of money would have been able to buy."

The cheque was presented to Richard Draper on the pitch ahead of the Swansea City match by representatives from Aviva, Eastern Daily Press and Norwich City.