Young Newcastle professionals have swapped business suits for football strips to raise a four-figure sum for a North East baby charity.
Twelve mixed five-a-side football teams drawn from the city’s professional services firms have taken part in the annual Charity Shield competition, which was hosted by Hay & Kilner Law Firm to raise money for the Tiny Lives Trust.
Organised in association with the Newcastle Young Professionals Forum and held at the Goals Newcastle centre in Gosforth, the competition eventually saw the team from law firm Ward Hadaway beating Baldwins Accountants 4-3 in a highly-competitive final.
Around £1,500 was raised at the event for the Tiny Lives Trust, which is Hay & Kilner’s charity of the year and which helps to care for up to 800 premature and sick newborn babies and their families each year from across the North East and Cumbria.
Louise Carroll, community and events fundraiser at Tiny Lives, spoke to the competitors about the Trust’s work and the impact that the money they were raising would have as part of the trophy presentation ceremony.
Originally established in 2003, the Newcastle Young Professionals Forum provides a community in which newer members of the regional business community come together to share good ideas, best practice and knowledge in an effort to develop and progress in their chosen profession, and to develop business relationships that will benefit them through their careers.
Ben Jackson, solicitor at Hay & Kilner and organiser of the tournament alongside colleague Tom Clarke, says: “The standard of football ranged widely from the expert to the enthusiastic, but everyone really enjoyed taking part in the event.
“We’re looking to get even more North East professional services firms involved with future stagings of the Charity Shield and have had already lots of interest about taking part next year.
“The Forum brings together a range of different people who are building their various careers in the city, and to be able to use it to help raise money for such an invaluable regional charity is especially pleasing.”
