Ramadan Iftar Event Celebrated at Sixfields Stadium

On the 12th of March,  Northampton Town FC Community Trust, in partnership with Northants United Academy, organised the second Ramadan Iftar event at the stadium.

This event gets representation from all 14 mosques across the county from Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, Daventry and Northampton.

Of the event Suraf Miah of Northants United Academy said:

‘Being able to listen to the ‘Call to Prayer - Azaan’ loud on the speakers in the stands of the stadium gives us all a great sense of belonging and a mutual connection with the football club. Being able to open our fast (Iftar) together is also a special act and appreciation. I think I speak on behalf of all the Muslim community that attended this Iftar event, it was an amazing Iftar event to be able to be apart of and sharing how and what we do for Iftar with all. We look forward to next years event Ramadan Iftar with NTFC.’

Zehra Dergin, EDIB lead at the Community Trust called it a ‘privilege to be able to invite so many people to the Northampton Town FC to share this event.’

She went on to say: ‘Witnessing the Azaan in the stadium was incredible and it was once again a reminder of how football is about community.  Being able to bring people together to share experiences and understanding is extremely powerful and important.  We want to make sure all communities feel welcome here.’

Community Trust Hosts Club Author Day at Sixfields

The Northampton Town FC Community Trust were delighted to host their first ever club author day at Sixfields Stadium. Supported by the Premier League Foundation and the National Literacy Trust the Community Trust hosted nearly 100 children from 3 different schools.

The morning was split into 3 different sections a tour and history of the stadium, a creative writing sessions where children learnt how to write a match report and a session on Sunday Times bestselling author of the Jamie Johnson books, Dan Freedman. The sessions were also attended by the Mayor of Northampton, Cllr Jane Birch and Cllr Pauline Goodley. Cllr Pauline Goodley said:

‘I thought that it was very well organised. The children obviously were loving it. It was excellent the way they were having fun but also were expected to achieve some serious academic work of their own. The two Club teachers that I observed were very good indeed ,and they kept the children on task and listening properly, along with periods of chatter and excitement and the tour of the stadium.’

After their morning sessions the children were surprised by an appearance of Dan Freedman himself. Dan led a workshop with all the children, answered their excellent questions and signed a copy of one of his books for each of them. Dan said:

‘It was an absolute privilege to visit Northampton Town Community Trust to help celebrate the joys of reading and writing with the pupils from the local schools. It was such a positive experience. I thought the session went really well and it was very impactful to see how many pupils wanted to ask a question! They were a great combination of enthusiastic, interactive as well as being very polite and listening well. They represented the school fantastically in what was a wonderful setting at Sixfields Stadium.’

Overall it was an incredibly fun, informative and engaging day, with Ruth Ryan, the head of Chiltern saying: ‘The children thoroughly enjoyed it, and so did the adults.

Everyone said how well organised, inspiring, and fun it was. I’ve been telling everyone how amazing you are!’

Our head of schools programme, Lorna Stockwell was delighted with how the day turned out:

‘It was amazing to hold the first ever club author day at the stadium. Seeing so many children who wouldn’t necessarily pick up a book, engaged with Dan and the workshops that our staff put on. Many of them were saying that they would start to read their book on the coach on the way home, hopefully the day has inspired them to read more.’

For more information about our schools programmes please contact lorna.stockwell@ntfc.co.uk

Community Stories: Day 5 – Rob Duncan

With Community Day coming up this Saturday, we’re spotlighting a new participant of our community programmes every day this week to highlight some of the vital work that NTFC Community Trust do across Northamptonshire. 

Today we hear from Rob Duncan. Rob signed up for our Fit Cobblers programme and saw his health improve on a number of levels. Rob spoke about the learning that he took from the programme and how his health has been improved since. 

Rob said, of the course, 

“The sessions were basically split into two sessions. So you'd have an hour where we would be sitting down looking on the food side of things and what's good for you with regards to alcohol or food types and those sorts of things to avoid or things to try and swap out. Things like instead of eating normal rice go with brown rice, no brown bread, that sort of thing. And then looking at the plates and what you put on your plate and getting the proportions right and the portions right as well” 

“The thing that Mark and Tom (the course leaders) said was, we're not going to say to go and sign up to a gym. All they would say is make small changes and make it become part of your lifestyle. And that really resonated with me because if it had been a case of, we recommend that you go to the gym and you weigh out all your food and you only do this,I probably wouldn't have come back, but it was completely different because those are the of things I've done before and tried to lose weight that way.” 

To hear more about Rob’s story, check out the podcast at the link below. 

Link to episode: https://podfollow.com/cobblerstome/episode/0f46fb658a4af30da94af69774f856c27b9cd37d/view  

For more information on NTFC Community Trust, visit ntfccommunity.co.uk and to get involved in fundraising for the charity this year, contact Fundraising and Events Manager Danny Brothers at danny.brothers@ntfc.co.uk 

Donation link: NTFC Community Trust - 25 for 25! - JustGiving 

A big thank you to every participant who joined us this week – don't forget to come and join in with Community Day on Saturday and then cheer the Cobblers on against Burton! 

Community Stories: Day 4 – Madi Evans

With Community Day coming up this Saturday, we’re spotlighting a new participant of our community programmes every day this week to highlight some of the vital work that NTFC Community Trust do across Northamptonshire. 

Today we hear from NTFC Women Development team captain Madi Evans. Madi has come through the age groups with the NTFC Football and Education Partnership (FEP) and spoke to the It’s All Cobblers To Me podcast about her journey. 

Madi said, 

“(The FEP) gives players an extra edge to achieve their goals in football because training twice a week with games weekly, it means you get a lot of time on the ball and the coaches will also be there to support to help you improve. And I think everyone in the college can say that they've improved a lot from when they started to now. And the educational side of it, they cover many different areas like fitness training, which will help our performance.” 

"But my personal favourite thing was coaching as I'd get to go out to a team and practically deliver my own session plans. And that gave me experience of what it's like to be in the coach's position, which opened opportunities for me as going on to be a coach. But the programme has been excellent. The coaches and tutors give you the support you need to succeed as long as you work hard and you're willing to put the effort in there's no reason why you can't get what way you want to be in life.” 

“Through coaching placements, I've been able to be more confident and communicate better with players as I've had to adapt my communication style from coaching under 16s to then going to do under 10s and 12s, which doesn't seem like a big gap, but it makes a big difference in how you talk to them. On the pitch, I'm a lot louder than I used to be with more confidence in my ability to play instead of trying to kick the ball away. soon as I get it, I've learnt to look after it and be calm.” 

A big thanks to Madi!

Link to episode: https://podfollow.com/cobblerstome/episode/52d01f14cdd7baf540f80225eb5629e5200e3f1a/view  

For more information on NTFC Community Trust, visit ntfccommunity.co.uk and to get involved in fundraising for the charity this year, contact Fundraising and Events Manager Danny Brothers at danny.brothers@ntfc.co.uk 

Donation link: NTFC Community Trust - 25 for 25! - JustGiving