In November P&G, the Proud Sponsor of Mums, launched the Champion Mums’ Foundation – a campaign offering hardworking mums the chance to be awarded a bursary from a whopping £150,000 pot. The only stipulation was that the award had to be used towards making a positive difference to their lives as mums, to their family or to the community. See how the prize helped winner Sharon...
The parents who support Thorngumbald Boys Football Club are a committed lot. Every week they stand on the sidelines cheering the team on, whatever the weather.
But for one mum in particular, her son’s love of football and his team means something very special. Four years ago, Sharon Weightman’s husband Steve died unexpectedly from a brain hemorrhage. He loved football and was a huge Leeds United fan who passed his passion for the game on to his son, Tommy. Steve was thrilled when Tommy joined the village team, but he never got to watch him play as he died a week before Tommy’s first match.
‘Taking Tommy to that first game with his sister Ellie was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do,’ says Sharon. ‘I know Steve would have been so proud of him.’
A chance to help
The team has now created a trophy to remember Steve – Most Improved Player of the Season. But the small club was struggling to cope with its costs.
So when Sharon saw the P&G Champion Mums’ Foundation competition in essentials, offering mums the chance of a bursary award to help them, their kids or the community, she knew it was her chance to rescue the team.
She applied with no hope (‘I never win anything,’ she said) but in October found out she had been awarded £3,000. ‘The Parish Council called to say the fees had been paid for the next three years,’ says Sharon. ‘I nearly cried.’
‘Our teams are the heart of village life and they bring us all together as a community. And the kids get such a lot from it; they’re fit, make friends, and learn team work and sportsmanship.
'The parents in the village are over the moon. The kids don’t get it – they think money grows on trees, but the main thing is that everyone’s happy.’
‘I’d just like to say a big thank you to essentials and P&G. Football is such a massive part of Tommy’s life, and our lives. For all of us, it’s a link to his dad and I know Steve would be just as grateful as we all are.’
The people behind the prize
P&G has been around for 170 years, and is the company behind time-saving products that help mums do a great job, like Ariel, Herbal Essences and Febreze. Now, as the Proud Sponsor of Mums, it’s helping in other ways to say thank you for all the things mums do. Find out more at pgproudsponsorofmums.co.uk
