Five of the Boro first team surprised four of MFC Foundation’s programmes at their Herlingshaw Centre hub in South Bank.
Stewart Downing, Britt Assombalonga, Adama Traore, Cyrus Christie and Daniel Ayala visited refugee and asylum seeker group ‘Club Together’, pupils on our Premier League Inclusion programme from Priory Woods School, our Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) group for 16-25’s, and our Team Talk support group which was set up after the closure of the steelworks.
With the players pairing off to go round the individual groups and learn more about their programmes, they took part in a number of activities including: English-based learning games with Club Together, tower building and ultimate frisbee with YEI, walking football with Team Talk, and five-a-side football with Priory Woods.
The players also posed for photographs, signed autographs, and chatted with some of the participants and staff about the impact each of the programmes has on members of our community.
“It was brilliant to see the amount of different and diverse programmes MFC Foundation has to offer,” said Assombalonga.
“We got the chance to meet people from all different walks of life, and listen to their stories and find out more about their lives. Everyone seemed to get a great lift from me and the boys coming down, and we really enjoyed making what has been a very special day.”
Lee Grace, Premier League Inclusion Lead said: “The children from Priory Woods have been waiting all week for this moment. The players came in and they were truly outstanding with the children, talking to them, giving them high-fives and simply spending some quality time with them.
“We’d like to thank the players and the club for making not only the children’s day, but arguably their year!”
