Club News

Clubs' Olympic effort for charity

Foundation & Birmingham Bears to play badminton for '2012' mins

PETER Odemwingie and James Morrison have pledged their support to volunteers from The Albion Foundation and Birmingham Bears Badminton Club as they make a truly Olympic effort for charity this weekend.

Members of both organisations are joining forces in a gruelling attempt to play badminton for ‘2012’ consecutive minutes to raise funds for The Albion Foundation’s disability projects and Birmingham Bears’ nominated charity ‘Tiny Babies, Big Appeal’.

The 33 hour-plus marathon is being held today and tomorrow at Albion’s Barclays Spaces for Sports Community Sports Hall, Halfords Lane. Play got under way this morning at 7am and will come to a conclusion tomorrow at 4pm.

Rob Lake, Director of The Albion Foundation, who will be involved for the duration, said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Birmingham Bears and raising funds for very worthy causes. 

“It will be a real challenge but also a lot of fun and we hope that the Baggies fans will get behind us.”

Ka Li, Chairman of Birmingham Bears, said: “We are very excited about our partnership with The Albion Foundation and the support they have provided us with to help get this challenge off the ground.

“Both of these fantastic causes are very close to our hearts, which I know will spur us on, especially through the long night-time stint!

“We really hope that more badminton fanatics across the Black Country and Birmingham area will join us in helping to fulfill this challenge.”

Half of the money raised will directly benefit The Albion Foundation’s ‘One Albion’ and ‘Sporting Club Albion’ disability programmes.

Foundation staff work with children with disabilities and learning difficulties to offer them sporting opportunities and then develop their interest and participation through a number of out-of-school hours programmes, which can lead to them representing one of the Sporting Club Albion teams. 

Sporting Club Albion has teams competing in the following categories: blind, visually impaired, powerchair (two teams) and pan-disability (senior & junior).

Sporting Club Albion’s very own blind football star, Darren Harris, represented Team GB at the 2012 Paralympics in London. They also boast two powerchair England internationals, Chris Gordon and Danny Kay.

As well as sporting opportunities, The Albion Foundation provides mentoring and education programmes and a disability awareness programme for mainstream schools.

The other half of the funds will benefit ‘Tiny Babies, Big Appeal’, which is being run by the Birmingham Women’s NHS Foundation Trust and aims to raise £2milion to help build a new neonatal unit at Birmingham Women’s Hospital.

For further information about The Albion Foundation, or to make a donation, click here. You can also post a cheque, made payable to ‘The Albion Foundation’, to 2012 Badminton Appeal, The Albion Foundation Building, Halfords Lane, West Bromwich B71 4LG. Alternatively, call The Albion Foundation on 0871 271 9840 and make a donation via your credit/debit card.

For further information about ‘Tiny Babies, Big Appeal’, click here. To make a donation, click here.

PIC: MAKING A RACKET FOR CHARITY...Morrison and Odemwingie are joined at the launch by Edwin Appiah, triple A coach at The Albion Foundation, plus Birmingham Bears duo Pernille Woods and Allan Ho