Citezenship Coursework - Voting Age

Citizenship Coursework…

By Matthew Lee 10B

Football Gala Day…

For my chosen activity I helped out in “Football Gala Day” in a nearby village called collingham, I worked and helped out for the duration of 6 hours attempting to raise as much as much money as I could, through running a raffle, to help pay for many things. This event is a regular occurrence, it happens every year and it is always held in the month of June, last year it was held on June 16th. It is a real family day with many things going on, bouncy castles, raffles, running races, the football matches and of course the prize giving. The football club itself is a “Charter Standard Club” which means the club and its facilities have been approved by the F.A (Football Association). The club also has other facilities as well as the football the club as a whole is called the CALSA which stands for “The Collingham And Linton Sports Association.” This involves Football, Squash, Cricket and Hockey all of which are held at one playing field and a sports hall in Collingham. I myself used to play for the football club for 7 years before moving, so I have come to have a very close relationship with many of the members and staff at the CALSA. The football group has a team in all age groups (U6’s to seniors) and I was in charge of running a raffle to raise money for a certain number of causes; new nets to go on the playing field, one new goalpost for the playing field which the whole community may use and the disabled side in which Collingham have play football, a team which involves people which are slightly mentally disabled and others which just have a problem running needed new kits to play in so some of the money raised was to go towards that as well. The disabled side themselves only play once or twice a month but to raise money to make there games all the better would really please them…

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The day itself was a very warm day with temperatures soaring well above 20 degrees, great weather for a gala day! I began the day by getting there a 9.30 am to help set up as the gala started at 10.00 am (Finishing at 3.30 pm). When I got there I helped with setting up many certain things, I had to get the raffle, in which I would be working on for the better part of the day, ready to go. The raffle involved prizes donated in previous weeks by the local community and collingham players and parents. By the time I was done getting my raffle stall set up it was almost time to go, players and parents were arriving for the 1st game scheduled at 10.15. My sales were rolling in by 11.00 I had at least £30 for the pot and was well on my way to the target of £100 I was set by the clubs chairmen at the start! I was delighted! But at about 12.00 I was still on and around the £30 mark so me and my co-worker decided to move our stall next to the drinks bar which of course on a warm day like that was the correct thing to do! Later on in the day I then offered to referee a couple of matches while the other refs sat down and had a drinks break. I was here helping those hot and tired referees by offering to do it whilst one or two had a drink and I helped the young 8 year old boys whose game I was refereeing. I later on also refereed a U12’s match whilst again a regular referee had a break. It came to about 2.00 and the event was building up to its climax, the final. By this point some parents and children had gone home but most were still there waiting for the awards and were having a drink under the summer sun. The final came and went and it was now time for the awards for the past season’s youth teams, I presented a team’s awards and stepped down little to now there was an award waiting for me after I smashed my target of £100 and actually raised £195.75 all in 5 hours, I received my award took a bow and stepped down. My raffle ticket selling and the donations bucket to the side of my stall had all paid off and I knew this money was going to such a good cause. That £195.75 ended up being enough to buy 11 shirts shorts and socks for the disabled side; I was really pleased with myself for my efforts and help towards such a worthy cause.

I learnt a lot from the day itself and realised that 6 hours work could make peoples life merry for months on end; I was delighted with the effort I made but it was not only myself, my co-worker helped me so very much but most of all it was those who contributed to the raffle and helped those in need. The kindness of those people who contributed not only made my day but made everyone’s day who will use the facilities that the money will go towards. The only business skills I really learnt was how to sell raffle tickets and how to promote your business by putting leaflets and arrows pointing towards my raffle which really attracted more business I also learnt how generous people can be when buying tickets, donating prizes and making donations to the bucket which is quite a lot but the fact I raised money for a good cause pleases me more. The only major situations I encountered were the one where we were not pulling in enough money (About 12.00) and we had to move our stall to a different position, of which I would say we chose the right one, next to the drinks stand! This pulled us in a lot of money with just one smart move! All in all I believe 6 hours work and £195.75 is worth is lot more than many things I have accomplished in my life so far…

I really enjoyed working for the 6 hours in which I raised the £195.75 and I found the experience an absolute joy!. I will attempt to develop my involvement in the future in many ways for this year I will attempt to run the drinks stall and hopefully help run the raffle (With a Co-Worker) whilst refereeing a couple of games along the way hopefully continuing my involvement and furthering it in the things I will hope to do, obviously I will have to make some agreements with the club chairman but hopefully he will look at what I did last year and see it in me to be running such a popular stand. And with my experience from the previous year it will hopefully have develop my skills and may make it easier to run certain things in years to come. I have now seen that just 6 hours of work can really help so many people and make there life a joy for months and maybe years to come.

By Matthew Lee 10B