African youngsters join Fylde fans' team

With the help of two supporters based close its rural Fylde roots, the club has added a new continent to its fanbase.

Roger Smith and Kirsty Aksoy, who both live in Kirkham, travelled almost 5,000 miles to Zambia in Africa armed with several Fylde shirts for under-privileged children along with a host of other donations for worthwhile causes.

Roger said: “A big thank you to AFC Fylde for the generous donation for our visit to Livingstone, Zambia.

“We first visited Livingstone betweena year ago, when we spent six weeks volunteering in primary schools and local community projects, through the charity African Impact.

“It was a fantastic and rewarding experience that compelled us to go back this year.

“For our return we filled our suitcases with donations, which included stationery, art supplies, health care and sports equipment - all very greatly appreciated by the charity and volunteer staff and the children were very excited and responsive, which was heart-warming to see and made the journey totally worthwhile.

“We were able to revisit the schools we worked in on our first visit and experiencing how passionate an organisation African Impact is.

“We could see first-hand the importance donations have and how much a positive impact they make.

“We used the resources to assist teaching maths and English in a number of different schools.

“The sports equipment continues to be used daily and the footballs, goalposts, vests and football shirts now allow for more structured extra-curricular team games and brighten the lives of many of the children we had come to know.

“We are so grateful to AFC Fylde for helping assist African Impact in providing enrichment to lives in Livingstone.”

A club spokesperson said: “We are always more than happy to help such a worthy cause, whether it’s on our front doorstep or 5,000 miles away. It’s fantastic to know that the children are benefiting from the donation of shirts and it helps us spread the word about AFC Fylde in the process.”