Northampton Town Community Trust

H A L F T E R M F O O T B A L L F U N C O U R S E S !

The Northampton Town Community Trust have some May half term football fun courses taking place.

Soccer Schools (Monday 30th May – Wednesday 1st June) at Goals in Northampton, 9am-3:30pm, £22 per day

Pan – Disability (Tuesday 31st May & Wednesday 1st June) at Goals in Northampton, 10am-2pm, £5 per day

Please book online at ntfccommunity.co.uk/bookings

All courses are run by fully qualified NTFC Community Trust staff who all have enhanced DBS checks, NGB level 2 qualifications and extensive experience working in schools and with children.

Participants must bring a packed lunch. Boys and girls are welcome at all holiday courses and each participant will receive a certificate at the end of the course.

There will be the chance to win medals, prizes, and other fantastic opportunities too!

G I R L S O N L Y C O U R S E T A S T E R D A Y T H I S H A L F T E R M

The Northampton Town Community Trust are running a special holiday course taster day this coming half term.

This taster day is for Girls Only! If you are aged 8-14, come and join us on Wednesday June 1st for the chance to improve your football skills and enjoy plenty of fun activities.

This will be held at Abbeyfield School (GOALS) Mereway, Northampton, NN4 8BT from 9:00am until 3:30pm.

To sign up, please visit ntfccommunity.co.uk/bookings

Please arrive at 8:45am for registration and participants should be collected at 3:30pm. The cost is £22.

Participants must bring a packed lunch. Each participant will receive a certificate at the end of the course. There will be the chance to win medals, prizes, and other fantastic opportunities too!

F R A S E R A N D E D E N N A M E D C O M M U N I T Y C H A M P I O N S

Fraser Horsfall and Eden Brown have been named as the club’s PFA Community Champions for the 2021/22 season.

The PFA Community Champion is an award that aims to raise the awareness of the support that its members offer to the community projects run by the Northampton Town Community Trust throughout the course of the season. The two awards, which showcase all of the great work the club has done on and off the pitch this season, were presented at the annual End of Season Dinner recently.

Fraser has supported a number of initiatives this season including video messages to fans, holiday course appearances and matchday activities. Fraser is professional and engaging at appearances quickly building rapports with Cobblers supporters (young and old) and is always open when talking to fans on matchdays and at community events. He has been an excellent role model and is able to impact everyone he meets leaving a smile on their face.

Horsfall said, “I am privileged to receive this award; it has been great to see all the fantastic community run projects and stay connected with our fanbase. I am glad that I have been a positive role model and have inspired so many boys and girls across the season. ”

Eden is the inaugural winner of the Female PFA Community Champion award and has been supportive to several club and community projects and programmes including raising the profile of female football in the local community. She has gone out of her way to attend events and player appearances, fitting this in around her full-time work and women’s team training and playing. She has often made appearances in her own free time evidencing her excellent commitment to the wider women’s game.

Brown said, “I’m really proud to be involve myself with the community trust and the club, providing an insight and influence in raising the profile of Women’s football and NTFC itself.

“It is an amazing opportunity to be a role model to potential future female footballers and young members of our community. The growth of the game has gone from strength to strength, and I am honoured to be a part of it at Northampton Town. ”

John Hudson, the PFA Director of Corporate Social Responsibility added: “The PFA has been immensely proud of the outstanding efforts of players during a very difficult season once again and we feel they should be recognised for their support and involvement in the local community. The awards will hopefully raise awareness of the importance many of our members attach to their roles off the pitch and highlight their commitment to support those most in need during the pandemic. We would like to offer our congratulations to this season’s recipients of the 2021/22 PFA Community Champion Award.”

We are extremely grateful to the work that both the male and female squads have put in to support our local community. The impact they have had on our work across the Community Trust this year has been brilliant, in what has remained a challenging time for everyone. Congratulations to Fraser and Eden for winning these awards and our thanks goes to them for their ongoing support.

For more information on the Northampton Town FC Community Trust and the programmes they offer please visit ntfccommunity.co.uk

NTFC Community Trust @NTFC_CT @ntfc_community

N O R T H A M P T O N T O W N C O M M U N I T Y

T R U S T D E L I V E R K N I F E C R I M E W O R K S H O P S D U R I N G K N I F E A N G E L ’ S V I S I T T O N O R T H A M P T O N

The iconic 27-feet-tall statue is currently visiting Northampton as part of its nationwide tour to highlight the issue of knife crime in the UK.

The statue, which was designed by Alfie Bradley at the British Ironwork Centre (BIC) in Oswestry, has been created from over 100,000 knives and blades confiscated by the UK’s 43 police forces. It was specifically created to highlight the negative effects of violent behaviour whilst solidifying our critical need for social change. Not only does the Angel act as a catalyst for turning the tide on violent and aggressive behaviour, but it also acts as a beautiful memorial designed to celebrate those lives who have been lost through these violent and thoughtless actions. britishironworkcentre.co.uk/showareas/the-knife-angel-official

The Knife Angel has been brought to the town by West Northants Council (WNC), C2C Social Action and the Office of Northamptonshire Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner (OFPCC). The Northampton Town Community Trust is a partner working with these organisations to help raise awareness about this issue. All kinds of awareness raising events have been running to coincide with the Angel’s visit, including an antiviolence march in the town centre, a service and vigil at All Saints’ Church, a knife amnesty and The Northamptonshire Emergency Cadets giving emergency first aid training and safety demonstrations.

NTFC Community Trust runs ‘Premier League Kicks’, football sessions and crime awareness educational workshops to engage young people at risk of knife crime, gang culture and anti-social behaviour. Having the Knife Angel visiting in May has enabled the trust to reach more young people. ntfccommunity.co.uk/crimeambassadors

The trust’s Inclusion officer and teacher Anna Letts has taught seven workshops reaching 190 pupils so far: with year 6 as well as secondary ages and pupils with special educational needs. Northampton schools that visited the Guildhall in Northampton were Cambian School, Purple Oaks Academy, On Track Education. Anna visited West Northants Council offices in Daventry to work with pupils from The Parker Academy and hosted the Premier League Kicks’ football group from Blackthorn, Northampton one evening. Schools visited the statue as part of their visits. She also taught the workshops with year 6s at Victoria Academy, Wellingborough and is soon to visit Park Junior School in Wellingborough. Aims of the workshops: • To know what knife crime is. • To know the risks and consequences of carrying and using a knife/weapon. • To know how violence and knife crime impacts on communities. • To make a pledge to show support for this anti-violence campaign. • To know how to report knife crime and keep safe. (Including reporting anonymously at Fearless.org)

During the workshop the students took part in youth voice activities which included group discussions around why young people carry weapons and the consequences of knife crime on different parts of the community. They shared their emotions and reactions about the Knife Angel and knife crime in general. Aspects such as ‘joint enterprise’, reasons why young people carry weapons, laws and consequences around knife crime, peer pressure and gangs were discussed. Everyone was asked to make a pledge to become an anti-violence champion. The county aims to sign up 1000s of people as anti-violence champions to join in support of a national call against the tolerance of violent and aggressive behaviour. Some examples of secondary school students’ pledges: • “I am against knife crime because it destroys people’s families and puts young children in danger”. • “I’m against violence because it hurts, it breaks families, it’s traumatising, and it changes lives forever. There is no coming back from it”. • “I am against knife crime because it’s wrong, stupid and needs to stop. It breaks hearts, families, and friends”. • “I want to stop knife crime because it is not fair that different people and children die for other people’s stupid actions”.

Inclusion officer Anna Letts said “The young people have engaged with this topic during the workshops in different ways; some are harder to reach than others. It is important that we as educators and organisations listen to youth voice to find out what is really going on in our communities, how young people get caught up in these kinds of situations and know how to help. Hopefully I have been able to challenge some common assumptions about knife crime and got the young people thinking about the decisions they may have to or are making. There is a lot to unpick with this issue and it can be hard to break down barriers to get the messages around knife crime and violence across. Using the Knife Angel’s visit is a great way to do this as it captures people’s interest and opens conversations.”