Africa and beyond...

Squadron Leader Neil Hope, the RAF’s representative on The FA Council, recently embarked upon a highly worthwhile charitable visit to Kenya timed to co-incide with the start of the World Cup Finals.

The trip was in support of the ‘Taking Football To Africa And Beyond’ appeal, which has distributed nearly 30,000 football shirts and other items to African children since its inception in 2006.

Amongst the items handed out on this latest trip were 120 England shirts donated by The FA, plus a number of scarves and t-shirts.

Neil was accompanied by Mark Robson, the son of late England manager Bobby, on behalf of the Bobby Robson Foundation along with representatives from the charity KitAid.

Neil and the team departed for Nairobi earlier this month and spent a week in the east African country, delivering nearly 2,500 items to ten different locations including schools and local football clubs.

After returning from the trip, Neil commented: “I was left with the overwhelming thought that our trip hardly touched on the problems of modern Africa. 

“The whole team was shocked at the living conditions of most of the population of Kenya and the obvious ‘those with’ and ‘those without’. The real heroes are the ladies and gentlemen who run and look after the schools and teams we visited. They do an absolutely fantastic job.”

The appeal will now continue to collect and distribute shirts donated by children, adults and teams across the UK – for more information click here.