KitAid monthly update – February 2022

February was another busy month with deliveries or collections at the Hemel Hempstead containers almost every day. Here are the monthly totals:

Total items donated since 1998          836,282

I am pleased to have met the deadline of writing the new Annual Review by the end of the month and many thanks to those who have reviewed the content so far. All of the pictures have been found and sent to Carole, our designer, and the fun now starts for her as she has to squeeze it all into seven pages. Once this is completed it will be sent out again for a final review and then go to print. If all goes to plan I should be able to send out the printed copies in early April. It will be loaded onto our website and shared on social media so look out for it, as even though I say it myself, it is a good read!

We heard from Mary last week that after two and half years as our Ambassador she has decided to step down from the role.

We are very grateful for her support over the period and you would like to thank her and wish her the very best for the future. An article acknowledging her support has just been posted on to the front page of the KitAid website.

After two very long years we have finally got a date in the diary for a full boxing up session at Hatfield, on Saturday 12 March. Thank you to those who let me know they could (or couldn’t) attend and we have 24 volunteers able to help out on the day. If you missed the email and would like to attend please let me know by return.

To add to the excitement, we should also have Premier League Today TV filming the journey of a shirt from the session all the way through to it being handed over in Accra, Ghana. I have had a couple of conversations with the programme researcher and will confirm everything next week.

Looking forward to those Danish pastries and Sean’s weird and wonderful megamix!

This is probably a name that won’t mean anything to you, it didn’t to me, but a lovely story has developed from a single kit donation.

Mark (Smith) drove over to Reading to collect a kit donation, which turned out to be a few boxes of Southampton Ladies FC old kit. The donor explained that her son had bought a house in Winchester and the garage was full of football memorabilia/records from Southampton Ladies in the 1970’s onwards. The previous owner, Sue Lopez had left them as she had moved into a care home.

Sue was a leading player in Women’s football from the 1960’s, playing for England, Southampton and then as a coach.

We put the new house owner in touch with the National Football Museum in Manchester and they have arranged to collect, catalogue and display some of the items.

“Its more than just a shirt………”

I am sure everyone reading this update feels shocked and horrified by the situation in Ukraine.

We have been asked if we can supply winter coats by one of our charity partners, the Myosotis Trust, who have previously donated our cold weather kits to their project in Romania. They are getting a shipment together to send to Ukraine via their existing links in Romania.

We have just been given a lot of fleeces by Club Wembley and we have some thick coats in the storeroom at Hatfield. Could I ask please that if you are attending the boxing up session on 12 March and you have any suitable winter clothing, you bring it along and we will add it to what we currently have.

As the first delivery of the beautiful gold enamel badges all dispersed so quickly, I have ordered another batch of 100.

They really are special and if you missed out last time, please let me know and I will discuss the best way of getting one to you. For those attending the boxing up session I can bring some along on the day, but otherwise, if you could email me please.

Many thanks

Derrick