Current City duo Jordan Willis and Conor Thomas joined past City stars in Canley as part of a new sponsorship deal...
Coventry City players past and present paid a visit to Willowbrook Retirement Village in Canley last week, as part of a new sponsorship agreement with Midshires Business Systems.
Current Sky Blues duo Conor Thomas and Jordan Willis were joined by David Busst, Ron Farmer, Ken Brown and Bill Tedds in visiting the residents at the village, for an afternoon of games including boccia and new age curling, armchair aerobics, and festive singing.
The event was supported by the Coventry City Former Players Association, with committee member Dean Nelson also taking a nostalgic look back at his collection of historic Coventry City photos from the last 50 years.
The event saw the official launch of a new sponsorship arrangement between Sky Blues in the Community and Midshires Business Systems. Midshire are a national company with a local base in West Bromwich and they provide technology for offices and schools across the country.
The partnership will see Midshire become the official Education Partner for the Sky Blues in the Community team for the next two years, supporting the ever-increasing presence of Sky Blues in the Community in local primary and secondary schools. Willowbrook Retirement Village is one of a number of homes run across the West Midlands by the ExtraCare Charitable Trust – who are a client of Midshire Business Systems. The sponsorship also sees the community team supporting Midshire business and networking events.
Chrissie Morris from the ExtraCare Charitable Trust commented “It was a lovely and active afternoon on a fun day organised by Sky Blues in the Community and ExtraCare staff and volunteers. The residents got a chance to join in with a wide variety of activities, as well as have a chat and photo with the Coventry City players.
“The residents loved it and we even got some lovely feedback from one of them about their nice manners!”
Community Director Guy Rippon said “This was a fantastic event to launch our partnership with Midshire, there were 40 or so residents from a couple of the Extracare facilities that came together for this, and they loved talking to the older players, the activities and the singing. The old photos went down incredibly well, with many of the residents being life-long Sky Blues fans.
“One of the main reasons for this event was to acknowledge the generous sponsorship from Midshire, who have committed to financially support our education programmes over the next two years. Not only are the now our official education sponsor, but they are also in the process of revamping our website.
“They are a fantastic company who are very community-conscious; we are far from the only community or charitable organisation that they support and we are delighted to formalise our partnership for this initial two year period and hopefully beyond.”
Danny Walden, Regional Sales Manager at Midshire Business Systems said “We are very pleased to be supporting Sky Blues in the Community through this sponsorship. Being a Sky Blues fan I am well aware of the amazing work they do across Coventry and Warwickshire.
“This event was a wonderful way to kick off our partnership and the looks on the resident’s faces was fantastic to see. As a company we are very impressed with the diversity of projects and activities that Sky Blues in the Community offer, and we are delighted to be a part of it and supporting it in our own way.”
If you would like to find out more about other funding and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Guy Rippon or David Busst on 024 7678 6371.