Category Archives: Accrington Stanley

Local business man Eddy O’Brien of iMEP teams up with Murray Dawson of SDA to offer community groups a FREE minibus to use

Hiring a minibus can be too costly for local community groups, which are often staffed by volunteers and run to a tight budget. With this in mind, local businessman, Eddy O’Brien, the CEO of iMEP – International Music Event Production has partnered with Murray Dawson from local agency Scott Dawson Advertising to kindly fund a minibus which will be free for selected partners to use.

The 17 seater minibus will be very useful for the community groups, and will enable them to transport participants and volunteers safely and as a group, rather than relying on their own transport. The selected partners to benefit from the minibus are: Clayton Boxing Club, Accrington Pipe Band, Great Harwood Rovers, Oswaldtwistle St. Paul Scout Group, Accrington Stanley Women, Maundy Relief, Accrington Cricket Club, and the Official Accrington Stanley Supporters Trust.

Eddy O’Brien, CEO of iMEP, said: “I’m really keen to give back to our local community and help and support these fantastic, volunteer led organisations.

“They do so much for our community, whether through sport or other activities, and I teamed up with Scott Dawson Advertising to see what we could do to provide them with help and support, and something they really need.

“A minibus seemed like a great solution, Murray bought it and I sponsored it! The groups will be able to access it free of charge on a diary system whenever they need it – whether that’s Clayton Boxing Club travelling to tournaments, or the Pipe Band travelling to performances, or a multitude of other reasons!”

Sarah Smith, MP for Hyndburn and Haslingden, said: “It’s amazing to see the generosity of iMEP and SDA to fund this brilliant community minibus. I know it will have a huge impact on many residents. A huge thank you to Eddy and Murray for enabling this brilliant initiative!”

Sami Smithson, Chair of Accrington Stanley Women added, “We are so grateful to be included in this fantastic community initiative. The power of sport can never be underestimated, and giving the children & young adults of Hyndburn and surrounding areas opportunities to participate and travel as teams to sports fixtures is an immeasurable experience. Thank you to Eddy and to Murray for giving our kids and the future of our borough these opportunities, and allowing them to create memories and experiences that will last them a lifetime.”

Peter Leatham of the OASST commented, “We can’t thank SDA and iMEP enough for the brilliant sponsorship of the minibus, and we look forward making good use of along with other partner organisations.”

Lucy Hardwick of Maundy Relief further added, “’This is a wonderful initiative that will bring huge mental health benefits to our guests – we can’t wait to get out and about and explore our beautiful region. We’re so grateful to iMEP and SDA for arranging this we will certainly be able to make great use of it. Thanks so much for your generosity!”

Offering everything from lighting, sound, staging and special effects, to fully managed music and theatre event production, iMEP regularly work with stars around the world and are hosting the iMEP Music Festival on Saturday 21stSeptember at Accrington Cricket Club, headlined by global superstar Jess Glynne.

To learn more about IMEP, visit their website: www.imep.co.uk and to learn more about SDA, see their website here: www.scottdawson.co.uk

Stanley’s big shirt giveaway a huge success for fifth year running

Accrington Stanley’s first team squad handed out shirts as part of their shirt giveaway to Year 3 children from Hyndburn schools at the Wham Stadium on Tuesday morning.

The annual big shirt giveaway also saw the children receive a goodie bag sponsored by Studio and North Lancs Training Group (NLTG), including a free match ticket, crayons, a lunch box and picture of the first-team squad.

Taking place for the fifth year running and back at the Wham following slightly altered plans for the 2020 event due to COVID-19, the youngsters got the chance to meet their favourite players and see the pitch up close, having their pictures taken in the Studio Family Stand.

The shirts were generously sponsored by Studio and the Official Accrington Stanley Community Trust.

Manager, John Coleman, said: “It’s always a day in the calendar that we look forward to and so do the players.

“It’s a fantastic initiative and something that has been going for five years. If we can capture the children’s imagination and get them involved in Stanley, it bodes well for the future.”

Coleman added: “The idea of giving the children a replica shirt is fantastic and it gives them an identity. For a lot of people it’s difficult to justify being able to get their child a replica top and I think this is a great gesture by Andy Holt. I hope it captures the imagination of these kids and in 10-15 years’ time they’ll be here cheering us on or even playing for us.”

Chairman and owner, Andy Holt, said: “It’s an event that I’m particularly proud of. It’s probably the best thing we do as a Club and I promise to do it every year I’m involved with the Club, it’s fantastic.”

Stanley’s most famous fan David Lloyd, otherwise known as Bumble, said: “It’s a marvellous time of the year and there’s one thing that I’m really looking forward to… and that is one day boys and girls will have that football shirt on and they’ll be representing Accrington Stanley at the Wham.”

Paul Kendrick, CEO of Studio, said: “It’s a fantastic way to get new followers into the Club from the outset, get them passionate about Accrington and we’re really happy to get involved in it.”

The Club would like to thank all the sponsors who helped make this amazing event a huge success – The Official Accrington Stanley Community Trust, Studio, North Lancs Training Group and What More UK.

Also, the Club would like to thank Scott Dawson Advertising for organising the event and preparing the goodie bags, alongside volunteers from the Official Accrington Stanley Supporters Trust.

‘Pedal us to Glory’ TV star Jesse McClure’s cycle sprint for Accrington Stanley

Storage Hunters star Jesse McClure and his agent Murray Dawson (pictured) will cycle from Blackpool FC to Accrington Stanley FC on Saturday in the first event of a £40,000 fundraising bid.

The pedal-powered pair hopes their efforts will put £500 in the pot of the OASSC’s (Official Accrington Stanley Supporters Club) project #upinlights – which aims to provide an electric scoreboard facility at the Wham Stadium.

Joining them on the 58km ‘Pedal us to Glory’ ride will be Accrington Stanley’s Managing Director, David Burgess.

Says Jesse: “We hope to raise around £500 in sponsorship – although I still haven’t actually got a road bike yet! So if anyone has one they are willing to lend me – get in touch!

“If we raise more than £5,000, Murray and I will do the ride on his vintage 1970s Grifter and Chopper bikes.”

Jesse, whose new TV show British Treasure, American Gold, premieres on Quest on October 19th, adds: “If we raise more than £6,000 we’ll do it on a tandem. We haven’t discussed how much it would take to do it on a unicycle!”

Jesse’s agent Murray, Managing Director of Scott Dawson Advertising, said: “I wouldn’t say we’ve exactly been training hard– but a couple of laps around the car park – and we’re ready to do what we can to help the Club.

 “As part of our Accrington Civic Pride initiative we were happy to print raffle tickets and flyers free of charge, as well as raise sponsorship deals, and help the official supporters club get closer to their £40,000 goal.”

The OASSC’S 2016/17 fundraising campaign #upinlights, include raffles, events and sponsorship.

The first on the agenda is the sponsored bike ride; Pedal us to Glory, which will start at Blackpool Football Club at 8.45am back to the Wham Stadium arriving before the League 2 fixture between the two clubs at 3pm on Saturday 15th October.

Fans can sponsor riders or purchase a raffle draw ticket, price £2, which will be on sale on match day or from committee members.

The draw will be made at half time at the Blackpool game and the prizes are:

  1. Mascot package for ASFC fixture
  2. 2016/17 squad signed home shirt
  3. £50 voucher for Extreme Ladieswear in Accrington
  4. 24″ Colour television.
  5. £20 voucher for Oriental Delight restaurant in Clayton-le-Moors

You can sponsor Jesse and Murray at: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/murray-dawson

Or to find out about other events being organised by the OASSC, you can contact fundraising coordinator Mark Brennan 07913 080974 or via email markdonbrennan@gmail.com