SLOUGH Town Football Club has raised over £2,100 for mental health charity Mind after a sponsored head shave at Arbour Park on Saturday, writes Rob Stevens.
Ten people including Rebels players, management and supporters had their heads shaved by barber Eddie Maher from Marian & Son on the Farnham Road in Slough.
A Just Giving page raised over £1,700 with a bucket collection during the match against Tonbridge Angels in the National League South raising over £400.
The event also showed the football club in solidarity with Simon Dunn who has taken a step away from football while he battles issues with mental health. The midfielder was at Arbour Park to watch the sponsored head shave.
Mark Bailey is the new community engagement manager at the football club. He told the Observer: “We set-up this appeal a couple of weeks ago thinking that maybe, having just done Prostate Cancer for Non-League Day, we might struggle to reach £500, but here we are with over £2,000
“It’s really good that the players, management and Chairman got involved and helped us to get a really good total.
“This idea was muted before the news came out about Simon, but it works perfectly well together and we’re 100 per-cent behind him and his decision to take a step away from football.
PHOTO: Slough Town joint-manager Neil Baker has his head shaved by barber Eddie Maher.
“What he has done is set an example to any sportsman or any young man that is going through the same thing.
“Simon is a great example of someone who has shared their problems. You will find that people will get behind you and things will be better.”
He added: “We were really worried that we were doing a little bit too much for charity on the back of Non-League Day.
“We thought about doing it and decided to keep our expectations low, but it just took off and it’s great that everyone in the football club got behind it.”
The football club would like to thank all those that had their heads shaved; supporters Kieran Wall, Michael McGranaghan, Keith Court, Brinley Jones, kit man Mark Hunter, goalkeeping coach Trent Phillips, keeper Jack Turner, joint-manager Neil Baker and Chairman Jack Porter plus Mark Bailey.
The club is going to open Arbour Park on Sunday 22nd December to homeless people in Slough, providing them with food, showers and a haircut.
Bailey siad: “We’ve had an overwhelming response to homeless project with over 40 volunteers at the moment and half a dozen full bags of clothes.”
PHOTO: Rebels keeper Jack Turner looks a worried man in the barber's chair.
For more information or to make a donation please visit sloughtownfc.net.
Commenting on his new role as community engagement manager, Bailey added: “It’s has been really busy and we’ve got a lot of stuff coming up.
“We have the One Slough campaign where we will be going to parts of the community that don’t often come to the ground. That’s something that will be kicking off this week.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done. I was a little bit disappointed with the crowd on Saturday (771)., I was hoping we might have got over 800.
“I’m under no illusions that it’s going to be a tough job increasing the crowds to the levels that we want, which is averaging 1,000 in a couple of years.
“I’m happy with what we’ve done so far and been overwhelmed by the well-wishes from Slough fans in general, but it’s going to be hard work and I’m under no illusions that its going to be a tough job.”
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