We were pleased to welcome Viv and Emma from the Crystal Palace Supporters Children's Charity (CPSCC) and Bobby Webbe from Palace for Life Foundation to speak about their respective charities at our recent Social evening.
Viv from the CPSCC explained how in 1997 a group of volunteers took over running the annual Christmas party for disabled children that had been previously organised by Selhurst Park employees. In 2010 the charity changed their name to the Crystal Palace Supporters Children's Charity and have continued to run the Christmas party for around 180 children each year.
With the help of donations received the CPSCC have also been able to hire an Executive box at Selhurst Park so that disabled, disadvantaged and bereaved children are able to experience matches in a safe and secure environment. The children and their carers are invited from south London schools and communities.
The charity is run by volunteers and is funded solely by donations from supporters and need funds now to ensure the hire of the box for next season.
Find out more about the CPSCC on this link go.cpfcdsa.uk/cpscc
Bobby Webbe, Fundraising Manager for the Palace for Life Foundation spoke about how the Foundation came to make an updated version of Glad All Over in a video featuring the Down's Syndrome Football team the DS Eagles.
This recording was made during DS GAME ON, a year long Palace for Life programme that is partially funded by the Premier League and the Professional Footballers Association. The programme helps people with Down's Syndrome build on their skills and confidence for future employment.
The DS Eagles were joined by members of the Men's and Women's teams to make a video of the "Glad All Over" which you can view at go.cpfcdsa.uk/gladallover
We also had a Palace themed quiz presented for us by Roger Dickson, who is well known for providing Audio Commentary of the matches at Selhurst Park for many years. As a bonus we had a "make up your own question" section where DSA member Ian was challenged to list the managerial career's of famous football Managers. The first question was about Neil Warnock's career, which would probably a challenge for Neil himself to list accurately, but Ian managed it with no problem.
As well as the refreshments kindly provided by the club and visits to the changing room and dugouts the evening ended with our special raffle with the top prize being signed First team shirts.
