Story added: 14th December 2015

David McNally and Alex Neil join over seventy representatives from local companies

The Community Sports Foundation (CSF) hosted its third annual Business Breakfast at Carrow Road on Tuesday with guest speakers Norwich City FC CEO David McNally and first team manager Alex Neil.

The event, which was sponsored by Holden, brought over seventy business people together from the local area for breakfast, talks and networking opportunities.

The theme of the morning was engagement with groups such as staff, participants, and the local community.

CSF Funding and Strategy Development Manager Jackie Thornton explained various aspects of the Foundation’s engagement strategy and highlighted the power of sport as an engagement tool:

“Sport is incredibly powerful and as Norwich City FC’s official charity, we use it to improve the lives of people who need it most.”

A video was shown, that demonstrated the positive work of CSF in the local community, featuring seventeen-year-old Logan Swallow who, thanks to the Kicks programme, has made huge strides in the right direction.

The Kicks sessions helped to take Logan off the streets, steer him away from trouble and gave him the confidence to pursue his dreams of becoming a coach.

Logan was then introduced to the audience and explained how the Kicks programme has helped turned his life around and that now he is keen to help others.

Breakfast was then served and a Q&A session followed with guest speakers David McNally and Alex Neil, led by host and ex-Canary Adrian Forbes. This gave company representatives the chance to ask questions about various aspects of the club in relation to sport and business.

When asked about the importance of the work of the Foundation, David McNally said:

“There is this encompassing desire to help those less fortunate at the Community Sports Foundation, from disability sport programmes to Street Life Soccer, to programmes such as Kicks which has dramatically helped Logan.

“It was fantastic to see Logan stood here today and to hear how much progress he has made, all thanks to the incredible support of CSF.”

A generous £260 was raised from donations on the morning, which will go towards continuing to improve the lives of many more disadvantaged and disabled people across Norfolk.