A look back at some of the highlights of the past 12 months

January

The dreaded L-word (lockdown) looked firmly in the rear-view mirror, which meant that interactive events such as ‘FC Live’ were back! We kicked off the year with a session delivered by Ryan Jarvis, and though FC Live was delivered digitally during lockdown, we all know ain’t nothing like the real thing!

It was also a busy month for the charity as we relaunched our programmes ahead of an exciting and jam-packed 2022.

February

In February it was time to shine the spotlight on Realising Potential, as a group of young participants celebrated being the first to complete the programme. The Lionesses were in town, so the Foundation celebrated with a free, girls’ football session at The Nest.

PL Inspires students were paid a visit by a group of academy players and Adam Drury took the reins for our second FC Live of the year. Young Canaries Megan and Amber were called up to England an U16 camp whilst The Nest hosted a Football Festival for close to 100 girls. Finally, Foundation apprentice Chloe Dobson was chosen as Norwich City FC’s ‘PL Kicks Local Legend’!

March

March saw pupils enjoy dishes inspired by Norwich City players as part of Active Canaries Health Month. Over 40 schools took part in a PL Primary Stars tournament, and Foundation sides enjoyed a friendly fixture at The Nest (we’re sure you’ve seen the TikTok).

@norwichcitycsf

Raw passion! 🙌🏻 To celebrate #worlddownsyndromeday the DS team took on students from our Football & Education programmes in a friendly! 💛💚

♬ original sound – Norwich City CSF

April

In April, Active Canaries starred for a second time, with Sargent and Giannoulis surprising school pupils in the auditorium to share some of their native foods. The Canaryball Rally saw teams tackle an 1800-mile round trip from the start to the finish line, including the North Coast 500 of Scotland, raising £60,000 for the Foundation. This wasn’t the only fundraiser of the month, as the first of the Coastal Challenge series also took place.

May

May kicked off with a Mental Health Awareness Morning for our Run for Me group at The Nest. Students from three local schools were given the opportunity to tour Carrow Road thanks to our PL Inspires programme and fundraising fans graced the Carrow Road turf to raise £5000 for the Foundation.

June

Ian Thornton was awarded OBE honours in June as a commendation for his services to the Norfolk Community. Fundraising cyclists tackled the 422-mile trip from Koblenz to Carrow Road, whilst teardrops were shed as walkers completed a non-stop 47-mile Coastal Walk Challenge.

July

In July, fundraising walkers conquered the Three Peaks Challenge in testing conditions, starting off in the north with Ben Nevis, before heading down to Scafell Pike and concluding with Snowdon.

We said farewell to Foundation legend, Christoph Zimmermann as he decided his future lies away from Carrow Road and said congratulations to primary school student Riley who claimed the PL Primary Stars Superstar award for his outstanding work.

We also hosted a Wish Day, which was a dream come true for a number of incredible, young people as we treated them to a day out at the Lotus Training Centre to watch a training session and meet their Norwich City idols.

August

In August we welcomed Ukrainian refugees and their host families for a fun day at The Nest, whilst back across the Channel, representatives from our Walking Football Team brought the IWFF Championship home to England. Tuesday the 9^th of August was a night to remember as the Foundation enjoyed a takeover day at Carrow Road during the Canaries’ cup clash against Birmingham City, raising £24,000 in the process.

On the 13^th, fundraising walkers tackled Yorkshire’s Three Peaks in scorching hot conditions, Disability and Development teams competed for the Canary Cup and Jackie Thornton was made a PL Community Captain for her outstanding contributions towards building The Nest and bringing the local community together.

September

September saw celebration of long service as two staff members hit the 20-year milestone – that’s a long, long time! We took a day to thank all of our partners for their outstanding support throughout the year and fans were in safe hands as goalkeeping coach, Ed Wootten hosted an evening FC Live under the lights at The Nest.

FORE! – Finally, Norwich legends, Dean Ashton and Bryan Gunn battled it out for bragging rights at Royal Norwich at our fundraising Golf Day.

October

In October the Foundation launched two brand-new programmes focusing on mental health – Team Talk and Ahead of the Game. Sponsors, Orange Fox Electrical unveiled a defibrillator that they kindly installed at The Nest free of charge, and Soccer Schools participants in Wymondham were surprised by Todd Cantwell and Liam Gibbs!

We also launched Duncan’s Club, our new support programme for people with dementia, which is the only weekly session of its kind for people in Norfolk with dementia.

Oh, and a little event called Run Norwich finally happened as a record 6214 people ran this city in torrential rain.

November

November marked the second international call-up of the year for young goalkeeper, Amber and a first for Bea as she joined the Portugal U16s. On the Buzzer, City! returned as Rob Butler was joined by Daniel Wynne and quiz debutant Hamish Rogers. The Foundation supported Stonewall’s annual rainbow laces campaign and Norfolk Business Leaders enjoyed a fundraising dinner at Carrow Road.

Finally, the debut season of Planet League reached its conclusion with Norwich City placing ninth out of 67 competing sides – credit to our fantastic Schools team for this feat!