New Years Day – a time to remember Robbie……………..

New Years Day you can usually find me curled up under a duvet on the sofa watching an old film, but yesterday my youngest son Tom and I went to a football match at the Bromsgrove Rovers ground.
In July 2009 Robbie Laws, a great friend of my daughters and her boyfriend Brad, was killed in Helmand whilst on his first tour of duty with 2nd Mercian Regiment. Over the months there have been many fund raisers in Robbies memory, and all money raised goes to Help for Heroes. Yesterday, thirty two of his old school friends (lots of subs required obviously!), ignored their hangovers, lack of sleep and the awful weather and played a great game of football to raise even more money for the cause and to once again remember their mate Robbie.

What a motley crew they looked as they lined up before the match, but they rose to the occasion and played a great game, although the cramps and muscle spasms really kicked in during the second half! Lots of bodies lying around on the pitch, which was a great source of amusement to the spectators. Eventually, I’m pleased to say, Brads team won 4 – 3, although they were all winners really for making the effort. I certainly couldn’t have run round a pitch for 90 minutes even without a hangover!

After the game there was a raffle and an auction and hot dogs and chips all round, and the day raised an amazing £2000 for Help for Heroes – with my daughter ‘on the gate’ and selling raffle tickets they were always going to make a good profit as she drives a hard bargain!

Well done lads (and lasses) for organising such a great afternoons entertainment and making so much money for such a worthwhile cause. One things for sure, Robbie will never be forgotten by those of us who had the pleasure of knowing him – such a cheeky chap, you will all make sure of that.