It was a football family affair at Reading with the entire club seemingly getting involved in Creating Chances and some long standing commitments being made:

  • Bobby Convey visited a children's ward the Royal Berkshire Hospital to spend time with sick children. Bobby, who has spent a lot of time in hospital through injury, was so impressed by the group that he subsequently agreed to become a volunteer and now regularly visits.

  • Nicky Shorey attended an outreach day with bereaved children at Over the Wall and got involved in acting, dancing and face painting - with Nicky's face covered in paint by the end of it. Not that Nicky minded as has now agreed to be an Ambassador for the project.

  • The Royal Families is a fundraising organisation run by the partners of the Reading FC players and Andre Bikey, Ibrahima Sonko, Graeme Murty, Nicky Shorey and Shane Long attended a cheque presentation evening for the charities that had benefited from the £100,000 raised by Royal Families.

  • Marcus Hahnemann, Michael Duberry, Stephen Hunt, and Kevin Doyle hosted children from the Berkshire Blind Society at the training ground. The children took penalties against the players who were blindfolded.

    For further information on the club's every day community work please click here

    While the Creating Chances Launch was attended by Graeme Murty, here follows a breakdown of Reading's Creating Chances beneficiaries:

    PLACES FOR PLAYERS WINNERS

    Each of the following received a £2,000 donation and a player appearance:

    Dingley Family & Play Therapy Group - Bobby Convey
    Millennium Volunteers - Graham Murty
    Over The Wall - Nicky Shorey

    CLUB COMMUNITY PROGRAMMES HIGHLIGHTED

    The following received a £2,000 donation and player appearances:

    Graeme Murty Radio Show - Graeme Murty
    Mental Health Festival - Glen Little
    STOP campaign with Network Rail - Liam Rosenior and Ulises De La Cruz

    CLUB CHARITIES HIGHLIGHTED

    The following received a £2,000 donation and player appearances:

    Berkshire Blind Society - Marcus Hahnemann
    The Royal Families - Andre Bikey, Ibrahima Sonko, Graeme Murty, Nicky Shorey & Shane Long

    PROMOTIONAL

    The following promotion work to support Creating Chances was undertaken:

    Match of the Day 2: Dingley Family & Play Therapy Group - Bobby Convey

    Reading PLACES FOR PLAYERS RUNNERS UP

    Each of the following received a £2,000 donation:

    Autism Speaks
    Berkshire Community Foundation
    Bicycle Helmet Initiative Trust
    Bishops Green Youth Project
    Blessed Hugh Faringdon School
    Connexions Berkshire
    Feed The Children
    Fire Services National Benevolent Fund
    Just Around The Corner
    MASKS
    Parity For Disability
    PEACH
    Reading CAB
    Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust
    Seesaw
    St John Ambulance
    Thames Hospicecare
    Thames Valley & Chiltern Air Ambulance
    Wheelpower
    Wrightchoice Community Sports Association

    Reading 'YOUR SHOT' COMPETITION WINNER

    John Callaghan, aged 26 from Kent, won the Reading Your Shot Experience and was able to:

  • Have a personal stadium tour
  • Experience behind the scenes broadcast experience
  • Do a pre-match interview on local radio
  • Meet and chat with Steve Coppell & his coaching staff in the dressing room
  • Meet and have his photograph taken with players as they arrived
  • Pre-match meal in the media suite
  • Assist/spend time with the ground staff and kit man
  • Follow the teams out of the tunnel, then join the captains and match officials for photographs on the centre spot seconds before kick-off
  • Meet Chairman John Madejski in the boardroom
  • Have two seats in the press box for the match
  • Have his own post-match interview in the tunnel
  • Attend post-match media interviews with both managers
  • Feature in the matchday programme and on the official website

    You can return to the Creating Chances index by clicking here