Leamington FC volunteers do their bit for cancer charity

Carol and Ron Ainsworth, who have been volunteering in all manner of ways for Leamington Football Club for the past seven years, are inviting anyone who has a spare moment on Wednesday to pop in for cake at the club and make a donation to the charity’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning campaign.

The retirees, who are originally from Liverpool, put in hours of their free time to provide catering and hosting services to the club, clean the premises and keep the players’ kits and changing rooms in good order.

Mrs Ainsworth said: “I’m a ‘Jack of all trades’. It keeps me busy. When we moved to Leamington, we came to the club to play petanque and fell in love with the place because there are such lovely people here. We wanted to be involved and we absolutely love it.”

The pain of losing their 31-year-old son-in-law Kenny Critchley, who died on the birthday of his wife (their daughter) in 2000, is still very rife.

Mrs Ainsworth said: “The Macmillan nurses were wonderful with him. We want to do anything we can do to help anybody who suffers from cancer.”

The 68-year-old and fellow members of the ‘Wednesday scrubbers club’, as they like to call themselves, were originally planning to hold an in-house coffee morning, but decided to try to raise more funds by opening it out to the public. They are hoping some Brakes players might be able to join them during the event, which takes place from 11am to 2pm.

Macmillan’s Warwickshire branch is aiming to raise £97,000 this year to help the charity reach its national target of £8.5 million. It is not too late to organise a coffee morning or other event. Call 0845 6021246 or go online.