Charity news: Scottish football club raises money for Help for Heroes

Scottish football club Hibernian has made a concerted effort to raise funds for military charity Help for Heroes in recent months, with the club managing to present a substantial cheque to the good cause recently. 

The Championship club, based in Edinburgh, raised funds by selling ten commemorative football shirts that were made in memory of fallen soldiers. The tops were worn by the first team in their recent match against Queen of the South just before Remembrance Sunday and they were then sent to online auction for fans of the club to bid on. 

The ten shirts, which were part of the #HFCRemembers campaign, were each emblazoned with a poppy logo and the phrase "In Flanders fields, the poppies blow". The auction managed to raise an impressive £2,600 to date, with more still to come, said The Edinburgh Reporter. 

Hibernian said that so far, the best seller had been Lewis Stevenson, whose jersey sold for an impressive £385. In second place was Scott Allan, with the winning bidder having to shell out £370 for his shirt. 

The club added that the auction is still ongoing, with more of the one-of-a-kind jerseys now on sale. The remaining shirts – including Alan Combe, Paul Heffernan, Jake Sinclair, Callum Booth, Lewis Allan and Callum Crane – are available to bid for now.

Elsewhere, the Dorset Echo has reported that a group of whist enthusiasts from the area have managed to raise more than £500 for Help for Heroes. 

Celia Bowett, of Celia’s Whist Trips, presented the cheque along with other members of the group to Help for Heroes Dorset Co-ordinator Mike Court at Bovington Tank Museum, the newspaper reported. 

Gordon Thorner, a member of the whist group, said he felt it was important for the group to be donating money to the charity. He added that looking after injured servicemen and their families was a vital service provided by the charity.