Shoosmiths' charity family fun day at AFC Monton with the Jet2 allstars

Last Sunday 2 April, spring arrived just in time for the inaugural Shoosmiths Manchester family fun day held at AFC Monton in Salford, an end-of-year fundraiser for our charity of the year Mustard Tree, who help combat poverty and prevents homelessness.

Masterminded by Clare Fletcher, Senior Business Development Events Executive, and supported by Ceri Jones’ estates management team, a team of resourceful and talented trainees, lawyers and paralegals conjured up a brilliant day for all in the sunshine. 

The centrepiece was a football match between the Jet2 All Stars – a celebrity team of familiar faces from some of our favourite soaps like Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks - and the Shoosmiths Superstars, led by a core group of our lawyers, trainees, legal executives and paralegals, and joined by a large Mustard Tree staff contingent. 

Despite racing away to a two-goal lead with a penalty expertly slotted home by the Superstars captain Matt Brown, eventually the forces of showbiz took control (after introducing a couple of young, quick, players who nobody recognised but who clearly gave the Jet2 All Stars that vital competitive edge) and ran out 5-2 winners.

But that was the least significant result of the day. Our Shoosmiths organising committee worked incredibly hard in the months and weeks leading up to the big event, in their free time over and above the day job, as year-end approaches. The day brought together our people, family and friends with the community of Monton and Worsley, who turned up in their hundreds to watch the game and enjoy the fun – hot food, Mr Whippy, cakes, face-painting, a toy stall and even Ninja Coffee…

And above all, together we raised the fantastic sum of £3,682.72 for Mustard Tree’s vital work, thanks largely to an amazing roster of raffle prizes, many of which were kindly donated by our partners, staff, clients and suppliers.

The fun day has helped to highlight the incredibly important work Mustard Tree are doing in Greater Manchester every day: 

• more than 10,000 people coming through their doors every month (up by 100% since this time last year);
• up to 600 new people registering for their services each month; and
• 300 people registered with the charity as NFA (“no fixed abode”), which means that they are either sleeping on the streets or sofa surfing – this number doesn’t include the tens of thousands in temporary accommodation (hotels/hostels and small flats).

Our highlight of the day was welcoming Bader Ayed into the Shoosmiths Superstars team. Bader was a professional footballer in Kuwait before arriving in the UK in January 2022 as an asylum seeker. He is currently enrolled on Mustard Tree’s “Freedom Project”, training in the coffee shop for two days a week and is undertaking computer confidence and ESOL (English lessons) and aspires to become a football coach in Manchester. 

This epitomised the Shoosmiths approach of working together – not only within the firm, but with our clients, contacts, charity partner and the wider community - to make a positive difference.