Formby High student delivers Liverpool FC kit to football fans in Sierra Leone

Apr 1 2009 Formby Times

A FORMBY High student delivered a set of Liverpool FC kits to a supporter’s club in Sierra Leone.

Ian Goley spent the second week in March in the west African country, and presented 16 Liverpool kits to the local supporter’s club as part of his Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award.

The kit was donated by Liverpool FC, and the big trip was organised by the Waterloo Partnership, which is chaired by local MP Claire-Curtis Thomas. It was set up to forge links with the Merseyside town’s name sake in Sierra Leone.

Ian, who is a Youth Parliament member for North Sefton, said: “The aim of the trip was to show the community of Waterloo, Sierra Leone the plans for a Learning Resource Centre which is due to start being built in October.

‘‘Sierra Leone has one of the worst health statistics in the world and most people have very little, especially compared to the UK. Despite having next to nothing, the people in Sierra Leone have a huge sense of community, pride, expectation and hope.

“In order to go to school in Sierra Leone you have to have a uniform, which is something many families cannot afford. Education is seen as a way to achieve and is seen as a privilege – and is not taken for granted, as it sometimes is in the UK. We presented the LFC kits to the Waterloo Liverpool Supporters team.

“I managed to last a 20-minute game of football with the team, which was great fun!