Westleton Drake Charity Shield
On Thursday 21st May, Westleton Drake hosted the first annual ‘Westleton Drake Charity Shield’ in aid of Prostate Cancer UK. The tournament was a resounding success with the total amount raised from the game being well on its way towards the target total of £10,000.
We had 6 players competing on the day, with MD Larry as our cheerleader! There were 4 teams, with the partners of Westleton Drake all represented. Match 1 was Team Hyde vs. Team Smith and Match 2 was Team Bolland vs. Team Willis. The winners would face off in the final, the losers in the 3rd/4th place play-off.
The Studio44 involvement consisted Doug and Alex on Team Smith, with James, Sam, Nanda and our newest recruit Nick on Team Bolland.
We arrived early and had plenty of time to warm up, and with the event being held at Leyton Orient Football Club everyone was excited to be playing on a proper pitch – much more stimulating than the out of date Hawkenbury astro pitch we’re used to playing on!
Team Smith were up first against Team Hyde, which didn’t consist of any Studio44 players. Despite a heroic late goal from our very own Alex Cole and having the vast majority of possession and control throughout, Team Smith went down 2-1 and we found ourselves in the 3rd/4th place play-off. Despite losing, Doug and Alex were still able to enjoy an ice cream cone!
It was then Team Bolland against Team Willis – the less said about this the better and Team Bolland lost comfortably to secure a grudge match against Team Smith in the 3rd/4th place play-off. Nanda will certainly not remember this game fondly having missed an absolute sitter of a chance to score. This was the game we got the most video footage of, as you can see below with a particular highlight being a moment of skill from James Blacklee – something that we rarely see from him on the football pitch!
The 3rd/4th place play-off was a high scoring affair with Team Smith taking the lead, and then Team Bolland scoring twice to go ahead. The score was evened up when Doug scored a great goal – a cross from the left was expertly steered past the opposition keeper. Back and forth the game went and with 2 minutes to go it was 4-3 to Team Bolland. However 2 late goals from Team Smith reminiscent of Manchester United against Bayern Munich at the Nou Camp in 1999 left Team Smith victorious and Team Bolland shattered by their loss. As you can imagine bragging rights in the office went to Doug and Alex.
There were a couple of injuries with Doug sustaining a severe cut knee thanks to a rather unprofessional challenge from one of Team Bolland’s players and Sam got kicked in the shin and couldn’t continue – this was anything but the friendly it was supposed to be.
We didn’t participate in the final which saw Team Willis victorious, but after the game there was music, hot dogs, burgers (and veggie burgers for Larry and Nanda). There was also an inspirational speech from a Prostate Cancer survivor who owns a local garage and offers a discount to anyone who gets their prostate checked. This has resulted in over 30 saved lives over the past couple of years and brought home to us what the day was all about.
The whole Studio44 team had a great day and would like to thank everyone at Westleton Drake for putting on such a fantastic event. The whole team are already looking forward to next year’s event with James, Sam, Nick and Nanda planning their revenge!
If you would like to help make the event even more successful, then please do contribute towards the cause by visiting https://www.justgiving.com/westletondrake/ and contributing to the cause, raising money for Prostate Cancer UK.
