[Hammers trio support Christmas Toy Appeal]
Hammers trio lend their support to Ambition Aspire Achieve’s Christmas Toy Appeal
A trio of West Ham United players showed their support for Ambition Aspire Achieve’s Kevin Jenkins OBE Newham Christmas Toy Appeal with a visit last week. Defender Kurt Zouma was joined by Academy youngsters Will Greenidge and Remy Coddington at the Appeal’s headquarters in Stratford to help select and pack toys to be distributed to local children in need. Ambition Aspire Achieve (AAA) is an official charity partner of the Hammers and delivers a wide range of projects and services from their two hubs and across local communities in Newham. Their work particularly focuses on and supports children and young people most in need, including those with disabilities or additional needs.
Part of their work in Newham is the Christmas Toy Appeal, now in its 45th year and named in honour of the charity’s founder, the late Kevin Jenkins OBE. Each child supported will be experiencing the ravages of poverty each and every day, compounded by their own combination of multiple difficulties and challenges, such as poor and/or temporary accommodation, food hunger, poor wellbeing, emotional needs, educational underachievement, behavioural difficulties, disability and/or additional needs, being a victim of personal abuse, violence or bereavement. Without support, a Christmas Day to enjoy would not be possible.
AAA will be aiming to provide for each child a Christmas stocking of gifts specific to their age, needs, abilities and wherever possible, their most wished for gift to open on Christmas morning, allowing them to experience a real Christmas Day, rather than just another day the same as every other.
[Kurt Zouma helps packs presents for local children in need in Newham]
Zouma was only too happy to provide his support for such a worthy cause, both by helping the volunteers on site and delivering a donation of toys, scarves and Hammers goodies from the Club.
“We have been preparing some gifts for some kids who unfortunately wouldn’t otherwise have the chance to have them,” he explained. “This is a beautiful idea to help these young people have the chance like the others.
“I have young kids myself, aged four, seven and eight, so I know how it feels for them. They want Santa to come and give them some presents, so it means a lot to me to be able to help other kids out. Kids give you joy, they give you everything you need, so you just want to make them happy and see them smile – that’s your gift.
“This is a family Club and we are trying to make gifts for other people as well, which is important.”
[Remy Coddington helps select toys for the appeal]
For 18-year-old forward Coddington, he too was humbled by the opportunity to make a difference for local children, as part of the Club’s Players’ Project.
He added: “We’ve learned about this great charity, giving these gifts to young children in the local area. We’ve been picking out some presents for the kids who don’t have ways to get presents otherwise, so it’s been great being able to help.
“It makes you think about how we might take stuff for granted. Me being a young kid, I’ve been brought up having Christmas presents all the time, so being here and seeing all these presents for the less fortunate makes you feel honoured to be a part of it.”
Ambition Aspire Achieve chief executive Jonny Boux explained that support for the Appeal this year is even more important than ever before.
“The Appeal now is being needed more than ever, from the previous 44 Appeals,” he said. “We’re receiving more referrals and requests for help from families and children in need than ever before.
“It’s been amazing to have Kurt, Will and Remy here to help out today. Having anything to do with West Ham players really helps to raise the profile of the Appeal.
“Newham is a unique borough in many ways. It has huge opportunity and areas of great wealth, yet the shocking stat is that around 50 per cent of the children in Newham are growing up in poverty.
“So, to have that imbalance of huge wealth and opportunity, and then poverty and depravation, we feel that shouldn’t exist. That’s partly why we do what we do, to address that.
“Through the past six years, West Ham have always helped the Toy Appeal, they’ve helped promote other causes as well, so we are very proud to be one of West Ham’s chosen charities and we really do appreciate the support and link with the Club.”
[Will Greenidge, Kurt Zouma and Remy Coddington post with donations to the appeal from the Hammers]
The charity’s operations manager and Christmas co-ordinator Paula Blake was thrilled to be able to add Zouma, Greenidge and Coddington to her army of around 100 volunteers for the campaign.
“We have around 100 volunteers working on the Appeal, through different organisations and different corporate groups, through staff who have given up their free time,” said Blake.
“The volunteers we’ve had here from West Ham today have been great! They’ve taken on board what we’ve said and have embraced it, showing a really good understanding of the Appeal.
“They’ve done a lot of bags between them, so that’s plenty of families they’ve helped out.
“We are desperately in need [for more help this year], so anyone who can make any kind of donation can go to our website, where we have a JustGiving page. Anything that anybody can do to promote the Appeal is much needed this year, even more so than ever.”
To support the Kevin Jenkins OBE Newham Christmas Toy Appeal, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/KevinJenkinsChristmasAppeal2022, where any cash donations are converted into gifts to fill Christmas stockings and make a difference for Newham’s most disadvantaged, vulnerable and at-risk children.
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[U21s]
U21s beaten in Crawley Town friendly
West Ham United U21s fought valiantly but fell to a 2-1 defeat to Crawley Town in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Tuesday afternoon. Mark Robson’s outfit pulled level in the first half through Keenan Appiah-Forson’s well-struck effort, after the EFL League Two outfit had taken an early lead thanks to a neat finish from Dom Telford. Despite the Hammers’ chances in the second half it was Jack Powell who netted the winner for Crawley. The former Academy of Football youngster converted from inside the area when a through-ball from Telford left him with just Krisztián Hegyi to beat from close range. The fixture was organised as part of the U21s’ preparation for the resumption of their 2022/23 campaign, with the young Hammers back in Premier League 2 action at Everton on 6 January. At Rush Green Stadium, the U21s almost took the lead inside five minutes as Appiah-Forson rushed Crawley goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe, although the blocked clearance drifted wide. Remy Coddington was then only denied the opener by a recovering tackle from Ludwig Francillette, before the visitors took the lead, with Telford rifling in the first goal of the afternoon with his left foot. But Robson’s side stood tall in east London and responded quickly through Appiah-Forson who capitalised on a mistake in the Crawley defence, and, once gifted possession, found the net with a thunderous strike. The No7 almost turned provider at the end of the first half when his cross from the right found Coddington, but the forward’s effort was deflected wide thanks to a late intervention.
After the break, Appiah-Forson almost found the Hammers second, but he was crowded out in the area when Harrison Ashby’s cross landed at his feet, while Crawley Town’s Mazeed sent a header wide and then forced a comfortable save from Hegyi, who later was quickly down to his right to deter Telford. With 20 minutes to be played, Robson introduced Junior Robinson, Lennon Peake and Josh Briggs for Levi Laing, Coddington and Ashby. But Crawley struck the decisive blow in the 75th minute when Telford found Powell, who passed the ball into the net from near the penalty spot to restore the visitors’ lead. The Irons saw Robinson’s left-footed volley fade wide late on and were unable to grab their second equaliser of the afternoon, so had to settle for a defeat despite a solid performance.
West Ham United U21s: Hegyi (c), Ashby (Robinson 70), Laing (Briggs 70), Potts, Forbes, Greenidge, Woods (Trialist 77), Ekwah, Appiah-Forson, Swyer, Coddington (Peake 70) Sub not used: Kinnear (GK)
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Women’s WSL clash with Arsenal to be shown live on Sky Sports
It has been confirmed that West Ham United Women’s Barclays Women’s Super League (WSL) home clash with Arsenal has been selected for TV broadcast. The fixture, which is scheduled to take place at Chigwell Construction Stadium on Sunday 5 February has now been given a later kick-off time, with the game now scheduled to get underway at 6:45pm (GMT). Paul Konchesky’s Hammers currently sit fifth in the WSL standings, after picking up five wins from their opening ten matches. When they return from the Christmas break, they will face Manchester City on Sunday 15 January, also live on Sky Sports. Arsenal beat the Irons 3-1 in the previous league meeting at Borehamwood back in October, but Konchesky will be hoping that his side will be able to come up with a result this time around.
Ticket information for the fixture against the Gunners will be communicated in due course.
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Women’s team learn of potential Conti Cup quarter-final opponents
West Ham United Women have learnt of their potential Continental Tyres League Cup quarter-final opponents, should they advance to the knockout stages. The Hammers will play the best second placed team if they make the quarter-finals, which will seem them face either Manchester City, Leicester City or Liverpool. In Tuesday’s Conti Cup draw, which took place live on TalkSport 2, the Hammers or Brighton & Hove Albion were drawn away to to one of three WSL sides, with one more group stage match to play to see who will advance into the knockout rounds. West Ham United’s clash with Brighton was called off on Saturday 17 December due to a frozen pitch at Broadfield Stadium, and the new tie will not take place until Wednesday 18 January, as was confirmed earlier this week.
Should they secure a win or a draw in the match against the Seagulls, then they will progress into the latter stages, setting up an away tie against either the Citizens, the Foxes, or the Reds. The quarter-final contest will take place on either Wednesday 25 or Thursday 26 January 2023, with further information to be released after the final group stage game with Brighton.
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