Not only has she spearheaded the successful fundraising team, Helon has also recently been appointed onto the board of directors. Danny wants to share with you why many of the club’s incredible volunteers like Helen dedicate their time to running the club.

Hi Helen, can you explain a bit about your role at the club?

“I am the club’s fundraising chairperson and also a recently appointed director. I’m looking to bring a fans perspective to the board. I am also responsible for organising the coach this season, with the aim of creating some extra funds for the club.”

How did you start?

“I started last season with my daughter Sophie and we started off with a raffle before every game. The aim was to create some extra money for the club. It was never meant to be a big fundraising activity and I never expected to have to get a fundraising team together at the end of last season. That being said, all of the fundraising group have been absolutely brilliant. They do all they can to help the cause and I am very thankful for that. However, I suppose I have been the driving force behind all the group, as I do initiate and carry out tasks myself whenever I am not working."

You’ve played a crucial role fundraising for the club over the past few months. How have you found it?

“Difficult. Sadly, there isn’t much money within the local community to start with, so it’s hard to get the money together, but even more so when at the time we were still finding out exact amount we needed to raise. It is incredibly difficult to fundraise when you don’t know the exact amount you are aiming for. Then you have to consider that everyone else is also trying to raise money for other good causes, so we had to try and think of different ideas.”

What’s it like as a volunteer and being able to juggle working life as well as volunteering at the club?

“It’s difficult at times. I would be at the Amber Dew Events Stadium every game doing raffles, then I’d be doing a car boot on a Sunday Morning. I actually had to buy another shed for my garden to put all of the car boot stuff in. This was because we had nowhere to store it all, as my house was full of all the generous donations for the club. Every Sunday we’d then have to load the car up, unload it and then load it back up again. This is all very demanding especially as I have to consider that my husband is disabled, and he helps along with Sophie.

A lot of the people around me say, I’m doing too much for the club, but if I hadn’t have done what I did, I don’t know where the club would be and that worried me.”

How did you get attached to the club?

“Sophie was the reason why I originally got attached to the club. They did a lot of stuff for her that I will never be able to forget, and I will never be able to repay the club for what they’ve done for us. If it wasn’t for the club, she wouldn’t have been here. Nobody knew the extent as to what she was going through. It had a really big impact on not just our family but everything really. We do really appreciate that the club went over and beyond what any football club should have done. I felt that I needed to do my bit for the club to help pay them back in their time of need, just as they did for us.

The Sun Newspaper ran a story about Sophie’s challenges and some of the bullying she’d received. The club saw this and approached us, as they knew we were supporters of the club. We then nominated the club for an award and we were awarded second place. Then Sophie and her sister went to London for the Peoples Champions Children’s Awards and if we’d have won, we would have won £10,000 for the club. That’s really how it all evolved. We had some really great season’s supporting the club with back-to-back promotions, but we will always carry on supporting the club. The chairman, Gary Keyzor saw me, how the fans saw me, often calling me ‘Mrs Lowestoft’. I’d like to think that the fans trust me and know that my family have been through tough times, but I’m always there to support the club.

I’m proud that Sophie is the vice-chairperson of the fundraising team. She spends a lot of time up there whenever she can. She’s battled through some tough times and I think she has come out a much stronger person.

I remember one time we surprised her by taking to the club for a surprise breakfast with some of her favourite players. The presents and the gifts she got from the players and actually two of those players are now our club’s managers this season. Jamie Godbold and Andy Reynolds would often play small funny pranks on her which she really appreciated. Gary Keyzor, was also fantastic, always joking with her and offering support for her when she needed. The club feels like such a family.

I’m pleased to say that our fundraising team have raised over £11,000 for the club since the end of April. Another pleasing thing is that we are starting to use clubhouse more for social functions. We had around 30 people attend the first Bingo night, whereas now we are expecting near on 100 people for this month’s (24th of August) Bingo night. That’s good, because it’s generating the club extra money to cover the costs.”

What would you say is the best thing about volunteering for this club?

“I just think it’s nice to be able to help the local community and bring back things that have been missing from the club. We are having different teams, such as Waveney FC and the newly formed veterans team play some of their games at the Amber Dew Events Stadium. We’ve also had BBQ events and other social events over the past few weeks, which have brought in different people to visit the club. Ultimately, I just want to be there to help and to make the club a better place for the community.”

What was your favourite moment as a Lowestoft fan and as a volunteer?

“As a supporter, for me, it has to be when the club achieved promotion to the National League North, although the league wasn’t easy for us with all the travelling, but it felt like such an achievement when the club for the club to be playing at that level.

As a fundraiser, it’s just to have got as far as we’ve got. I didn’t think when I took on the role that we’d be able achieve this amount, but Gary always felt we could and his support has been fantastic. The level of fundraising that we have done in such a short space of time has been brilliant, it wasn’t until the last week or so that I realised the amount we had raised. This has been helped by those generous fans who would give to the club without question. It’s also nice to hear them say that seeing us before entering the stadium is part of their matchday experience. We always welcome everybody here, there’re people that we know that might need a hand to the stand, so we will help them with that. As I said we really are one big family.”

What’s coming up at the club?

“On the 24th of August, we have our Bingo night, which we plan to continue to run every month. We’ve also got the music gig events which run every other Saturday and that’s in joint partnership with a Mental Health charity. Paul Hammond is the DJ and does all the things for mental health at Lowestoft Town. We’re trying to promote more music events. We are already in the process of organising a Christmas party for the Children which we hope to bring you more details of closer to the time. So, there are lots of events coming up, so make sure you keep checking the club’s website and social media accounts so that you don’t miss out.”

How could someone reading this piece get involved with volunteering for the club?

“They can just get in touch with me and we would be more than happy to have anybody onboard who would really like to help us. We are in need of good local people to help contribute, as it will increase productivity at the club.”

“I Just wanted to say a final thank you to the following people. The fundraising team, we are a team with different personalities that all pull together and without that team, we wouldn’t have gotten this far. I’d hate to think what would have happened to the club if it wasn’t for their efforts. So, a really a big thank you to the fundraising team.

Also, a thank you to the board. There are certain board members that kept the club going last season, who without their input, I don’t know where the club would be. Obviously, Gary Keyzor, who has come back in to support the club once again, following his previous nine-year spell driving the club forward, has had a massive impact on my time at the club.

We are a new board with fresh ideas with the ambition of bringing back the good times for the club. I’m hoping we will start afresh with a new team and new managers. I’m really excited and happy to see a lot of younger players in the team and It’s nice to feel that buzz around the club again.”.

On behalf of everyone at Lowestoft Town FC, we would like to thank Helen and her family for their superb continuous commitment to the club. If you have been inspired by Helen’s story and too would like to volunteer in some capacity at the club, then please contact info@lowestofttownfc.co.uk

By Danny Cook