On Saturday 18th August, we held our third memorial tournament in memory of Mike on what would have been his 32nd birthday. Nearly 100 footballers battled for the Mike Clarke Memorial Trophy. It was a much drier day than the previous two years, which made for a much calmer atmosphere. 

The football ran really smoothly as the boys were very keen to get on and off the pitch with determination to win their games! A few of the games had extra excitement by going into penalties. They were certainly taking the tournament very seriously!

Our winners, Wrights Plasterers, managed to find enough energy to scoop a 5-0 win in the final making them the 2018 winners of the Mike Clarke Memorial Trophy.

On top of the football we had a few stalls running to raise extra funds. The BBQ was definitely in demand selling over 150 burgers and hotdogs! We had a small bar, cake stall, raffle, silent auction and tombola. I couldn’t have done any of this without the help of my family, so a big thank you to them! 

We managed to raise over £1,000 on the day to help towards the costs of funding further heart screenings.

This tournament will continue for a long while yet as there really is no other way to remember Mike – football was his life! 

Katie Bridges