The Club are delighted to announce Andy's Man Club as it's fifth charity partner.
In Summer 2018, the club announced a new and exciting opportunity that would give charities the chance to work alongside Bradford City and host a bucket collection at one of the five selected fixtures throughout the 2018/19 season.
Every penny raised at the bucket collection will go to the charity, to help them fund the amazing work they do.
Voting for the fifth fixture has closed and the club are delighted to announce that Andy's Man Club received the most votes and will be hosting a bucket collection on Saturday March 9 2019 (Bradford City v Peterborough United).
Andy's Man Club is a suicide prevention charity and is the founder of the social media campaign #ITSOKAYTOTALK.
Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK. One man every two hours ends their life by suicide, and 75% of men that end their life have no known mental health condition and are not known to services.
Established in 2016, Andy's Man Club was formed after the tragic loss of Andrew Roberts to suicide. Andrew had no known mental health condition and they believe if he had a place to go and talk, he would have been here today.
Andrew’s brother-in-law and mother – Luke Ambler and Elaine Roberts – wanted to prevent other families going through the tragedy they have.
Men often feel that showing emotion and talking about problems can be seen as a weakness, but at Andy's Man Club, men can attend support groups where they can meet likeminded men, to help each other through tough times from shared experience.
The first group was opened in Halifax in 2016 where nine men attended – two years later, the Shay Stadium opens it’s doors to 50+ men every Monday evening to have a chat and get problems off their chest.
All of their groups are run by volunteers up and down the UK, including one in Peterborough.
In summer last year, the charity launched a club in Peterborough - so they are excited to spread the word about their work, and raise awareness in two cities.
Andrew Greenway, Project Development Worker for the charity said: “It is huge for us to be a charity partner. The opportunity to raise awareness of our clubs in not only the area of Bradford but also to the visitors from Peterborough is a massive bonus.
“They're both areas where we have our clubs, that are open to ANY man over 18 to come and discuss ANY issues they're having in life and are open every Monday night at 7:00pm.
“This partnership is going to help us in a variety of ways.
“Firstly, the chance to reach as many men in the two areas as possible. The publicity that has already been afforded to us from Bradford City already has been very valuable.
“Any funds raised on the day will allow us to continue to support men in both Bradford and nationwide.
“The funds will be used to fund any expenses for the clubs such as tea and coffee making facilities and also allow us to buy promotional banners, leaflets and posters for the clubs.
“We would like to say a huge thank you to all of those who voted for us.
“Without people championing our cause our work would be a lot harder and to have gained the support of people voting for us here means the world to us.”
Charity number: 1179647
Website: Click here.
Twitter: @andysmanclubuk
Facebook: @andysmanclub