Charity supports school work

A school that supports autistic children has been chosen as Nottingham Forest Football Club’s charity for the new season.

Hope House School, Balderton, has connections with the club through three of its patrons, the manager, Mr Colin Calderwood, Mr Kris Commons, of Kelham, a former Forest winger who is now at Derby, and press officer Mr Fraser Nicholson, of Charles Street, Newark.

The club also has an association with Newark because the chairman, Mr Nigel Doughty, lives just outside the town.

The news of the club’s support was announced yesterday at the City Ground.

Hope House School was set up by Mrs Terri Westmoreland (58) of Lowfield Lane, Balderton.

She was inspired by her grandson, Hugh (12) who has a rare genetic condition, opitz syndrome, which is similar to autism. His brother, Henry (7) also has the condition.

The school is on the site of a former hostel for the homeless, The Hollies, on Barnby Road, and was built using donations and through fundraising.

Mr Nicholson said he was asked to get involved with the school by Mrs Westmoreland last year because she wanted to raise its profile.

He then asked Mr Calderwood and Mr Commons who agreed to become patrons.

Mr Nicholson said: “I put it to the people at the club and they were delighted to make Hope House the charity for this season.

“We hold various fundraising activities during the season and they can do bucket collections at the games.”

He said the club had a kitty that various organisations put money into and a certain amount of money was always left over from their Christmas toy appeal.

Every football club in the country also gets a percentage of money from the FA Community Shield.

The money is raised through a combination of ticket sales and programmes from the first match of the season between the Premier League and FA Cup champions.

Mr Nicholson said: “I don’t know the exact amount yet but it certainly runs into thousands of pounds. I hope it will be a significant amount for them.”

Forest will also donate signed shirts and balls for the school to auction.

Mrs Westmoreland said: “The fact that they became patrons means there will be a lot more people throughout the county who will hear about Hope House.

“The charity will be in match programmes so people from other cities will hear about us.”

Mrs Westmoreland said she had never been to a football match but was looking forward to going to a Forest game when she collected money for the school.

She said: “I’m going to become an avid reader of the sports pages to see what they’re doing.

“People are so passionate about their football.

“Having a signed shirt may raise hundreds of pounds for us.”

Mrs Westmoreland said the first building at the school was open and they currently had two children attending.

The administration building has had a new roof and windows.

The bungalows, which will become a teaching and accommodation block, need new roofs, windows and doors.

She said they had still got a lot of work to do, and they needed to buy furniture and computer equipment.

She said they also needed around £3,000 for plants and trees for a sensory and wildlife garden.

Nottingham Forest Football Club has also sponsored one of two puppies that are going to be trained to help pupils.

The puppies are living with Mrs Westmoreland but she hopes they will stay at the school once the accommodation block is open.