On Wednesday night Shrewsbury Town in the Community were delighted to be able to bring the Shrewsbury Town first team down to their South Shropshire Hub at Ludlow Football Stadium as they took on Newport County in a pre-season friendly.
The fixture gave the chance for Town fans down in South Shropshire to see the first team play closer to home, along with allowing Shrewsbury Town in the Community to showcase just some of the work which is carried out from the facilities in Ludlow. Not only were supporters able to see the huge amount of work which has been put into the facility, which is used by over 6,000 participants throughout the year, but also allowed the Ludlow Advanced Development Centre to showcase their skills in front of the crowd before the game on the all-weather pitch at the stadium.
First team manager Sam Ricketts later surprised the group by coming to give the boys a quick talk about the importance of resilience and a positive attitude before revealing that Charlie Williams, who has leukaemia had been picked to be a mascot on Sunday for the visit of Aston Villa to Montgomery Waters Meadow. Charlie was picked from over 100 nominees from across Shropshire and was decided to be the most deserving of the place thanks to his courage and bravery in facing his condition, never allowing it to prevent him from playing football with Orleton Juniors. Charlie will walk out with the teams this Sunday.
Although the result wasn’t great for Town, it was still a fantastic occasion and a great reward for all the hard work that staff have put in to getting the facilities up to standard over the past few years. It is hoped that it will become an annual occurrence going forward.
Jamie Edwards, CEO of Shrewsbury Town in the Community said in the build up that, “this fixture has been our aspiration since we started delivering our projects in the South Shropshire area in 2015. We are really grateful to Sam and the first team in allowing this to happen. There is a huge Town following in the area and it is real reward for the staff who have worked so hard in delivering our projects across South Shropshire.”
View the full gallery from the evening.