St Helens Mayor's Questions of Sport event raises £5,289 for charity
A charity night which saw some familiar faces from the world of sport come together to put their knowledge to the test has helped raise more than £5,000 for the mayor's appeal.
Article date: 6 March 2024
Held in the 1873 Lounge at Saints' Totally Wicked Stadium in front of an audience of 271, St Helens Mayor's Questions of Sport was organised by FC St Helens sporting director, Mark Hayes, in aid of the Mayor of St Helens Borough, Councillor Lynn Clarke's, chosen charity, the Deafness Resource Centre, as a way of recognising the borough's rich sporting success.
With quiz questions coming from David Ball who has worked as a quizmaster on the hit TV show, Question of Sport, for more than 40 years - former Saints captains, Paul Sculthorpe (Scully) and James Roby, captained the two teams made up of former world darts champion, Michael Smith; boxer, Liv Hussey; Saints women's Jodie Cunningham and recently crowned Masters darts champion, Stephen Bunting - as well as Claire Stancliffee and Jamie Clarke who captain the England national women and men's deaf football teams respectively.
After two hours of nonstop laughter, quizzing and challenges, including 'golf darts' - it was Scully's team that came out victorious, with an auction containing fascinating sports memorabilia following proceedings which took the overall amount raised to £5,289.13.
Hailing the evening a success, Mayor of St Helens Borough, Councillor, Lynn Clarke, who sits on the management committee of The Deafness Resource Centre, based in her Windle ward, said:
"As Mayor of St Helens Borough, it's a great honour to shine a spotlight and raise awareness on an often unsung and little-known charity like The Deafness Resource Centre which is very close to my heart and provides a crucial service for thousands of people in our communities and across the region.
"I'm delighted we were able to put on such a fantastic event for them involving some of the borough's biggest sports personalities and I'd like to thank everyone who made it possible and of course to the hundreds in attendance for their support in raising a significant amount of money for a very worthy cause."
Tanya McGibbon, Children and Families Service Manager at the Deafness Resource Centre, which is working hard to make sure deaf awareness is everywhere, added: "As a charity, funding for us to continue providing the services we offer is a constant battle so this money is a great help and will go towards the general running costs of the Deafness Resource Centre.
"Having Claire and Jamie, the captains of the men and women's England football deaf teams, as representation for the deaf community is incredible for us and means a lot to our families and young people who have new positive role models to inspire them and tell them they can achieve whatever they want to do."
The Deafness Resource supports around 3,000 people across Merseyside who are D/deaf* in living fulfilling and independent lives.
Anyone wishing to support the mayor's appeal can do so by sending donations directly to the Mayor's Secretary, Democratic Services, St Helens Borough Council, St Helens Town Hall, Victoria Square, St Helens, WA10 1HP. Cheques should be made payable to 'The Mayor's Appeal Fund'.
Donations can also be made online by visiting www.justgiving.com/campaign/supporttheDRC
*D/deaf is a collective term used to describe people who are profoundly deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or deafblind.
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