Black Cats duo support EFL Week of Action with community visit
Foundation of Light PFA Player Ambassador, Aji Alese, and teammate Jenson Seelt marked EFL Week of Action with a visit to the Beacon of Light.
Round-up: Foundation of Light enjoys joyous July
As we welcome in August, Foundation of Light is looking back on July 2024 - the end of the 2023/24 academic term, start of our summer delivery, and some serious star power at the Beacon.
Skills Awards
Students from Foundation of Light’s Study Programme, Adult, and Family Learning were recognised at an end of academic year awards evening.
Awards were given out linked to each of the Foundation’s six organisational value alongside awards for Young, Adult, and Community Learner of the Year.
“It was a great night to celebrate the amazing achievements of our community, adult, and youth learners,” said Adult Skills Lead Sarah Coyne.
“We are very proud of all of our learners and to see so much pride and positivity in the room after so much hard work and overcoming of barriers was brilliant.”
Summer 2024 underway
As we near the end of week two of the school holidays, our Summer 2024 programme is reaching full swing.
Summer courses started with a bang as youngsters taking part in Holiday Club enjoyed a special visit from farm animals thanks to Animals About Town.
Meanwhile hundreds of budding footballers have been able to keep playing and training on a range of football activity courses.
Spaces are still available on the remaining weeks of some courses. This year’s courses feature varied activity for people of all ages and abilities across a wide range of interests from football to baking and multi-sports to engineering.
Jill Scott visits Holiday Courses
Former Lioness and Sunderland’s own Jill Scott made a surprise appearance at the Beacon of Light.
Participants from the Foundation of Light’s holiday courses received a special visit from the former Sunderland, Manchester City, and England footballer and star of the Stick to Football podcast.
The Foundation of Light trustee stopped off at football courses, holiday club, and chatted to participants of Parkinson’s Walking Football.
Foundation of Light CEO, Lesley Spuhler, said: “It was a pleasure to see Jill at the Beacon and engaging with children at our holiday courses.”
Golf Day
Foundation of Light hosted our annual golf day at Ramside Hall, providing a fun-filled day of golfing action while raising valuable funds to support our work.
Former Sunderland AFC players Richie Pitt and Micky Horswill represented the Foundation of Light team alongside ex-first-team doctor David Gough.
Aspire Technology Solutions ran out winners ahead of McNally and Thompson Ltd.
Another big thank you to our headline sponsors MGH Offshore Limited for their help in supporting the event.
Beacon hosts first of its kind VEX Robotics event
The finals of the VEX IQ Robotics Competition came to the Beacon of Light with two Foundation of Light teams among the competing teams.
The competition was a pilot for VEX IQ within the football community, with teams from Hull City (Tigers Trust), Middlesbrough (MFC Foundation), and Sunderland (Foundation of Light) among those to take part from our region.
Students were challenged with building and programming a robot using a stock VEX IQ kit to complete tasks on a six-foot by eight-foot arena.
“The competition celebrated months of partnership working with Tigers Trust to provide an opportunity for our young people within the world of STEM,” said Jake Leighton, Premier League Inspires Coordinator at the Foundation of Light.
“The scheme of work asks the students to step outside of their comfort zone socially and academically, working with others from different backgrounds and different life experiences to them.
“For some learners, it will be the first time they have represented their school and they can be really proud of their collaborative work ethic.”
Elsewhere in July
We launched a prize draw to win the instant classic Sunderland AFC away shirt in a men’s size large. Enter via a donation of just £5, with all monies raised supporting the work of Sunderland AFC’s official charity. Full Details - Click Here
A Foundation of Light Premier League Kicks group took home The Key+ Pitch Innovators of the Year Award at the Key Awards. The group also finished runners-up for five other awards, including the Inspirational Key+ Group of the Year.
Foundation of Light’s Skills department has benefitted from a generous donation from BookTrust. Over 200 books were proved to be used by Family Learning, English and Study Programmes.
With Paris 2024 entering full swing, we took a look at the Olympic sports that you can try at the Beacon of Light.
Aji Alese named Foundation of Light's official PFA Player Ambassador
Foundation of Light, Sunderland AFC’s official charity, is thrilled to announce defender Aji Alese as official PFA Player Ambassador.
EFL Week of Action kicks off with report revealing community impact of clubs and partner charities
Foundation of Light and Sunderland AFC are working together to support EFL Week of Action as a new report has been released revealing the scale of community impact made by EFL clubs and charities.