Through a generous donation, Bell House are able to sponsor a player at Peckham Town Football Club, an entirely volunteer run football club just around the corner from Bell House. Peckham was founded in 1982 by Bryan Hall, and now has 22 teams from junior to senior. The men’s coach is ex- England and Arsenal player Mary Phillip, who is the highest ranked female coach of a men’s team in the country! There are a lot of exciting things going on at the club at the moment - they have just announced a new partnership with the Rio Ferdinand Foundation to create opportunities for young people in Peckham to enhance their skills in loads of different areas, from coaching to managing social media channels, club finances and events. Peckham Town does a huge amount of work in the community, and at the moment they are running some great campaigns around Black Lives Matter and Black History Month, go check them out @peckhamtownfc on Twitter and Instagram!
Over lockdown, Peckham Town was unfortunately the victim of vandalism of the pitch and clubhouse facilities, with people breaking in at night starting fires, leaving huge amounts of rubbish and mess. Peckham Town put out a call to help on social media, and volunteers arrived in swarms to get the pitch back to match-ready quality and make the facilities safe for all the teams to train on. This sense of community runs all the way through Peckham Town, just like Bell House and the club is committed to developing opportunities for everyone to play, watch and enjoy the many aspects of football.
The player that Bell House is sponsoring is Kevin Dance (@dance.kev on Instagram), who was born and bred on the North Peckham estate. He went to primary school in Brunswick Park, moving to Westminster Academy for secondary, and started playing football when he was 8, when he realised he had a talent for it and playing came naturally to him. He says that ‘since then, I always enjoyed playing football because it took me to a place mentally where I didn’t have to worry about anything, and it kept me in shape’. Kevin joined his school teams in both primary and secondary, and starting getting offers from various clubs. He signed with Peckham Town 4 years ago, and has been playing there ever since, being part of the team who lifted the London Senior Trophy in August. He talks about how he enjoys playing at Peckham, as the standard has been high for years, but is ready to see more silverware. About this season, Kevin says ‘this is our time to grab the league title and move the club to the next level’. Bell House is proud to sponsor Kevin and is looking forward to supporting Peckham’s title charge this season!