Free Kicks Foundation

We call our days out ‘Kicks’ and Free Kicks is run by Steve Thorpe and Sam Downing around their full time jobs and family commitments. Steve runs the fundraising, administration and social media side of the organisation. Meanwhile Sam co-ordinates all the Kicks, liaising with other charities, families and football clubs to ensure each experience is memorable and runs smoothly. Since we started, we have taken over 2000 deserving children and young adults to matches all over the country. The majority of children we work with go along to the matches as Team Mascots. This generally involves a tour of the ground, a new kit, visiting the players in the dressing rooms, a kickabout on the pitch and, of course, leading the team out ahead of kickoff. Alternatively we can provide hospitality packages and other experiences at any club in the country. Every penny we spend on Kicks is raised by ourselves and an amazing team of supporters. We have several annual events including 5 a side tournament, cricket match, golf day and quiz night. We like to test ourselves and our supporters each year with a physical event, previous years have seen sponsored walks and driving challenges and have all been huge successes.