More cycling and donated kit given out

'52 weekends of cycling'. I will try and cycle 50 kilometres or more each weekend. I drew a big Northumberland map to put the cycles on and made three 200 square grids, one to target the community, one for the football clubs and one to use in the cricket season. Each square is £5 so if all are sold that would raise £3000 in total. One month in I had cycled 471 kilometres and raised £475. I was trying to get others involved. Joe and I cycled 100 kilometres together on the 25th October and drank Guinness together in the Horseshoes afterwards. It was a tough, windy, chilly but enjoyable seven hours via Shilbottle, Old Swarland, Rothbury, Alwinton, Prendwick, Branton, South Charlton and Rennington. Two days later I went up to Seahouses and back with Jakob Browell a friend from school. This time it was a very windy 56 kilometres but again involved some Guinness. Cath and I even cycled 41 kilometres together around Kielder Lake. It was the first real cycle in 20 years together since our Central/South America cycle back in 2005. The cycling is easy enough it is the asking for money that is the hard thing.        

November the 11th was a busy day in Chitipa and in Northumberland. Firstly, nine of the ten football clubs attended an U12 fun day. The mini goals were out and the speed ladders were used to do SAQ drills. The senior coaches delivered fitness testing sessions. Wachisa sent a great picture of his Nyabinghi YC's in their FA shirts. Secondly, only thirteen of the twenty one possible netball teams attended the second U12 cluster festivals. Sadly, Home Sisters, Lwambo and Chitipa Sundowns clubs failed to attend again and 4 schools missed this time. Next week there is an umpires course planned and then another cluster festival and zone finals to end the year. I think at the start of 2026 we can encourage U16 festivals and the size 5 netballs can be distributed. Finally, I reached the 500 km's cycled target with a totally out of the saddle 28 km's on a kids BMX. The cycle ended with three laps of the Alnwick BMX track and the customary five pints of Guinness. The next day I banked the £500 raised so far and applied for the extra £125 gift aid. The charity bank account was looking a bit healthier. I was one sixth of the way to my end target of 3000 km's and £3000. 

A new U19 league had been set up in Chitipa recently. Albert Chihana had previously met the senior coaches and they had suggested that the teams might get some new kits. I thought it was a great idea as I knew there were large kits in the shipment. The league has 9 teams and 8 are already involved in the U12 project. Only Sundowns FC are not involved but I think that will change soon. Wachisa and the senior coaches held a kit presentation day in mid December. Some great colourful pictures came back and I was able to share them with the people and clubs who had donated them, notably Stobswood Welfare FC, Cramlington Juniors FC and Longhoughton Rangers FC. It was a really positive way to end 2025. Some more FA kit was shared with the senior coaches as a further incentive to keep up the good work into 2026. I am not sure how many old kits we have sent to Chitipa this year and over the years but contrast it with KitAid, founded by Derek Williams MBE in 1998 which has sent at the latest count in 2025 a total of 104,121 kits and a huge 1,230,067 since 1998 to a total of 55 countries. In Malawi they support the Friends of Mulanje Organisation. This summer I met a coach from the FOMO team that were in Chitipa to play a cup game. They are one step away from the Super League.    

2025 is coming to an end. The Chitipa youth leagues are almost over. The rains will hit hard soon. The U14 league was concluded this week with the 2025 Champions crowned. It was Young Stars FC again for the second year running. This year Wachisa and his Nyabinghi Warriors came 6th  but he is very happy with their progress calling them his 'developmental team' ready to challenge in 2026. 

On Christmas Eve, the senior coaches held the final U12 boys festival of the year. Twelve teams took part and were given new kits from the latest shipment. It is sometimes hard matching up the kits being worn with the pictures I took when they were donated. Kits this time on display were from Dave Malone at Cramlington Juniors, Rod Chisolm at FC Amble and the last donation from Edinburgh South Community FC from the coach who didn't seem to want to stay in contact. As usual pictures came back quickly so that I could post them for donors to enjoy. Albert Chihana, Wachisa's right hand man and the Chitipa FAM youth league secretary told me that in 2026 FAM would be sponsoring the first ever U12 league in Chitipa with the twelve teams that have been involved in the project over the past few years. He said 'no other district in the whole of Malawi has what we have'. FAM regard what is happening as a model of good practice. I am so proud to have inspired this back then and supported it ever since. So what started on my visit back in 2018 with the 1st ever U12 festival of it's kind at Kawale involving eight U12 teams from primary schools, the building locally of the two sets of mini goals, the use of donated kits from Alnwick Juniors, Edinburgh South CFC and Felton Juniors and the boys wearing football boots has now developed into a fully fledged FAM sponsored league. When the FAM U14/16 leagues officially started in 2019 with the ten clubs involved, it was a great opportunity to develop the U12 football project within an already established club structure. To get involved clubs would have to nominate players to attend Young Coaches training and attend festivals. The 1st course and 8 a side mini festivals were held in 2019. The rest is history.