The Cyrille Regis Legacy Trust has celebrated its fifth birthday with another star-spangled golfing challenge at The Belfry.
Football legends led by Les Ferdinand and the Premier League’s record appearance-maker Gareth Barry joined more than 100 participants to enjoy the famous course and raise precious funding for the charity.
The Trust is approaching the end of its fifth cohort during which more than 400 youngsters have benefited from its Strike A Change mentoring programme providing inspiration, leadership and renewed hope for disadvantaged young adults.
All of the work is carried out under the name of football icon Cyrille Regis, who passed away in January 2018, reflecting his own commitment to helping youngsters in need of guidance.
The programme has made huge strides since founder and chair Julia Regis launched the Trust in 2019 – but she made it clear there will be no resting on laurels.
“We would like to increase our offering, to roll it out to more schools, duplicate and modify, reach out to primary schools. . . there’s so much on our horizon,” said Julia.
“We just need to secure our funding which is why events such as this are so important to us.
“We can’t do it without the funding and it meant the world to me that so many came to the event and really supported us.”
Former Olympic star Derek Redmond led the end-of-day auction which raised crucial funds for the future before his tribute to Julia drew a huge ovation.
And “Sir” Les Ferdinand, who helped launch the Trust five years earlier and become a committed supporter since, paid his own tribute.
“Julia’s commitment to this programme is incredible and we all want to come here to show her that we’re with her all the way,” he said.
“I remember being there for the start and those five years have flown by. But Cyrille would be so proud to see the work going on in his name because helping youngsters along the road was a big passion for him.”
