Football fanatics can take part in a five-a-side tournament and learn life saving skills at a charity event in West Leeds to raise funds for vital research.
Teams of five are being urged to sign up to the football tournament, which will be held on Friday 24 September at Goals in Redcote Lane, to raise money for the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
And alongside a kickabout, participants will also be able to learn CPR through a demonstration held on the day.
The event will open at 5pm, with the tournament getting underway at around 5.45pm.
Each team will play a minimum of 45 minutes of football before the knockout stages. Food will also be served after the tournament.
The cost will be £250 per team, with all proceeds going to the BHF. This will help fund the BHF’s life saving research into all heart and circulatory diseases, including coronary heart disease, stroke and vascular dementia, and their risk factors such as diabetes and high blood pressure.
In Leeds alone, around 85,000 people are living with heart and circulatory diseases – and, tragically, every five hours, someone in the area dies from one of these conditions.
Becky Beevers, BHF’s Fundraising Manager for Leeds, said:
“We’re calling for fans of the beautiful game to join us for a fun-filled event in aid of a good cause. Those taking part will not only be raising funds for the BHF’s vital research, but they’ll also be taught skills that could help save a life in the event of a cardiac arrest.
“This year, the BHF is marking 60 years of funding pioneering research to save and improve lives. Covid-19 dealt a brutal blow to our work and caused our investment in new research to be cut in half last year. We can only fund this life saving research thanks to the generous support of the public, so in our 60th year, we urgently need more people to help us.”
Learning CPR means that people are equipped with the skills they need to help save a life. In the event of witnessing a cardiac arrest, it is crucial to call 999 and start CPR immediately. Every minute without CPR and defibrillation decreases a person’s chances of survival by up to 10 per cent.
Anyone interested in taking part in the event can contact Becky Beevers, BHF’s Fundraising Manager by emailing beeversr@bhf.org.uk or calling 07971 484539.