Non-League fans and clubs are still rallying round their flood-hit compatriots devastated by Storm Dennis and the other named storms that have battered Britain in February.
Hellenic League leaders Westfields were under water and Midland League side Stourport Swifts have also been badly impacted by the torrential rains that have wreaked havoc across Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
Hereford-based Westfields have launched a Flood Fund after water rose as high as their pitchside barriers and also got into their clubhouse and changing rooms, pictured.
Westfields’ AllPay Park home is on a flood plain so they club are unable to get insurance and chief executive Andrew Morris has thanked the Non-League family for its show of support.
“We’re a club run by volunteers and have been for more than 50 years,” Morris told The Non-League Paper this week.
“We raise money by sportsman dinners, golf days, match day draws, programme advertising – the usual things. All of a sudden to be plagued with this problem where you need instant money, it’s not been in the budget.
“Our main aim is to keep progressing in the Hellenic Premier and trying to get to Step 4. We will have to make plans but the Football Foundation have been helpful to us and so have the Herefordshire FA.
“The Hellenic League have also been very good to us by rearranging fixtures and we’ve launched a GoFundMe Flood Fund. Some people have given £2, some have given £200.
“In a way it’s something you don’t like doing but people are very supportive. We’ve had people ringing us asking where they can send a donation – not just people locally but people from across the UK.
— Stourport Swifts FC (@StourportSwifts) February 20, 2020
“It’s not just the first team affected. We’re an FA Charter Standard club with 11 junior sides from the age of six. It’s a problem.
“But we’re not the only ones. Some people living in houses have been wiped out. We’re a football club, it’s our pleasure and our hobby. But some people in Hereford have had their homes wrecked.”
Stourport Swifts were only able to get through their gates last Friday morning with drone footage showing the scale of their problems after the River Severn burst its banks.
They’re still unable to assess the full scale of the damage but a team of volunteers went in on Sunday to begin the clean-up before a meeting Monday on to decide the way forward.
As well as the Football Foundation and the Worcestershire FA, local clubs Kidderminster Harriers and Stourbridge have also offered their support. “We’re receiving offers of help, which we’re so very grateful for” secretary Graham Haighway said.
Former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton has also donated a pair of his Limited Edition gloves – only 125 were commissioned in recognition of each of his Three Lions’ caps – to strickern Tadcaster Albion.
Taddy hope to auction them off to raise money for their recovery with the latest floods putting their future in jeopardy.
Make sure you get your copy of The Non-League Paper on Sunday for the latest news and action from across Non-League over the last seven days.
As well as exclusive match reports and pictures from all of Saturday’s fixtures in the Vanarama National League, the BetVictor-Sponsored Isthmian League, Southern League and Northern Premier League, The Non-League Paper’s live coverage extends all the way to Steps 5 and 6.
