Saturday April 18th 2015
Brentford may not have been able to overthrow Bolton on Saturday 18th April but there were plenty of young, happy faces in the crowd.
As winners of The Danny Fullbrook Fearless Foundation journalism competition, 23 children and their parents enjoyed free tickets to the game after writing match reports which captured the best of Brentford’s victory over Fulham in November.
Before kick-off, the work of the Year 5 and Year 6’s was put on display at St Paul’s Church – just a David Button kick away from Griffin Park and the Fan Zone which was in full-swing at the park.
Proud parents gathered to look at their children’s work and take photos, and the Mayor of Hounslow Corinna Smart and Brentford FC Chairman Cliff Crown were there to hand out medals and certificates to the winners.
The top five winners were also awarded sparkly Fearless Journalism trophies which they lifted in front of the fans at half-time during the Bolton match.
With his passion for football and sports journalism, the project would have been close to the heart of Danny Fullbrook.
Danny’s mother Sylvie told the children and parents gathered about how proud her son would have been of their achievements. She told the children she was proud of their hard-work and enthusiasm and thanked the Brentford Trust for organising such a great programme that inspired young people to write and play sport.
The Fearless Journalism Workshops were delivered through the Griffin Park Learning Zone and were funded by the Fearless Foundation.
Freelance sports journalist Joanna Tilley and a selection of top Trust coaches delivered the workshops to 10 schools in the Hanwell and Brentford area. These workshops involved watching a highlights reel of the Brentford v Fulham match and also taking part in a 45-minute football session with a coach.
The workshops were delivered to nearly 600 pupils and the best were judged by a Fearless panel, which included Daily Star Sports Editor Howard Wheatcroft – Danny’s former boss at the Daily Star. Howard did his best to encourage the young people there to pursue a career in journalism, even if one had decided she wanted to be a barrister.
The Chairman of the Fearless Foundation Mark Dickinson and Trustees Jo Fullbrook and Sylvie Fullbrook were also there to meet the young people and see the culmination of the six-month project.
However, there was another prize in store for the five winners. Leaving their parents behind, they were taken on an all access tour of Griffin Park by Mark Chapman, Deputy Head of Media and Communications at Brentford. They were given lots of tips on how to be a journalist and also spoke to professional journalists in the media area about their jobs.
Then another challenge was set for our young Fearless journalists, because we like to keep our writers writing. They were asked to produce a match report on the Brentford v Bolton game. The winning report will feature as the official match report on the Brentford FC website, so keep an eye out for that.
“Danny’s family and the trustees of the Fearless Foundation thoroughly enjoyed the whole day. To see so many proud children and parents at the exhibition was heart-warming and it was great to reward the hard-work of the Fearless writers,” said Sylvie Fullbrook.
“We also enjoyed a sunny afternoon watching the match and although Brentford couldn’t get a win, it was an excellent day for the Brentford Trust and Fearless Foundation.”
Lee Doyle, Chief Executive of the Trust said, “It was inspiring to see so many young people attend the Fanzone on Saturday, many of whom were wearing Brentford shirts. We also attended the prize giving for our Fearless journalism competition at St Paul’s Church with the Mayor of Hounslow and BFC Chairman Cliff Crown.”
If you would like to donate to the Fearless Foundation please click here.