Portman Road's Sir Bobby Robson Suite was the venue for the Futurestars Charity Launch on Thursday evening, the project former Blue Simon Milton left the club to lead last summer. Futurestars is an education through sports programme based in Ghana and Togo.
Milton, director of oil and gas shipping and logistics company OMA’s corporate social responsibility and Futurestars, led the event which showcased the work the project is doing in Ghana and Togo - as well as its plans for the future - to 130 assembled guests.
Town boss Mick McCarthy and his assistant Terry Connor, were present as were ex-Blues Terry Butcher and Titus Bramble, who are Futurestars trustees, Kieron Dyer and Chris Kiwomya, as well as current and former members of club staff.
All the project's trustees were present including OMA directors Gary Miller and Carine Noukpo, who had flown in from head office in Accra, in addition to Butcher, who travelled out to Ghana for the first time last September and spoke of his experiences there, and the project’s lead coach and ambassador Bramble.
Town fan Miller, who instigated the project, stressed that longevity and sustainability was one of the key tenets of the project, and that the founding partners, OMA Group and Yinson Production WA, are in for the long term.
The project has been in operation since 2015 and two years in, all five schools report that truancy is down and attendance is up since they joined the project.
Futurestars has now applied for UK charitable status which will enable more companies to come on board and more funds to be raised, hence the launch evening.
New partners Fendercare Marine were announced the same evening having seen first-hand the work that’s being done in Ghana and Togo.
The guests also had a preview of the new Futurestars website, along with the Futurestars video (see below), an upbeat film of the work in Ghana and Togo, put together by University of Suffolk student Will Allen. The soundtrack to the film is an original song written and recorded by the Boogie Band and Fairga Promotions in Accra, Ghana.
You can hear Milton, Butcher and Bramble talking about Futurestars on Saturday’s Life’s a Pitch on BBC Radio Suffolk here. Milton is on after 1hr 11mins, Butcher, 1hr 24mins 43secs and Bramble 1hr 42mins 58secs.