Supporting Our Supporters With Leicester City In The Community

Martin and his brother Jim have been attending Leicester City in the Community’s Walking Football sessions, a part of the Then, Now and Forever project, which is supported by the Premier League Fans Fund, for almost four years.

2025-01-11T10:40+00:00

by Admin

Published

11 Jan, 2025

Supporting Our Supporters With Leicester City In The Community

Martin and his brother Jim have been attending Leicester City in the Community’s Walking Football sessions, a part of the Then, Now and Forever project, which is supported by the Premier League Fans Fund, for almost four years.

Admin

2025-01-11T10:40+00:00

Supporting Our Supporters With Leicester City In The Community

Martin and his brother Jim have been attending Leicester City in the Community’s Walking Football sessions, a part of the Then, Now and Forever project, which is supported by the Premier League Fans Fund, for almost four years.

Admin

2025-01-11T10:40+00:00

Supporting Our Supporters With Leicester City In The Community

Martin and his brother Jim have been attending Leicester City in the Community’s Walking Football sessions, a part of the Then, Now and Forever project, which is supported by the Premier League Fans Fund, for almost four years.

Admin

2025-01-11T10:40+00:00

Supporting Our Supporters With Leicester City In The Community

Martin and his brother Jim have been attending Leicester City in the Community’s Walking Football sessions, a part of the Then, Now and Forever project, which is supported by the Premier League Fans Fund, for almost four years.

Admin

2025-01-11T10:40+00:00

Then, Now and Forever is a community initiative run by the club’s charitable arm, designed to support older people facing the effects of Dementia, Alzheimer’s or social isolation. The project aims to create opportunities for stability and connection in the spirit of togetherness.

78-year-old Martin attends the weekly sessions at Aylestone Recreation Ground with his brother, Jim, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few years ago. Despite this though, in part due to Walking Football, Jim remains incredibly physically fit, and the routine of weekly activities such as this one creates a vital stability in Jim’s life.

Speaking of the benefits of the session, Martin said: “Due to Jim’s disease, the discipline of walking is lost on him because he plays football the way he remembers it and this includes running, tackling and heading, wherever he deems necessary.

“Jim also enjoys the camaraderie and will engage in conversation with other Walking Football members, who, to their everlasting credit, treat him with friendship, consideration and respect even if the questions he asks or comments he makes have no immediate relevance and appear totally random.”

Jim attends with his brother Martin.

Martin continues: “I would be attending even if I did not have the responsibility of my brother Jim. It also has the benefit of community involvement and social interaction. I have also been able to provide some professional advice to other participants given my 37 years in banking, albeit nothing to do with investment!”

The brothers aren’t the first Walking Football participants affected by Alzheimer’s to have benefited from the weekly activity. Unfortunately, though, even the obvious benefits are not likely to ameliorate Jim’s condition, where the long-term prognosis, as in all such cases, is not optimistic.

However, while it is difficult to estimate what the consequences of any lack of Walking Football might have on his condition, Martin suspects not being involved would not be helpful to him or his mental health.

Leicester City in the Community continue to support those in similar circumstances to Jim and Martin. You can do so to by understanding which common dementia symptoms to look out for. Visit alzheimers.org.uk/sports to use Alzheimer’s Society’s symptoms checklist, get further information or donate to help fund research into early diagnosis.

Then, Now and Forever is supported by the Premier League Fans Fund. The Premier League Fans fund provides grants to support football clubs at all levels of the game to strengthen connections between them, their fans and local communities.

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