This Christmas, Bees 50/50, Brentford Football Club’s Official Matchday Lottery, will fund the Ealing Young Carers’ Christmas party.

Brentford FC Community Sports Trust (BFCCST) hopes to give as many as 50 Ealing Young Carers some time back by funding a Christmas party on December 22 so they can let their hair down and enjoy an afternoon with friends.

A portion of every Bees 50/50 ticket bought this December is going towards the initiative. This means that the more fans that get involved, the better the celebrations.

There are 700,000 young carers in the UK and more than 200 young carers living in Ealing alone.

Young carers are children and young people under 18 who look after someone in their family who has an illness, a disability, a mental health problem or a substance misuse problem.

Dean Smith

These young adults take on practical and/or emotional caring responsibilities that would normally be expected of an adult.

Lee Doyle, Chief Executive of Brentford FC Community Sports Trust, said: “Due to caring commitments, young carers can often miss out on social opportunities that other young people take for granted.

“Through our work with Ealing Young Carers, we are providing much-needed respite and support. Too often, young carers feel isolated or invisible; our project aims to change that.”

Bees fans can help BFCCST’s fantastic local initiative by purchasing the £2 tickets either at the ground or online.

Playing fans then discover at half time whether they have won from a range of exciting prizes.

Peter Gilham

Over the festive period these include Bees shirts signed by club legends Kevin O’Connor, Marcus Gayle and Bob Taylor, match tickets, a signed ‘Big Book of Griffin Park’ and regular cash prizes.

So far in December, Bees 50/50 has raised over £3,200 in matches against Fulham and Barnsley.

Cody Hoffman, Founder of Matchplus, provider of Bees 50/50, added: "This is exactly the kind of charitable initiative that drives us forward as a new company: real-world meaningful impact made possible by our modern take on how sports clubs fundraise."