News
Inspirational
Le Tournoi
One of our members Kirsty has her inspirational story in the Liverpool Echo
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https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/womans-whole-life-changed-after-26933125
St Helens Walking Football Club have hosted its first ever internal football tournament. We've had a range of teams play in a series of round robin games. The teams were made up of Over 40's, Over 50s Over 60s Over 65s and a ladies team. Last week saw the first semi final with the Over 40s beating the Over 60s. This week saw last years WFA Regional Cup heroes the Over 65s take on the Over 50s with the tournaments closet game ending 1-0 to the WFA Champs the Over 65s.
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The final will now take place between the Over 40s and the Over 65s on Thursday 25th May at 6:30pm. The game will be played at Ruskin Drive ahead of our AGM meeting. Please come along to support the teams. Further details will follow.
AAA
No this is nothing to do with breakdown cover, drinking too much alcohol, or even Amateur Athletics.
AAA stands for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm. This is a bulge or swelling in the aorta, the main blood vessel that runs from the heart down through the chest and tummy. It can be dangerous if it is not spotted early on. It can get bigger over time and can causing life-threatening bleeding
So why is SHWFC telling you about this? Well, in England, screening for AAAs is offered to men during the year they turn 65; and men aged 65+ are a lot of our members! Screening can help spot a swelling in the aorta early on, when it can be treated. The test involves a quick and painless ultrasound scan to see how big your aorta is.
Women aged 70 or over, who have underlying risk factors such as high blood pressure, may also be advised to attend screening for AAA.
So, when you get an invite from the NHS to go for a screening, don’t bung it in the bin or be a wuss and ignore it. Our Secretary, Lord Rainford recently went for an AAA screening at Newton le Willows hospital. He is happy to report that it was painless, took 10 minutes and nothing needed to be removed below the waist, so sparing his modesty.
And if you haven’t had an invite and are starting to panic, this link will tell you who to contact, and more about the condition https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/abdominal-aortic-aneurysm/
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2023 Race NightÂ
We are now collecting payment for the race night you can make payment to the club online (same account used for subs) please identify payment as Race X # tickets and also advise on the WhatsApp group you have paid.
For those who would rather pay cash I will be there in the new year (Tickets are £3 or £7.50 with food).
Tickets are still available if you don't have plans for the 3rd February please come along and support the club just let me know on the WhatsApp group
Regards
Martin
St Helens WFC Christmas Night at The TurksÂ
Thank you to everyone who attended the annual St Helens Walking Football Christmas Night Out. A great night was had by all who attended. It was wonderful to see so many people from the club and their partners.Â

Christmas Party in the Turks Head



Christmas Party in the Turks Head
St Helens WFC World Cup Sweepstake
Congratulations to our Winner Les Brack with Argentine with Geoff Painter runner up with FranceÂ
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Until next time Happy Christmas and a Happy and HEALTHY new year to one and all allÂ
St Helens WFC World Cup Sweepstake
Last Sixteen
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Netherlands. Michelle ‘Stunning’ Dunning
Argentina. Les ‘Victor Meldrew’ Brack
Brazil Peter ‘El Presidente’ Fitzpatrick
France. ‘Citeh’ Geoff Painter
Croatia Not selected money to SHWFC
Portugal. Derek ‘Deggsy’ Taylor
Morocco. Paul Moore
England. Donal MacCormack
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Senegal. Eliminated. Mike ‘Ox’ Oxley
Spain. Eliminated Eileen Nicholson
Poland. Eliminated. Martin ‘Cockney Rebel’ Briggs
USA. Eliminated. Dave ‘Amazon’ Prime
Australia. Eliminated. John ‘Lord Rainford’ Hawkins
South Korea. Eliminated. Joe ‘the Ghost’Hardman
Japan. Eliminated. Chris ‘Gonzalo’ Fitzpatrick
Switzerland. Eliminated Steve ‘Goldie’ Goldthorpe
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Winner £22. Runner up £10
AGM
The Club’s AGM was attended by a good cross-section of members at The Wicket Ruskin Drive on Friday 23rd September
The Management Executive was delighted with the broad range of business resolved on a night that mixed new Club constitutional measures with some celebratory moments too
Presentations were made to the Over 65s squad that won the Regional Final of the WFA National Cup
The squad was; Dave Barrow, Geoff Painter, Peter Fitzpatrick, Tom Parr, Allan Maldon, Colin Williams, Steve Forshaw, John Davies, Mick Makin, Mike Andrews, Tony Byrne, Les Brack and John Hawkins
Players added to the Squad for National Finals Day
Eamon O’Donnell and Tom Derbyshire will be presented with commemorative medals in due course
One of the highlights of the AGM was the presentation of Lifetime Membership Certificates to Michaylo Fedyk (presented in absentia) and Alex Jackson Both had served the Club, since we formed back in 2015, with energy, commitment and dedication In addition there was a presentation of gifts to Coach John Davies and Derek Deggsy Taylor who stepped down from the Management Executive after great service to the Club
In possibly the night’s most significant measures there was agreement to move next year’s AGM to April/May, much closer to our Financial Year End Plans are in hand for a new internal Team Competition to feature all members with the target date to be just before the AGM with a special presentation to the winning team to be incorporated into the AGM programme



International Call UpÂ
Our Chairman, Peter Fitzpatrick, a member of St Helens Walking Footballer since it started in 2015 has made his International debut at the grand age of 70! The Club has grown hugely in the past few years and has enjoyed some success in the WFA National Cup campaign this year with their Over 60s and Over 65s progressing Two of our players; Andy Captain Houghton and Allan Maldon are involved with NW England Over 60s regional Squad, but Peter has become the Club’s first full international having played in Dublin for the Republic of Ireland Over 70s team
The 4 Nations Cup event was staged at the Abbotstown Sport Ireland Campus and featured teams from England, Wales and the Isle of Man In addition there were Over 40s and Over 50s Ladies games Peter helped Ireland to victories over England 3-2 and Wales 3-0
‘It was a dream come true since I was a boy I’ve always wanted to play for my ‘country’ My parents and whole family were Irish so my allegiances were never in doubt My Mum and Dad would have been immensely proud One of my cousins was there to cheer us on, having travelled down from County Tyrone to witness a little bit of Family history’
Walking Football has restored my passion for football after a period of doing nothing once my playing career and Club involvement finished ‘The luck of The Irish must surely have been on my side.
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Bowls, Banter and Beer.
Several members of SHWFC decided on 25 June to expand their sporting knowledge a bit and, courtesy of Coach John Davies, try their hand at another game - Crown Green Bowls.
John is a member at Haydock Cricket & Bowls Club and secured the green for us whilst the focus of many club members was on a 1st XI match next door. Under his tuition we were introduced to the mysteries of bias, 'thumb' and 'finger' and the fact that what we were playing on was NOT a flat service.
Now, when you watch this sort of thing on the TV the bowls end up closely to the jack and measurement is tight as to who has 'won' an end and whether they have got 1 ball 'in' or two. For us inexperienced walking football-ites if our bowl ended up anywhere within a metre of the jack you could be reasonably sure you were on to a winner.
Plenty of us struggled with remembering about the bias, with quite a few 'which way does it turn again, John ?' type questions. And the lack of flat surface (the clue is in the name Crown!) meant many of us had our bowls falling foul of the slope at the edges and ending up in the ditch.
The honourable exceptions to the above were Steve 'Clint' Eastwood who bought his own shiny orange bowls and also Dave 'Grazer' Clark, who we were all really chuffed to see out and about again after his radiotherapy treatment.
It was a great fun, we all had a happy afternoon and the weather behaved itself. I suspect it won't be the last time we try our hand at Bowls, so many thanks to John Davies and well bowled everyone!
North West England Team
Congratulations to Club Captain Andy (Capt) Houghton who following successful trials will be part of the North West England Team to take part in Regional matches this year His first appearance is at Sheffield in 3 weeks time More details when we hear more.