Andrew Surman played for Saints in the bad old days leading up to the club almost going bust, a childhood Saints fan his transfer to Wolves helped keep the club going in 2009, now he is continuing the charity begins at home theme.

Andrew Surman played 146 games for Saints scoring 17 goals between 2005-09, his transfer to Wolves in July 2009 helped keep the club going long enough for Markus Liebherr to be able to complete his takeover for the club.

After Wolves he had a spell at Norwich which also saw him come through a bad injury before joining AFC Bournemouth in July 2013 on a years loan eventually made permanent and he is approaching 200 games for the club.

But lives locally and his heart was touched by a small charity appeal set up by a family in Lordswood.

Charlie Creighton, aged nine, and sister Mollie, aged seven, wanted to support Southampton Hospital, having known about the heroic efforts of staff through their mum Amy, who works in the blood and marrow transplant service.

Following last Thursday’s #clapforourcarers, the Lordswood family set up their ‘Guess who is who’ fundraising page for the hospital’s charity, with a target of £150.

A nice effort aimed at trying to make a small difference, something that is vital to the ability for Southampton University Hospitals to continue to operate.

Andrew Surman has a connection to this Charity as his wife Laura had trained as a nurse with Amy and he was looking for a means to make a donation to the charity.

So it was a nice surprise for Charlie & Mollie when they logged on to the just giving page to find that there was a £10,000 donation.

Ex Saints player Andrew Surman told the Daily Echo:

“My wife’s friend is a specialist nurse and she sent us the fundraising page her children were doing.

“We were looking to make a donation but we were not quite sure where to put it. It came up and seemed like a good idea.

“We have had quite a lot of contact with the hospital. My grandad had treatment there, my wife’s gran had treatment there and my wife’s best friend passed away from cystic fibrosis and she had all her care there.

“I think coronavirus has made people realise how much the NHS actually do on a day-to-day basis without this crisis.

“It is something that is personal to us, which is what we were looking for.”

Amy Creighton said.

the donation from the couple was “amazing” and the thoughtfulness of her children to set up the fundraiser had left her very proud, while the total raised was “overwhelming”.

“They know how hard hospital staff work,” said Amy.

“We were out last Thursday doing the 8pm clap for the NHS and Charlie headed back indoors and said he wanted do some drawings that could go online and people could donate a £1 to guess what they were, with that money going to the charity at the hospital.

“I set up a justgiving page and people were donating £10 and £20 at a time and on Saturday afternoon I went to check the page and noticed Andrew Surman had donated £10,000, which was just amazing.

“The sum of money raised is huge and it will go so far.

“We have decided the money will go to the leukaemia and transplant service, so it will go directly to the staff and patients.”

“Funding is hugely important. Patients that are having donor stem cell transplants are in hospital for six to eight weeks and their follow up care is lifelong and it is life-changing for them.

“The money can go to help them not only when they are in hospital but also help us to support them once they leave with simple things as they can’t work for 18 months after their transplant.”

On the kind gesture from the Premier League ace, she added: “Some of the stick footballers have been getting is unfair and it definitely doesn’t apply to all of them,” said Amy.

“Laura and Andrew sent me a message saying they wanted to do their bit and help in anyway they could.”

To find out more about the fundraiser and to donate, visit justgiving.com/fundraising/covid19-creightons

Photo: Action Images

Colchester United Polls