A FOOTBALL team for those with special needs has bagged £1,000.

Members and supporters of Bedwell Rangers Football Club’s inclusion team spent a day at ASDA supermarket in Stevenage packing shopping bags for customers in return for donations.

In five hours the club was able to raise £850, with ASDA donating a further £150.

The money will be used to help sustain and grow the Stevenage side’s inclusion team, which caters for those with various disabilities and plays in Sunday league matches at under-12 and under-16 level.

Roy Small, who is a qualified football coach and manages the two teams, said: “I would like to thank ASDA for allowing us to come to their store and raise money and also all the customers for their kind donations and patience.

“I started coaching the team two-and-a-half years ago and it’s been an amazing journey where I’ve learnt a lot. We try to accommodate children with all kinds of special needs, physical or mental, and we are currently looking for more players to get involved.”

For more information or to join the team – which trains at Marriotts School in Brittain Way, Stevenage, from 6-7pm on Thursdays – call Roy on 07788 372745 or email roysmall@hotmail.co.uk