About Us

Our aim is to provide each participant with a unique and once in a lifetime experience of playing football at a premiership ground whilst raising a significant sum of money for Royal Manchester Childrens Hospital Charity, Reg Charity Number 1049274.

In 2008 Nigel and Sheldon put their names down for the Many Hands Campaign, an initiative to attract Manchester businesses to raise money for the New Manchester Children's Hospital. The campaign was supported by the Institute of Directors, the Manchester Evening News and was backed by Dragons Den's Theo Paphitis.

Nigel and Sheldon along with over 50 friends and colleagues organised a 24 hour tennis tournament at Sports City which took place in December 2008 and raised close to £18,000. The duo went on to win the Many Hands Award which was presented by Theo Paphitis and thus started their interest in raising money for the Hospital.

Both Nigel and Sheldon had the charity bug and had a desire to organise something bigger and better than the previous event. They wanted something unique and memorable and came up with the idea of a football tournament at a Premiership Ground. They approached Blackburn Rovers who were only too delighted to host the event at Ewood Park. Helped by their co-sponsors Northcote at the Rovers, headed by Celebrity Chef Nigel Haworth they held the football tournament on 16th May, 2010.

Over 170 people participated in the 11 a side football tounrmaent and helped raise a staggering £53,000 for the Childrens Hospital. The event saw twelve teams made up of local businesses and indivuduals play on the pitch. The final was refereed by Premiership ref Mark Halsey and afterwards over 300 people enjoyed a Gala dinner.

Sheldon(left), Stuart Ripley(ex Blackburn), Kevin Gallagher(ex Blackburn, Scotland), Nigel Woolfstein

Sheldon Bean
Sheldon is the Managing Director of Beanstalk Telecom Ltd , a company which specialises in Business to Business telecoms services. A Londoner by birth, Sheldon moved to Manchester after studying at Liverpool Polytechnic and is now an adopted Northerner after spending over 20 years here.

Sheldon is a lifelong Spurs fan and is a keen sportsman enjoying football, tennis and squash and cannot wait to play at the fantastic Etihad stadium. Sheldon is married with three children, 1 boy and 2 girls.

Nigel Woolfstein
Nigel is a partner at Wood & Woolfstein Dental Practice in Chorlton, South Manchester. Nigel is a proud Welshman who was born in Cardiff and moved to Manchester after finishing his degree at Leeds University. He married into a Blackburn Rovers dynasty 22 years ago and has had mixed allegiances between Cardiff and Blackburn every since.

Nigel enjoys playing football, cricket and tennis. He is a goalkeeper of exceptional talent and can't wait to pick the ball up from the back of the net at the Etihad. Nigel is married with 4 children, 3 boys and 1 girl.

The winning team of Fundraising Football 2010, Digital Satellite Warranty Ltd
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