Friends of a Norfolk on-call firefighter have raised an incredible £26,000 with a football match in his memory.
Carl Mills, who worked as a Watch Manager at Wroxham near Norwich, tragically took his own life on Boxing Day 2022.
One of his friends, Steve Plunkett, has been organising football matches every year for the last 10 years, choosing a different charity to fundraise for each time. And as a tribute to Carl, he chose us and two other charities which are close to his family’s hearts to support this time round.
“When my wife suggested that we do this year’s match in memory of Carl, Carl’s wife asked if we could do it for the three charities, all of which meant something to the family,” says Steve.
“His family have been incredibly supportive of the event. My wife actually grew up with Carl’s wife, so we’d known each other for years.”
Steve’s annual football match has raised more than £119,000 over the last decade for different charities – through auctions, raffles, programme sales, bucket collections and online donations.
This year, they raised a huge £26,000, to be split between us, Norfolk and Waveney Mind and East Anglian Air Ambulance Charity.
Carl passed away in 2022.
Carl’s son and daughter, Pamela and Marc, paid tribute to their dad in the match’s programme, saying: “We are so pleased to have such an amazing opportunity this evening to now raise funds for those charities which meant so much to our Dad and have also supported us.
“Dad fundraised for the Fire Fighters Charity which supports firefighters and their families through difficult times.
“We miss Dad so much every day, but we are pleased that something really positive is happening to-day to remember him.”
To donate to the fundraiser, click here.
