Pitch In for Cheltenham Tigers

Former Gloucester and England man James Simpson-Daniel has laid down the gauntlet to sports fans across Gloucestershire to get behind the Pitch-In Crowdfunder at Cheltenham Tigers.

The Newlands Park club, working with the RFU, are targeting £55,000 to create a state-of-the-art community sports facility for sports clubs of all ages and abilities across the county.

The club currently sit at 69% of the target, raising £38,209.00 in a little over four weeks since the campaign began.

Simpson-Daniel has now challenged the local community to help the club hit the £50,000-mark by Thursday night by pledging to test himself to the limit in return. 

He will visit the club on Sunday morning to ride a Wattbike in a gruelling personal challenge over the final few hours of the campaign to help see the Tigers get over the finishing line on Sunday at 11.59am.

Dan Townsend, head of fundraising, will extend the campaign deadline by 24 hours in order to see the former wing end the five-week campaign in style, incorporating a full house at Newlands with the minis and juniors playing and a fitting close to a great campaign.

Dan said today “It’s great to have such a local rugby legend like Sinbad behind us, the whole experience has been amazing, so many memorable pledges and passion shown by the local people to support this ambition project. Sunday will mark the finish of our crowdfund and beyond the physical pledges made, we have had so many other specific offers of help, from building materials to free labour”.

With just five days to go the club still faces a big challenge ahead, but with the likes of Sinbad pushing us through the line they remain buoyant about making the target.

James Simpson-Daniel said “ For me this is about helping a grass roots club that does so much across the community with a last big push to help make this happen. Whether rugby, football or any other sport, we are all batting on the same team and I'm willing to do what I can to PitchIn. I am looking forward to Sunday morning, to exhausting myself on the wattbike over a distance I have not done since my playing days and perhaps even beyond for such a great cause.”

The Pitch-in team

27/3/17