Players, officials and friends of East Algarve Walking Football celebrated their sixth annual Christmas Dinner at the Xicken Piri Piri Restaurant, near Tavira.
Over 100 guests sat down to a fine feast of festive fayre as club president Chris Wright welcomed everyone and thanked Tom French and Paul Shawe for organising the event. Master of Ceremonies Jonathan Syed got proceedings underway with the presentation of commemorative bottles of wine to Roy McCrudden, Jeff Denman, Paul Shawe and Andy Smith.
A special presentation was made to Gordon Linford for his services to the club and on ‘hanging up his whistle’ after years of refereeing.
Jon Berrill’s party piece of Music Bingo got the festive fun underway as players cast their votes for the Zimmer Awards, walking football’s equivalent of the Oscars!
EAWF 50+ Player of the Year went to Mark Wilson; EAWF 60+ Player of the Year winner was Charlie Cousin; Personality of the Year was presented to Stuart Meakin whilst the Imodium Award (the player who has ‘run/talked’ the most during the year) was awarded for the second year running to George Allen. The prestigious President’s Award was presented to the Fox Family – Jake, Connor, Tanya and Mark – for their special support.
Crackers were pulled and paper hats donned as the entertainment got underway. Stuart Meakin’s take of Bad Manners front man Buster Bloodvessel and his rendition of ‘Lip Up Fatty’ had the audience in stitches before George Allen gave a hilarious and irreverent monologue on the origins and development of walking football in the Algarve.
During the evening, €230 was raised towards the club’s support for tackling diabetes which brings the total raised during November and December to nearly €700. As the midnight hour approached and with a full moon shining down on the happy revellers, some players made their way home ready for another session of walking football in Tavira the following morning! The more active members continued to disco until the early hours.
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