Stratford Town launch pre-season scheme for mums and children

HUNDREDS of free tickets for every home game of Stratford Town’s pre-season will be given to mothers and their children.

Bards chiefs have coincided the scheme with England hosting the Women’s European Championships in a bid to bring more families to the Arden Garages Stadium.

The club’s sponsors, directors and players have agreed a deal that will see 500 tickets available to mums and their children for each of their ten homes games.

Stratford kick off their feast of friendlies at home to United Counties League side Coventry Sphinx on Saturday, 2nd July (3pm) with League One side Burton Albion making the visit three days later on Tuesday, 5th July (7.30pm).

West Bromwich Albion (9th July), Cheltenham Town (12th July), Leicester City (15th July) and Oxford City (16th July) follow in quick succession before pre-season concludes with matches at home to Daventry Town (19th July), Coventry City (23rd July), Woking (26th July) and Leamington (30th July).

The Southern Premier Central campaign then gets under way on Saturday, 6th August.

Bards chairman Jed McCrory said: “We’re delighted to have pulled together so many exciting friendlies and wanted to attract as many families as possible to our own festival of football here at Stratford Town.

“Through all the work we are doing in the community we realised that, financially, these are testing times for many of our supporters so being able to offer so many free tickets is our way of giving something back. I’d like to thank our sponsors, directors and players who have made this possible and everyone at the club looks forward to welcoming a whole new load of recruits to Stratford’s Bardy Army.”

Meanwhile, the Bards have continued to shape their squad by bringing in experienced defender Paul McCone and powerhouse striker Curvin Ellis.

Central defender McCone has made more than 250 appearances for Stourbridge and played nearly 100 times for Halesowen Town, while Ellis was at Sutton Coldfield last season and had previously been on the books at Coventry United.

Assistant manager Gavin Hurren said: “Adding Paul to the squad is massive for the club as he brings so much experience and professionalism to the team. He’s a born competitor and leader and we are over the moon that Paul has chosen to join us at Stratford.”

He added: “It’s great to get Curvin over the line. He’s a big 6ft 5ins forward who will bring something different to the team.”