Stockport County FC fan ‘scores’ brilliant fundraising technique

Lee Rowley has been raising funds for St Ann's Hospice in a cheerful way to honour his mum, Tina

By Cathal Doherty on October 23, 2024

Lee, Tanto Rectangle

A lifelong Stockport County FC supporter has been raising much needed funds for St Ann’s Hospice by carrying around a life-size cardboard cut-out of one of the club’s star players.

Lee Rowley, has raised over £1,200 for St Ann’s with cardboard cut-outs over the space of two years.

St Ann’s is a charity very close to Lee’s heart as his mum, Tina, was cared for in the hospice at the end of last year, before she died.

“My mum was in and out of St Ann’s for about two years for pain management when she wasn’t well,” Lee said.

She made a big impression on the people there. She was one of those people who could talk to anybody, and I mean anybody. She was so good at making friends. Lee Rowley, St Ann's Hospice Fundraiser

“She entered St Ann’s for the last time shortly before the end. St Ann’s just looked after all of us so much. I couldn’t speak highly enough of them. In the last few days, staff would come up to me at one in the morning and ask if I wanted a brew. It’s small things like that, that make the world of difference,” he added. 

Lee and his mum Rectangle

Following Tina’s passing, Lee noticed his son, Kieron was still down from the passing of his grandmother and decided to do something a “bit daft” when he had a cardboard cut-out of the Stockport County FC manager Dave Challinor made. 

The two would take the cut-out around with them to Stockport matches and to the pub and jokingly pretend it was a real person. 

“It was a great conversation starter,” Lee said. “Everywhere we went people wanted to talk to us about it. 

“We got it signed by the team and decided to auction it off at the end of the season and sold it for £1,000. All the money went to St Ann’s,” he added. 

Due to the success of the initial cut-out, Lee decided to get another one of Stockport’s star strikers, Tanto Olaofe made. This time, however, Lee has included a QR code which links directly to a donation page for St Ann’s. 

It’s much easier this way and it’s still a great conversation piece and people are coming up to us, scanning the link and donating in front of us now. We’ve raised about £200 so far this season. Lee Rowley, St Ann's Hospice Fundraiser

“We were at an away game in Barnsley recently and even their supporters were donating via the link to St Ann’s. It was brilliant to see. 

“I would also like to thank Paul Lavin for his involvement,” he added 

Due to English weather, it can become difficult to maintain the upkeep of the cardboard cut-out when attending games, so Lee is in the process of trying to future-proof the cardboard cut-out. 

Once that is done, the plan at the end of the season is to once again get it signed by the team and auction off the cut-out with all proceeds going towards St Ann’s Hospice.