A group of volunteers from Midlothian are traveling to Trinidad and Tobago in November to help charity ‘Habitat for Humanity’ and also take part in a walking football tournament.
The Midlothian Ageing Well project was established 20-years ago and the group started playing walking football in 2012 in a bid to offer more activities for men.
The project is managed by Vivian Wallace who said: ” The seed was sown some time ago that we should go there and introduce walking football to the Trinidadians and do some charity work assisting a community to build a new home and a better life for a family.
“We will be the first British party to take up the opportunity to work for the charity so we are all looking forward to the experience.
“We are hopeful that walking football will catch on over there and if they set up their own league? Wouldn’t that be great?”
Playing at Loanhead and Penicuik, the team has gone from strength to strength culminating with winning the Scottish Walking Football Festival at Glasgow Green earlier this year.
‘Habitat for Humanity’ is a humanitarian organisation focused on long-term development, aid and poverty alleviation, whose mission is to build a safe environment where families and communities can thrive.
A spokesman for the charity said: “Access to decent housing is the foundation to achieving essential human rights such as: education, property, food and privacy. Home is the first step toward a future of opportunities and prosperity.
“We have been tackling housing poverty in Trinidad and Tobago since 1997. We have served 355 families with direct housing solutions and more than 1800 with credit, management and construction training.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
