Representatives of the Finlay Cooper Fund were invited to Westminster for an event arranged by London-based Boro fan Mark Davies
A House of Commons reception and providing funds for a family therapy room at Teesside Hospice - it’s been an eventful few days for the Finlay Cooper Fund.
Representatives of the fund, which was set up by Boro legend and Hartlepool manager Colin Cooper and his wife Julie after the tragic death of their two-year-old son in 2002, were invited to Westminster for an event arranged by London-based Boro fan Mark Davies.
The reception was attended by MPs, fans of the clubs Colin played at and former Boro manager Bruce Rioch. And Colin admits it was “surreal” to be allowed in to the House of Commons to promote, support and celebrate the work the fund has done since its launch in August 2006.
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He said: “I had a wonderful experience as a professional footballer and was given many opportunities to do many things, but I’m not sure if this tops the lot.
“I feel very humble, honoured and privileged to be allowed to be in a place of this stature and speak about our charity.”
Bruce Rioch said: “Whenever anyone goes through such a tragedy, getting over it is very traumatic. It happened to my family, I lost a brother at a very early age, and the impact it has on your family is enormous.
“But setting up the Finlay Cooper Fund has given him and his family a focus to do as much as they can, not only on Finlay’s behalf, but also for children all around the country, and I think it’s quite fantastic.
“It’s symptomatic of Colin and his family. They’ve always been champions of people. They like people, they care for people and this is just symptomatic of the way they are.
“When you look back at that team of 1986, the Boro boys, and the way they have carried, handled and developed themselves and how they’ve become good people in life, I don’t think that’s an accident. It is a band of brothers, no doubt about it.”
Meanwhile, artistic students from Hartlepool’s Dyke House Sports and Technology College have been putting the finishing touches to a mural in Teesside Hospice’s family therapy room.
The room is part of the Middlesbrough hospice’s Forget-Me-Not children’s bereavement counselling service and has been paid for by more than £5,000 from the Finlay Cooper Fund.
The colourful mural is inspired by popular counselling book Water Bugs and Dragonflies, which the fund’s dragonfly emblem is based on.
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