Robert’s family were kindly invited by Peter and Linda Gilham to this years Lifeline Christmas event and an incredible £1,520 was raised for CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young) on the night through a raffle, which included a signed first team shirt, ball and a signed David Raya FIFA Shield!

Two members of Brentford`s Hall of Fame, Andy McCulloch and Alan Hawley, were there as guests and provided a light-hearted Q&A session later in the evening along with a fun Christmas Quiz for all.

Lifeline also kindly donated £3,000 towards our CRY screening event last year (read more on the event here), so we are extremely grateful to have their support once again.

“It`s a charity which is very close to us in memory of Rob Rowan, Brentford Football Club`s Technical Director, who sadly passed away four years ago and was the brains behind our successful B Team. Coincidentally earlier in the day, The Club`s new Training Ground facility at Jersey Road was opened and named The Robert Rowan Performance Centre.”

Peter Gilham

The list of projects which Brentford Lifeline Society partly or fully funded includes the restoration of the Ealing Road terrace into a home end, upgrading the match commentary facilities offered to the Club’s blind and partially sighted supporters, and the refurbishment of the Club’s Jersey Road Training Ground, even paying for the car park to be resurfaced. Lifeline helped pay for laptops for the Analytical Team to study and analyse player performance as well as contributing a Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber and Anti-Gravity treadmill to the medical department to aid the recovery of players with long-term injuries.

Peter says;“Over the years Lifeline has been able to help the club and it continues. When fans contact me who want to drop out and they say ‘well now that the club has got Matthew they don’t need funds’ I am at pains to say that’s certainly not true because we shouldn’t expect Mathew to do everything. Certainly funds are needed for so many different things in and around  the Club”.

In 2018 when Lifeline sponsored a B team game at Griffin Park against  Anderlecht, Kevin O’Connor, then the B team coach, said of the Society:” I know Peter Gilham keeps it under the radar a lot of the time, which I understand why they do that. It’s a brilliant cause and they do an awful lot of good for the Club”.

To join The Brentford Lifeline Society for just £2 a week, email lindajgilham@icloud.com