The YKK Widnes Wild Community Programme is the official community programme of the YKK Widnes Wild and was formed with the aim of harnessing the power and passion our fans and supporters have to improve

the lives of others.   The Wild club select a local organisation to support each year and the chosen charity for the 2022/23 season is Halton Haven Hospice. In previous years, the Wild club have also supported Stick N Step cerebral palsy charity, Cathie Stankevitch Foundation and the UK Sepsis Trust.

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Wild players, match volunteers and fans regularly take part in fundraising events for their chosen charities such as Firewalk evenings and the annual Santa Dash and at Christmas 2019, Wild players took to the ice with wheelchair-bound children their and families from Stick n Step for a special pre-match skating session.

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The club also hold an annual “Teddy Toss” at a Wild NIHL home match in the run up to Christmas where fans donate soft toys which are then handed out to worthy causes over the festive period.  In recent years, the Wild have forged links with the University Of Salford’s Physiotherapy department which, as well as helping with the wellbeing of players and team staff, also offers the benefit of free treatment at the clinic for Wild supporters.

 

For this season we have also established a link with the Terry Spencer Boxing & Fitness gym to help the players with off-ice training and conditioning and it is hoped to develop this into mutually beneficially partnership.  The Wild Community Team deliver a wide range of initiatives and activities and can arrange visits to local schools, charities or community groups to give presentation and can bring equipment for hockey based introductory sessions. The Wild Community Programme is always happy to work with other local charities and suitable community groups and can provide tickets to home matches for the benefit of members or to support fundraising initiatives.

 

The Wild are one of the few ice hockey teams in the country to have their own “Poet In Residence”, Lucy London, who supports all the Widnes–based teams – be it NIHL, Ladies, Academy and Recreational - in verse and is keen to help fans young and old develop their own writing skills and find new ways to express themselves.

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If you would like more information please email: community@widneswild.co.uk