Oil Aid 2007
On Thursday 17th May the Oil Industry hosted the 3rd "Oil Aid" football tournament at Chelsea Football Club. Each of the 24 participating teams from the oil sector paid a $25,000 entrance fee to compete in a 7 a side tournament to raise money for children who are ill or disadvantaged throughout the world. Many teams also paid extra amounts to have a player from the PFA play in their respective teams. Gavin Peacock, Jason Cundy, Paul Davis, Tony Cascarino, Mark Bright, Clive Walker and many more all took part with Trafigura paying an extra £25,000 to have Graham Le Saux play for on their team. This also included the chance for the team to change in the official changing rooms at Chelsea. On the day $850,000 dollars was raised for various charities and over the last 3 years a grand total of $2,400,000 has been raised on the 3 days it has been held, and Cherry Lodge is now an official Charity to the Oil Industry. This year Cherry Lodge will be given a sum of £7,500. Chelsea will also benefit as they will be given a large sum of money for their own charity CLIC SARGENT. Chelsea have been incredibly generous as they give all the facilities free of charge to the industry on the day.
The evening gala dinner was hosted by Damon Hill and on the night a staggering $100,000 was raised on 7 auction items. Another recipiant was Nature Kids a local school who help children with learning difficulties. They are based in Essendon and benefitted on the night by receiving an allowance to hire an english teacher at the school for a year.
Marc Thompson
Chief Organiser of Oil Aid, and local resident in Barnet
