Annual football event set to kick off with 'fantastic' raffle helping a local charity

On Wednesday, July 10, the annual Alchemy Cup is set to take place at St. Columb's College.

The charity tournament is supporting HURT "Have Your Tomorrows" this year, with the charity offering holistic approaches to addiction recovery and family support services in Derry. 

James Deery, senior technical analyst at Alchemy, was the founder of the charity event, as he and the company aim to raise awareness for local charities and give back to the community.

Mr Deery said: “I have always wanted to give back to charities that do amazing work for people in need.

“My main goal of the charity events is to raise awareness and money for charities that may get overlooked or do not get enough financial support to carry out the good work that they do.

“I have seen time and time again, especially within Derry, how bad addiction is within the town. HURT are doing an amazing job helping with this, and when I saw I could help them in doing their job, it was a no-brainer.”

The event is set to kick off at 6pm with 10 teams from different businesses across Derry participating in the cup. 

All support is welcomed by the participants, organisers and the sponsors of the event.

While the football is an attractive proposition, the big allure is the raffle. 

The Alchemy Cup will raffle off a number of prizes, including a signed Seamus Coleman Ireland shirt, Micky Bartlett tickets at the Millennium Forum, an Ebrington hotel midweek spa retreat, and a £50 bowling alley voucher, to name but a few of the 16 prizes. 

Mr. Deery said: “This is the third year of running it. I’d like to also add a thank you to all the teams who have entered and all the businesses that have donated prizes to the raffle.”

The organisers welcome all donations to the cause, which can be done through this link. 

And raffle tickets can be bought for £2 by also donating through the link or at the event on the day. 

However, Mr. Deery warned: “We have a GoFundMe page set up where people can donate or buy raffle tickets. I would ask anyone buying tickets through this link to add their name so I can write it on the back of their tickets, and the winner will be selected by the name on the ticket rather than the ticket number.”