Top sporting memorabilia up for grabs at charity auction

A football match was held in November in Christopher’s honour and it proved to be an emotional occasion for all involved. However, the main event in the form of a Charity Auction and Disco, planned to help Christopher’s pregnant widow Gillian and his two daughters, will take place on 31st January at 8pm in Ballymoney United Football Club.

One of the main organisers Mervyn ‘Tubes’ McIntyre explained: “We have some amazing items to auction and we have been blown away by the response to it.

“We have everything from an England shirt from ‘96 signed by the likes of Beckham, Giggs, Gerrard etc., a shirt worn by Steven Davies in the Euro Qualifier again Romania signed by the team, signed Carl Frampton gloves, a signed fully signed Southampton shirt, a shirt signed by the Manchester United class of 92, a signed Phil Taylor dart board a much, much more.

“Celtic have sent us over two match tickets for any Premiership match and also tours through the stadium. There’s signed shirts from Ballymena, Linfield and Coleraine and we also were given a very rare item. It was one of the first Ballymoney United metal badges which was produced in 1946 and was donated by Gemma McKenna and we are very grateful for that. There’s a ski lesson donated by Rob Skelly and a Wikipad donated by Assethub. There’s many, many more items, too many to mention now.

“We have also a few items up for grabs on facebook still. The Manchester United ball went before Christmas, the guy who got it was determined to get it and kept buiding so that pushed up the price, however but there’s still a four ball at Ballycastle available.

“It’s going to be an amazing night and we want to raise as much money as possible for Gillian and the kids. At the minute there seems to be a great crowd going but we want as many as possible to come along on the night and dip into their pockets. We have music as well and making a night of it. It’s a celebration of Chris as much as anything. We said we would have a night and celebrate the wee man. After the match in November we took a couple of weeks off but the momentum is building towards the auction now.

“Christmas and New Year was a very difficult time for all the family but we kept in touch throughout. There’s no doubt the entire family found it very hard, however we are looking forward to the auction night and paying tribute to the wee man and it will be great to see Gillian and all the family there because they are coming to support the event. Personally I found New Year’s Eve really hard, I missed him and got very emotional.

“Hopefully the public will come out and support this event, there are some brilliant pieces of sporting memorabilia up for grabs.”

To see the items on offer on January 31st go to the Riada FC Rhinos Auction page on Facebook.