Teachers and pupils at a school in Cheshire were left “really shocked” after receiving a pair of signed Mary Earps gloves to help raise funds for a new sports track.
Parents at Tarporley Primary School are selling tickets for a raffle to raise more than £10,000 for the track, which will be used for “The Daily Mile” where children run or jog for 15 minutes every day.
Sue Briggs-Harris, vice chairwoman of the school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA), told the PA news agency she reached out to Manchester United to try to secure a prize.
To her surprise, the club sent over a pair of gloves worn and signed by England goalkeeper Earps, alongside a certificate of authenticity.
“I was really shocked”, said the 58-year-old who lives in Bunbury, Cheshire, and works as a freelance journalist.
“I thought, what are the chances of getting a pair of gloves signed by Mary Earps.
“They also said they get a lot of requests, but don’t always get back to them, but responded to us.”
Ms Briggs-Harris’s partner Caroline, 46, who is a criminal barrister, posted about the gloves on a local Facebook group, which received hundreds of likes and comments from people expressing their interest in buying tickets for the raffle.
“Her phone was just going ‘beep, beep, beep’ with people saying they would like to enter,” Ms Briggs-Harris said.
“The former treasurer said, ‘hi all, has anyone been issuing payment links from the school SumUp machine because I have been receiving lots of notifications of payments from SumUp’.”
Ms Briggs-Harris, her partner and their two children – Joseph, 12, and Harriet, 10 – watched the Lionesses play against Germany in the Euro 2022 final and said it was a “dream” for them.
She added: “On the way back, everybody was celebrating and Joseph was even interviewed by Newsround.
“The atmosphere was amazing and it inspired so many girls to get into football, which is incredible to see.”
She said both her son and daughter play in defence, with her daughter joining a local football team called the Tattenhall Tornadoes after being inspired by the Lionesses, and her son always watches his sister’s matches.
She said she hopes someone with a passion for football wins the gloves and if they manage to raise enough money for a track, it will be named after Earps.
“If we manage to sell all of these tickets, we can put this new Daily Mile track in and then we can name it the Mary Earps Daily Mile track and she might even come down to the school to open it for us.”
The winner of the gloves will be announced on March 28 after the lucky ticket has been drawn at the school.
Those interested in taking part are advised to email briggsharris@live.co.uk