Charlton legends Carl Leaburn and Jason Euell are two of the special guests for a procession celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Charlton Athletic Race & Equality Partnershp (CARE) this Saturday at The Valley.
The parade is taking place as part of the club’s annual Red, White & Black Day: All Together to promote diversity and there will be a total of 25 local community groups and schools taking part in a Carnival Procession from Charlton Station to The Valley.
Other special guests on the Carnival Procession include:
- Charlton Athletic Women’s Captain Kim Dixson
- PFA Head of Player Welfare and former Addick Micky Bennett
- CARE Co-Chair and Royal Borough of Greenwich Cabinet Member for Culture, Creative Industries and Community Well-Being Cllr Denise Scott-McDonald
- Greenwich Islamic Centre and Armed Forces Muslim Forum representative Imam Ali Omar
- Former Charlton Athletic Chairman and CARE Co-Chair Martin Simons
- Charlton Athletic Community Trust CEO Jason Morgan MBE
- Greenwich Leisure Limited Senior Development Manager Kulvinder Gainda
- Director of Pastoral Support in English Football Reverend Matt Baker
Each year CARE celebrates their work to promote social integration and build community cohesion in Greenwich, with an event at a Charlton Athletic Football Club game. This annual event to raise awareness of Equality and Diversity throughout the Borough, is called Red White and Black Day.
To mark the 25th anniversary, this year’s event is expected to be bigger and better than ever before with up to 330 pupils from 11 local primary schools anticipated. As part of this year’s Red White & Black Day, which has the tagline All Together, pupils and their families will take part in a celebration of diversity and equality, including an All Together banner procession through Charlton, and around the pitch.
In the run-up to the event the club and Charlton Athletic Community Trust have been hosting diversity seminars at The Valley for local school children. Special guests at the events have included Charlton Athletic first team and academy players, Charlton Athletic CEO Katrien Meire and Charlton Athletic Women’s team players. Local schoolchildren have attended one of the four events over the last few months.
Dr Michael Seeraj, Head of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion at Charlton Athletic Community Trust said: “We’ve come such a long way in 25 years of CARE using the power of football to promote equality and tackle discrimination.
"It’s a great milestone to reach, however, in the current climate there is still much to be done . We are immensely proud to lead the way in this area of work, and to be the only project of its kind in professional football. We look forward to continuing our long standing and valuable relationship with both the Club and the Royal Borough of Greenwich, who have both provided invaluable support over the years. As Baroness Doreen Lawrence highlights, this is an ‘event with such an important message."
Charlton's Player Liaison Officer, Tracey Leaburn has been heavily involved in the organisation of the activity. She said: “The work CARE has done over the last 25 years is phenomenal. To celebrate this we wanted to do something bigger and better than ever before. The seminars at The Valley have been a great success and we’ve had excellent feedback from all involved. We’re really looking forward to Saturday and hope it is a true celebration that CARE’s hard work deserves.