Seven days ago the Hurst Cross social club housed Ashton United’s long awaited Sports memorabilia auction evening, run by supporters Ken Philburn and Alan Sneddon. With a wide variety of sports relics, tokens and souvenirs on offer, a great night was enjoyed by all with a tidy sum of money raised for the up keep and growth of the club.

Various members of the playing squad as well as the backroom staff turned up to support the evening and with top quality entertainment and scrumptious food on offer, there were plenty of happy faces leaving the club after the occasion.

Joint-organiser Alan Sneddon put hours of blood, sweat and tears into making the evening a success and managed to use his contacts to source some specialist merchandise, including a signed Ricky Hatton portrait. Speaking after the evening, Sneddon praised those that turned out and stated that the money raised is in safe hands, with the cheque going towards future development at the club. “The evening as a whole was great, I think originally before the event we were worried about numbers but when we got into the spirit of things it turned out to be a great night.”

The general manager at Ashton-Under-Lyne B&Q continued by saying; “We raised £1,700 in total after we paid the comedy entertainer and food. The money will go towards the development, if we go up then it can go some way to expanding and moving things forward in the future. Rest assured the cheque has found a good home in Ashton United.”

In typical ‘Tameside fashion’ the fans, staff and players all chipped in together to make sure the evening was a success. The management team of Paul Phillips and Steve Halford played an instrumental part in making sure everything ran smoothly on the night and Sneddon thanked Phillo in particular for opening up his wallet and digging deep to benefit the club financially.

“The players turned up in real high spirits guys and they made it a great night. I’m pleased to say they all dug deep and bought at least one item each. Big credit to Phillo (Paul Phillips) who bought more than one piece of merchandise. I’m so grateful to the managers who supported the event 100% from day one and went out of their way to help the club.”

As mentioned earlier, this event wasn’t run by one man alone. The larger than life character of Ken Philburn played a huge part in drumming up interest and selling tickets for the evening, as well as designating himself as the auction caller. Due to the camaraderie between the players and Ken, many laughs were had before, during and after the night and Sneddon thanked his partner for making the event such a spectacle.

“I’ve only been involved at the club for 8-9 months. I befriended Ken and asked him if he fancied getting involved in my auction night. He’s been an absolute inspiration, without Ken we couldn’t have done it and without his support it wouldn’t have been the night it turned out to be!”​

Ashton United are gearing up for a play-off semi-final next Tuesday and the event’s organiser claimed he hopes the success of last Wednesday will create a good buzz around the whole club, with the side set to face their biggest seven days of the season.

“Hopefully this event and the buzz it’s created will rub off on the side in their upcoming play-off campaign. There is nothing better than knowing as a unit we are all supporting them, everyone is fundamental in supporting the club.”