A charity football match and fun day to celebrate 50 years of a company at its Sudbury site have been hailed a success despite torrential downpours for part of the event.

East Anglian Daily Times: Sudbury Charity football match at Delphi for EACH, followed by a fun day to mark Delphi's 50th anniversary. Pictured in the centre is Adam Chinery.Sudbury Charity football match at Delphi for EACH, followed by a fun day to mark Delphi's 50th anniversary. Pictured in the centre is Adam Chinery.

On Saturday a charity football match was held at Delphi’s football ground in Newton Road followed by a fun day including free fairground rides.

The football match, organised by Delphi employee Joe Beggs, raised about £200 for East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH), and the whole day was to mark the firm’s 50th anniversary at its current site.

The event also fell during the automotive industry supplier firm’s excellence week, which sees employees carry out voluntary work in the community.

Mr Beggs, 27, from Sudbury, said eight teams took part in the football match, including Delphi apprentices, the Melford Valley restaurant and Sudbury Snooker Club.

Delphi Apprentices were the winning team, beating 2-0 Melford Valley in the final, and received a trophy from Delphi plant manager Wayne Nichols.

Mr Beggs, who recently visited EACH’s Treehouse hospice in Ipswich, said the football – which avoided the rain – went really well. He said it was an “amazing honour” to be able to be able to support EACH. “The Treehouse is an amazing place. It has the most amazing facilities for the children and their families to have special moments with each other and also to have great medical care,” he said.

The fun day was aimed former and current employees and their friends and family. Fun day organiser Jim Hammond, manufacturing manager at Delphi, said despite the rain in the afternoon it “didn’t dampen people’s spirits”.

Mr Beggs has already raised £500 for EACH from a ‘land, sea and air’ challenge he is tackling in September, involving climbing up the UK’s three highest peaks, kayaking from Sudbury to the sea and then jumping out of a plane from about 13,000ft. To donate visit https://www.justgiving.com/Joe-Beggs