At the end of last month, colleagues from 'Better' leisure centres in Lewisham played in a friendly football match against local community organisation Saving Souls.

Saving Souls operates from Bellingham Leisure & Lifestyle Centre, delivering projects such as a weekly foodbank, a men's mental health group, and self defence classes for women. Alongside this, they also work with a group of boys to get them playing football on a regular basis.

This football group is made up of lads aged 18-21 who may not be able to afford to play regularly or have other barriers to them being able to join other teams. To redress this, Saving Souls arranges matches for these youngsters and 'Better' employees stepped up and offered them a game.

Ten leisure centre colleagues from across Lewisham took on a team from the Crossfield Estate in Deptford. After a tightly-fought contest, team 'Better' lost 9-6 - the boys' much larger squad, age and the weather ended up getting the better of us!

Matthew Houghton, 'Better's' Community Sport Manager in Lewisham, comments, "We had a fantastic time and are looking forward to the next match -I am hoping my injuries will have healed by then!"