Aston Villa & Acorns in partnership

Since Aston Villa FC announced a ground-breaking partnership with Acorns Children's Hospice in 2006, this special relationship has gone from strength to strength as their recent activity demonstrates.

Brilliant News!

Marc Albrighton scored a wonderful goal for Acorns during Aston Villa's match with Arsenal. It was the 20,000th in the Premier League for which Barclays handed over a cheque for £20,000 to Albrighton for achieving the monumental scoring feat which Marc then donated to our charity.

Albrighton said "It's great to have been able to achieve that record. To then be able to donate the money that goes with it to such a worthy cause. I am thrilled, I truly am.

Villa Christmas visit

First team players from Aston Villa and the manager brought some festive cheer to our Birmingham hospice by paying us a very special Christmas visit. Manager Alex McLeish, player ambassador Gabby Agbonlahor were joined by Darren Bent, Charles N'Zogbia, Alan Hutton, Marc Albrighton, Andreas Weimann and Ciaran Clark as they handed out gifts, chatted with children and their families and took a tour of the hospice to see the facilities first-hand.

The players were all thrilled to attend - and delighted to bring merriment to the place.

Darren Bent said: "It's fantastic for us to come and play with the children at Acorns. We love doing it - and hopefully they enjoy seeing us. The kids - and the staff who look after them - are fantastic. They really do care for the children so well."

Acorns chief executive David Strudley added: "It's always a special occasion - and wonderful to see all the lads here again.

"It's great to see the players with the children. This is one of the occasions that has become part of our relationship together. This is such a brilliant partnership - we love what the club does for our charity and all the friends of the charity.

"The children light up - they love the fact the players are here to see them and the families love it too. It feels very special.”

Villa and Acorns in long term partnership

AVFC have been Acorns children's heroes by initially providing a financial donation to cover the urgent costs of 77 days hospice care to keep beds open at Selly Oak hospice. Over the past few years, Villa players have also taken the time to visit the children and families who use Acorns, bringing smiles to their faces and those of our hard working staff. Most memorable for all was when Villa became the first Premier League club to forego a main shirt sponsor fee and place a charity name on its shirts for free.

David Strudley, chief executive of Acorns explains, "The strong relationship between Villa and Acorns is well known but people aren't aware of the involvement of the players with the charity, behind the scenes as well as in the public eye. Star striker Gabby Agbonlahor has now become the official player ambassador for Acorns. Gabby is a local lad and has visited the hospice on several occasions and as a father he can really relate to the needs of our children and families. Announcing him as ambassador is an exciting next step in the Villa's support for Acorns of which we are hugely appreciative. We so look forward to working with him even closer."