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Earlier this month we launched Girls FC, our new series of funky footy books, at the National Football Museum in Preston. There was a great turn out of children, families, librarians and teachers making up an audience of over 75 people who were greeted on arrival by a female football freestyler performing footy tricks!
The event kicked off with a great introduction by editor Caroline Royds, followed by a talk by Peter Evans, the museum's Education Office. Peter gave a funny and interesting account of the history of womens' football (did you know the FA officially banned women's football for 50 years in 1921?!), which involved dressing Annalie, from our editorial team up as a 1920's footballer! As you can see from the photos, she made a great Lily Parr!
Helena talked about her experiences writing Girls FC and read an extract from Do Goalkeepers Wear Tiaras?. Players from the Lincoln Griffins Under 11 team and local children from Preston then read out extracts from the other books which really brought the stories and the characters to life. The event ended with a raffle where lucky winners won sets of books signed by England coach Hope Powell, a family ticket to see Preston North End FC, a Preston North End shirt signed by all the ladies team and an England shirt signed by the ladies team.
After refreshments, people headed downstairs to watch Robyn the freestlyer's second demonstration of amazing football tricks and to get copies of the books signed by Helena. Helena was signing for over an hour as many people bought all four books and she was also interviewed and photographed for local press.
Overall it was a great day and a big thank you to Caz, Annalie, Jacky and Sarah who helped make the event such a success!
Play the Girls FC penalty shoot out game here!