We Are Family

THE emphasis will be firmly on the family when Argyle entertain Luton Town in their first home game of 2015.

The Pilgrims are relaunching their popular Family Zone For All when the Hatters visit Home Park on Saturday, January 17 for an eagerly anticipated clash between the two promotion-hunting teams.

The pioneering Family Zone has been given a massive makeover for the new year to make the family match-day experience even bigger and better than before.

Since its introduction in the summer of 2012, the Zone has hosted families of supporters of both Argyle and visiting clubs on match-day.

A host of pre-game activities to challenge both mind and body, starting at 10am and including a soccer skills mini arena, mini-climbing holds, giant Jenga and various digital sports take place under the auspices of the club’s Football in the Community Trust.

While proving immensely popular with young fans up and down the country, the Family Zone has also played an integral part in Argyle being awarded the Football League’s prestigious Family Club of the Year award for Sky Bet League 2 for two consecutive years, 2012-13 and 2013-14.

To complement its re-opening, the Pilgrims have designated the week leading up to the Sky Bet League 2 clash ‘Family Week’.

One of the key activities during Family Week will be a long-awaited and much-needed clean-up of the areas around Home Park, ensuring the site is litter-free.

Argyle players will be among those taking part in the Home Park Litter-pick on Thursday, January 15, and the Pilgrims are seeking volunteers to help them.

Anyone interested in taking part should contact the Communications Department at Argyle (01752 562561; argyle@pafc.co.uk) or report to the Green Taverners’ Suite at Home Park for noon on the day of the litter-pick, were they will be briefed and provided with equipment supplied by project partners Devon Contract Waste.

Bins, especially branded with the #LOL logo as a part of the Clean Up Britain campaign by City Business Park-based Moorprint, are also being provided by Devon Contract Waste who will then process the collected litter in their £4.5m plant in Devon – cutting the carbon footprint – ensuring that nothing goes to landfill.

The Luton game will also see the launch of a new community campaign for the city which Argyle are throwing their weight behind, campaign – #LOL Plymouth (‘Let’s Obliterate Litter’) which is being piloted in Plymouth, by Clean Up Britain in partnership with the Plymouth City Centre Company.

The campaign, which will run over a two-week period from January 17-31, seeks to engage the community, living and working in the city, by offering physical rewards (such as free tickets to see Argyle, money-off vouchers, or even a free bag of chips!) to people for putting their litter –
where it should be – in the bin.

Saturday’s launch events will include a half-time penalty shoot-out between teams of young fans who will be enjoying the game from the Family Zone.

Clean Up Britain aims to inspire significant and sustained attitudinal and behavioural change in relation to litter among the worst offenders – males (and females) aged between 14 and 26 – by taking an unexpected and engaging approach which generates buzz and excitement in the city.

In the same way that drink driving and dog fouling have become socially unacceptable, we want littering to become socially unacceptable, too. We hope you agree and that you will support us in our efforts.

You can find out more by visiting www.cleanupbritain.org, www.visitplymouth.co.uk, or follow @cleanupbritain #LOLPlymouth on Twitter.