Evergreen USA Trip winners visit New York

In the grand prize for the first year of Evergreen, members Richard Leppard and Jacob Dobson travelled to the United States with their guests for an amazing trip to remember.

The quartet flew out from Heathrow earlier this month, landing at JFK Airport in New York to begin a five-day adventure that included a flurry of sightseeing and the chance to sample life in the Big Apple.

In the middle of their American experience, our winners and guests spent a day with Argyle chairman Simon Hallett and his wife Jane.

It all started by meeting up with Argyle USA for the Sunderland game on a brisk New York morning, followed by more sightseeing, a fantastic dinner in a New York restaurant and then on to the iconic Madison Square Garden to watch the NY Knicks basketball team in NBA action.

It was clearly a magical experience, as our winners explained:

“We travelled to Heathrow from Southampton and when we landed in New York, the first thought was ‘wow, this place is huge’,” said Jacob. “On the first day, we visited the Summit, which provides an amazing view across New York City.

“I’ve obviously seen the sights in London but New York is just so massive, it makes London feel like a small place. We fitted a lot into the trip, including a visit to Ground Zero, which was surreal and poignant.

“We stayed in Manhattan and it was great to meet up with Simon and Jane. He was just such a down-to-earth bloke and it was very cool watching an Argyle game with the chairman. It just felt like watching the Greens with an ordinary fan.

“Regardless of the result, it was a great experience and lovely to get an insight into how football works for a chairman.

“We followed that with a fantastic meal and then watching the New York Knicks, which topped off a pretty surreal day. Simon had been to a few basketball games before and he tipped us off with what to expect.

“There were more sights over the next two days, the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and also a few iconic sports stadiums. We had a tour around the New York Yankees stadium and also had a look outside the Met Life.

“It was an unbelievable trip and our thanks to Evergreen and the chairman for such a memorable experience.”

Richard Leppard added: “Firstly, thank you to all at Evergreen for organising a fantastic trip. Also, a huge thank you to Jane and Simon for hosting us on Saturday, including arranging a bar to show Argyle away at Sunderland. It was odd watching a game on TV at 10am.

“New York is an exciting city, it felt like we spent hours looking up, a great place to wander and explore.  The other Central Park is incredible but would be improved by a football stadium. 

“We saw our first live basketball game at Madison Square Garden, which was full of razzmatazz, slightly unnerving when the screen said get loud.

“We found plenty of beers to try, as well as places to eat, and would definitely want to go again.”