91-year-old Colin Bowen, who lives at
HC-One’s Cwrt-Clwydi-Gwyn care home, in Neath, has always been a fan of Swansea City Association Football Club, so Colleagues helped to organise a visit to the club and meet two iconic ex-players, in partnership with Ospreys Rugby.
HC-One South Wales has been chatting to Residents throughout the region and finding out what their passions, wishes and dreams are. They know Colin is a lifelong fan of Swansea City, especially when he said that his hero is former Wales international footballer, Alan Curtis, so they have been looking at organising something with club which is located just 15 minutes away from the care home.
The visit was organised as part of Ospreys Sporting Memories, a project that aims to get older generations engaging with sport through working with local clubs. Colin was invited to attend a talk on Swansea City at the local rugby club, followed by a tour of the Liberty Stadium.
Having been a Swansea City fan all his life, Colin always wanted to be a professional footballer himself. He went to all their games up until around two years ago, when his son sadly passed away and he found it too difficult to go, as this was something they did together. But he remains a big fan to this day and was over the moon to be involved in the project.
Early in July, Colin attended a talk on “The Swans” at the nearby Skewen Rugby Club. Over a cuppa, Colin met and chatted with other people; everyone was amazed at all the details he could recall from the history of the club and the iconic goals scored throughout recent history.
Following the talk, on 28th July Colin had a tour at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea with Wellbeing Coordinators at Cwrt-Clwydi-Gwyn care home, Claire Davies and Denise Morgan-Evans. Colin was delighted to meet Alan Curtis MBE and David Giles, who played for both Swansea City and the national Welsh team. The group posed for photos, and Colin had the most special day.
When Colin met Alan Curtis, he was quite overwhelmed. When he was in the museum part of the stadium looking at the memorabilia, he recognised Alan’s profile and didn’t realise he was going to meet him just minutes later. This was such a big surprise!
Lisa Llewellyn, Home Manager at Cwrt-Clwydi-Gwyn care home, added:
“It is amazing Colin had the opportunity to do a tour of the stadium and meet his hero he has told everyone about his fabulous day!”
“A big thank you to everyone who took part to make his dream come true.”
Eileen Coyle-Jones, Area Director of HC-One South Wales, said:
“A big thank you to Ospreys Sporting Memories for working with Cwrt-Clwydi-Gryn so that Colin’s dream could be granted. it was so special that he got to meet his hero Alan Curtis MBE.”