Date: Tue 11 Feb 2025

By Andy Poole

BEDFORD TOWN | A DAY TO REMEMBER

Here's a heart-warming story from the Premier Central club

Luke is a father of three boys, all of whom have loved football from an early age.

One of his sons, Jaxon, aged six, had been struggling at school, as well as in general day-to-day life, with expressing how he felt and this lead to him getting upset and agitated.
As a result of this, it meant that Jaxon started missing out on things that he enjoyed which, of course, would then cause him even more upset.

It was around this time that Luke decided to turn to football to help. He jumped in the car with his three boys and headed to his local football team, Bedford Town.

It was at this initial match at the Pitching In Southern League Premier Central club that Luke was approached by the clubs fan liaison officer who asked if the boys would be interested in being mascots for a future match - something which was a very quick and easy yes from Luke!

A few weeks later, the big day arrived and the boys were at the ground and ready to lead the team out. All three were very excited and headed down the tunnel to meet the players.

At this point, Luke said goodbye to his three boys and went to retreat to the stands so that he could capture the moment on film, a priceless memory which could be replayed for years to come.

However, unbeknownst to Luke, his departure had caused all of Jaxon’s insecurities to flare up, he started to get very upset and agitated and wanted to leave his other brothers and run away to find his dad in the stands.

At this moment, the Bedford Town players and mascot ‘Eyrie the Eagle’ arrived on the scene and could see that Jaxon was very upset and was in need of some comforting.

One particular player decided to take Jaxon under his wing and, alongside Eyrie the Mascot, managed to calm Jaxon down, reassuring him that everything would be fine and that he and Eyrie would walk out with him hand-in-hand.

That player was Bedford Town captain, Carl Mensah.

A towering figure in the centre of defence, the skipper well and truly led by example, proving to be a gentle giant that day and made sure that Jaxon enjoyed the experience of being a mascot and gave his family memories to cherish forever.

But that is just the start of this story!

To read the full story as well as many others, such as a day in the life of Tamworth goalkeeper, Jas Singh, and a feature on the top non-League Clubhouses plus much, much more, pick up the latest copy of ‘Parks to Pitches’, a quarterly printed magazine dedicated to all that is good in non-League football.

And if that’s not enough, every edition you will receive a free matchday ticket to a different non-League club.

LATEST EDITION ON SALE HERE


IMAGE: Parks to Pitches Magazine

Bedford Town Web Site

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