Leeds Hyde Park Women+ Football Club set to climb the Yorkshire Three Peaks to support local communities

Their efforts begin next weekend, when twenty players from the women's branch of Leeds Hyde Park Football Club will scale the peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough to raise money for Leeds-based charity TransLeeds and the club's ongoing community outreach work.

Founded six years ago, LHPFC was set up by Adel Chermiti in response to the need for sports provision amid a vacuum of opportunity for underprivileged children in the Hyde Park area.

In 2020, a women's team was created and what started as a training session attended by just six footballers - with no substitutes come matchday - is now a thriving community with 100+ members, with the club set to submit two league teams for the 2022/2023 season.

In the coming weeks, the women's branch is putting on a number of fundraising events in order to support the club's community-orientated mission - on the 25th of June, Hyde Park are inviting Leeds-based football teams to participate in a charity seven-a-side football tournament.

Before then, though, a group of club members will be attempting to conquer three of the Yorkshire Dales' highest peaks in one fell swoop.

Izzy Lowen, manager of the women+ side, explained the team's goal.

"The women's branch of the team have been really striving to fundraise - all the fundraising we've done goes into the wider club," Lowen said.

"A lot of what we do is getting these kids into the football team.

"About 50% of the kids who come along to training are sponsored by the club, so they don't pay to train, because being part of this underprivileged sector of society - they can't afford it.

"And that's a big reason why people don't get into sports, because these socio-economic barriers are a very real factor.

"And so if you can't pay, you can still come and train, you can still come and play."

Keen to partner with a range of community causes, LHPFC women+ wanted to share the fruits of their fundraising efforts and from a shortlist of local charities, members voted to support TransLeeds, a volunteer-led support and advocacy group for transgender-identifying people in the city.

"We went for TransLeeds, which is a cause very close to a lot of people's hearts in the club," Lowen said.

"There's quite a lot of trans, non-binary, and non gender-conforming people in the club.

"It's a very topical issue at the moment, and we feel like any support we can give - whether that's raising awareness or fundraising - it can do a world of good for our own members and people that we know."

You can support Leeds Hyde Park Women's summer fundraiser by clicking here.