Below is a story written by 13-year old Poppy Young which has inspired the club to raise funds for the county's air ambulance at this weekend's game against Yeovil Town. You can read more about Saturday's bucket collection HERE, otherwise enjoy reading about the latest addition to the Stevenage FC trophy collection!
The Adventures Of Heli The Rescue Helicopter - Football Fever
By Poppy Young
Let me introduce to you, Heli the helicopter. Heli is a very special and very important helicopter.
You won’t see Heli, taking passengers sightseeing and you won’t see Heli, taking people on holiday or to the big football match in the city.
Instead Heli is an Air Ambulance and she is in charge of getting people who have hurt themselves to hospital as quick as she can.
Heli is red and white and very shiny and she is also very, very fast.
It was the day of the big town football cup final, Stevenage playing against their archrivals MK Dons. The whole of Hertfordshire was supporting Stevenage.
People had decorated their houses, and come three ‘o’clock this afternoon everyone would be glued to the TV cheering on their team. There were street parties and barbeques ready for the match.
Not only were Stevenage and MK Dons archrivals, but they were the best 2 teams in the Division.
Neither of them had a lost a single match so far this year, with Stevenage having the best two super strikers Robin Shroot and Lucas Akins, and with their brilliant captain Mark Roberts they have scored more goals than anyone else in the league.
MK Dons had the best defence in the Division with their two defenders Lenny Legbreaker and Hacker Harris.
Pilot Pete was especially excited, as he supported Stevenage.
As he wheeled a massive television into the hangar, he began telling everyone that he could have been a Professional footballer. He even had trials for Stevenage, but decided to become a helicopter pilot.
Pilot Pete also says he had trials to be a ballerina, trials to be a 10meter high-board diver and a trial to be a famous F1 racing car driver.
As Heli sat in her hangar, she daydreamed about all the famous people who would arrive at the match via helicopter’s just like her. There would be the famous commentators Gary Spinicar, Mark Hansen and of course the Prime minister, David Lemon, who was a secret Stevenage supporter.
Three ‘o’clock soon came around and with the stadium full to bursting point the teams walked out onto the pitch.
Pilot Pete let out a massive cheer,
“Come on you Stevenage,” which sent Dr Edward Tedworth flying out of his seat.
“You frightened the life out of me, I thought the airbase was on fire,” he said.
Pilot Pete was wearing his Stevenage shirt over his flight suit, a Stevenage scarf around his neck and had decorated the hangar in red and white bunting. He had also tried to decorate Dr Edward Tedworth in red and white, but Dr Edward Tedworth said that those colours didn’t match his fur. Pilot Pete didn’t need to decorate Heli, because she was already red and white.
The first half was very exiting, with both teams playing well. However Heli and Dr Edward Tedworth didn’t have a very good first half, as every thirty seconds Pilot Pete would jump out of his seat and shout at either the referee or the players.
As the half time whistle sounded, the score was still nil-nil.
Heli and Dr Edward Tedworth thanked goodness that they would get at least 15 minutes peace from Pilot Pete, before he started shouting at the TV again.
The second half was the same as the first, Stevenage hit the crossbar twice, and the Stevenage 'keeper Steven Arnold pulled off a great save, to stop a certain goal.
Suddenly with five minutes left to go, Stevenage captain Mark Roberts, picked the ball up, deep inside the Stevenage half, played a quick one two with Luke Freeman, which took Legbreaker Lenny out of the game, and he raced off towards the MK Dons goal.
He ran into the MK Dons penalty area and was just about to blast the ball past the MK Dons keeper, for the winner, when out of nowhere came Hacker Harris, with a very nasty challenge that sent the ball and the player almost into the crowd.
The crowd went mad, pilot Pete leapt six foot into the air and the referee pointed to the penalty spot.
The referee also pulled out the red card, and sent hacker Harris off. Hacker Harris told the referee that the Stevenage player had fell over a blade of grass, but the Ref still sent him off.
The problem was that Luke Freeman was now rolling around on the floor holding his ankle; an ambulance was needed straight away.
Just then, as Pilot Pete was still jumping around inside the airbase the emergency alarm rang.
The controller came running out of the office shouting, all the roads near the football stadium were gridlocked with cars listening to the game on their radios, the land ambulance can not get though.
“This is a job for Heli” he said.
Pilot Pete and Dr Edward Tedworth, grabbed the helicopter lift and pulled Heli out onto the runway. Paramedic Pat and Dr Edward Tedworth jumped on board, and they were soon racing to Stevenage football ground.
They arrived quick as a flash, which was quick even for Heli, and circled over the stadium, where were they going to land?
The roads were full of cars and the nearby park was full of people having a big barbeque.
“There is only one place we can land,” said Pilot Pete.
“Down there “ Pilot Pete continued, pointing to the pitch.
Heli had never landed on a football pitch before, so she would have to be really careful.
All the Stevenage players helped clear the area and pointed to the semicircle, with careful flying from Pilot Pete, they touched down safely.
Paramedic Pat and Dr Edward Tedworth ran over to the player with the stretcher and got him ready for the short flight to Hospital. Meanwhile, Pilot Pete began telling the Stevenage F.C. mascot Boro Bear, all about the fact that he could’ve had the chance to play for Stevenage.
Not that again Heli thought to herself.
Pilot Pete finished his story and suddenly spotted Graham Westley the Stevenage F.C. manager.
“I’m sure he will want to here my story,” Pilot Pete said to himself.
He was just about to tell him the story when paramedic Pat and Dr Edward Tedworth finished loading the stretcher on board and were ready for take off.
The player from Stevenage Luke Freeman, had broken his leg and needed an operation as soon as possible, so Heli flew extra fast to get him there, however Pilot Pete managed to tell his football story one more time.
Thanks to Heli’s fast flying the player had his operation, and his leg was fixed.
Stevenage went on to score the penalty and won the cup.
They dedicated the win to Heli the rescue helicopter and their super brave forward Luke Freeman.
THE END