Mascot Grand National

On Bank Holiday Monday 7th May, I will be returning to the race track to take part in the Mascot Grand National at Kempton Park racecourse.

I will be running just over one furlong and leaping over hurdles against such sprightly mascots as Tadworth the Hound, previous third placed Howie the Hornet and celebrity mascot Bully from 1980’s game-show Bullseye!

This years official charity is Have a Heart the charity for Heart FM which aims to improve the lives of disadvantaged children living in our local communities.

I am also raising money for The Children’s Trust Tadworth. The Trust provides care, education, therapy and rehabilitation to children with multiple disabilities, complex health needs and acquired brain injury. They are a charity very close to me.

If you would like to sponsor me you can do so here: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Haydon-the-Womble  even 20p will help!

Kids go free if you would like to come along and cheer me on, it would be great to see some Dons fans wearing their shirts with pride to cheer me on! for more info please look here: http://www.kempton.co.uk/Mascot-grand-national

If you contact the racecourse I believe there is a special offer if you mention you are coming to cheer on a mascot!

Whilst us Wombles are not renowned for our agility and speed I promise I will be running as fast as my furry legs will carry me, and whilst a first place may be a little beyond me, I will be trying my best to beat my top 20 finish of 2009.

Olympic torchbearer update

Well got answers back from LOCOG not really the answers I wanted but answers all the same, It looks pretty likely despite being nominated for the work I do as Haydon the Womble it looks like I will have to be a torch-bearer in human form. Also despite being nominated for fundraising for a number of charities I can fundraise to purchase the torch I carry but not for charities, whilst this is disappointing I am not going to let it take away the pride I feel for being selected, rest assured I will do other things in the year to fundraise for charities to make up for it. ( a bungee jump ( i hate heights) a 10k night-walk just a couple of events in the pipe line)

If after all this you want to still donate towards the torch my paypal account is linked to deancparsons@hotmail.co.uk. all sponsors will get a thank you card, and their name on my t-shirt I will wear under my uniform, please keep an eye on here & Haydons blog to ensure I dont go over the £199, thanks for all your support.

The Wimbledon Guardian this week had an article about there being no residents from Merton running in Merton, whilst I am slightly disappointed that I can not run for the borough I am famous for, I am very proud to represent the neighbouring borough of Sutton and rest assured to the residents of Merton & Sutton I will run with pride for both boroughs, I will also if any schools in either boroughs want me to visit as either Haydon or in human form with the torch when I receive it, I will be proud to do so.

And obviously if the club wish I will parade it at a game and allow fans to pose with it (just don’t drop it!)

Yours still proud to be a Womble & a torch bearer.

Haydon.

Womblympic Torch bearer

Firstly apologies that after a f(l)urry of posts this blog, has been neglected but its been a busy time for me as a Womble, the Dons being in the league means I am more sought after to help with events in our local community. As well as keeping Wimbledon tidy.

But I felt that I really had to write a blog, about my latest news.

Thanks to being nominated by four different people, which in itself is an honour & something I am very touched by, I have been lucky enough to have been selected to carry the Olympic torch.

I Will be carrying the torch on July 23rd for up to half a mile, I will not know the exact location until 4 weeks before, but it looks like it will be somewhere near the borders of Sutton & Merton.

I am hoping to be able to carry the torch as Haydon the Womble as the charity work I do as Haydon is the reason I was nominated and further more was selected, but the uniform only goes up to a 3Xl way too small for Haydon’s err cuddly physique.

So he may have to turn in to human form, but will change straight back in to Womble mode as soon as he has finished carrying the torch for publicity purposes and to promote the club I am so proud to be mascot for AFC Wimbledon. But either way I will let you all know as soon as I do!

As soon as I know the location I will let people know via here, the club, twitter & Facebook as it would be amazing to see people waving the yellow and Blue of AFC Wimbledon along the route.

The full route can be seen here:

http://www.london2012.com/news/2012/03/london-2012-confirms-olympic-flame-torchbearers-and-street-routeet.php

A busy week will end with the inaugural obstacle mascot race!

 

So my week started with a busy Bank Holiday Monday as I was invited to Deen City Farms summer fete & Merton Abbey Mills Kidsfest, how could a womble be in two places? As they were just a small walk along the River Wandle it turned out to be quite easy!

Starting at Deen City farm, at 10.00am I met so many lovely people, as well as some lovely animals, Stella the goat had to be my favourite though! I then got invited to take part in the egg & spoon race against humans! Yes humans a first for me! But I rose to the challenge, and if it wasn’t for a divot I may have won instead I came runner up, but it was great practice before this Sunday.

I also got asked to go in goal for the football in the community’s football shoot out & I made some good saves, proving I have learnt from watching Seb & Jack!

Then after a lot of hugs, high fives & photos & I said my farewells & took  pleasant stroll along the river Wandle to Merton Abbey Mills in time for Kids Fest, where I danced my socks & boots off to some lovely music sung by young & old & I met Snow White, who I got to have a lovely hug with,  before I went & danced for a good hour, with all the young guests!

Then when the day was coming to an end I made my way back to my burrow on the common, but I have had a busy week getting the common ready for this Sundays Wimbledon Common Stables Open day.

But before I tell you more about that, we have an important home game v Port Vale with less than 200 tickets available I am looking forward to meeting a great crowd again, and hoping you all bring your singing voice to try & get us our first 3 points at home of the season!

 

But then I Will be having an early night, in preparation for the Wimbledon Common Stables Open day, it starts at 10am & is free for all the family, so will be a great day out.

But at 3pm is the moment I cannot wait for as it is the first ever Mascot Obstacle race to take place on Wimbledon Common, I have sent invites to every mascot I know from football, rugby, cricket, leisure, restaurants, & even the emergency services and I am happy that my good friend Howie the Hornet from Horsham will be joined, by amongst others Pudsey the Bear, Debra the road safety Zebra & Jude the cat ho since retiring from being the QPR mascot is now the mascot for the Animal rescue centre. But the mascots to beat (excluding me obviously…cough) are Howie & Mr Spice from Jimmy Spices his a mascot with attitude and running boots to match!

Whilst I have had the pleasure of inviting my friends it has been left to flag supremo, community king Clive Yelf, to design the course, to chase the mascots & most importantly purchase the medal’s and trophy. And he really has outdone himself.

I have done many mascot events from mascot cricket, golf to egg & Spoon races, to the grand national & I think my fellow mascots would agree this is the best trophy that a mascot has ever had the chance to win, so much so that people will be begging to be able to take part next year! Do not believe me take a look!

And to top that every mascot goes home with a medal for taking part, the medals are almost as good as the cups!

So this is an event every mascot will want to add to their social calendar, I would say a cup every mascot would want to win, but winning isn’t everything for us mascots, it is about having fun, about entertaining those who come to cheer us on (that’s my excuse anyway as I am not at all confident at being able to win it!)

So the details:

Wimbledon Common Stables open day starts 10.00am -5pm

The mascot race will be at 3pm with mascots parading round the ring a little while before.

The stables are near Wimbledon Common Windmill follow the signs, there is plenty of free parking.

The Open day is raising money & awareness for Hounds for heroes so please come & Support them & me!

 

Four games in & Five years on!

Wow so the season has truly started!

We started our league campaign at home to Bristol Rovers in front of a sell out crowd and after coming back from 2-0 down we were very unlucky to lose 3-2, but it was great to be back banging my bin, having hugs & high fives and posing for photos (make sure you send them in for my programme page!) and whilst we may have lost on the pitch, we won something much more important we won the right to play League football once again, how good does that feel!

Then we went to Dagenham & Redbridge where we won 2-0 thanks to goals from Luke Moore from the penalty spot & an amazing goal by Rashid “Toks” Yussuf to claim our first 3 points of the season, after a hard-fought game.

Then we went to the South West on a Tuesday night to play Plymouth Argyle. In the first half we really rode our luck, and if it wasn’t down to some solid defending and great saves by Seb Brown we could have been at least a goal down. But as the red sky beamed above the stadium Terry brought on Lee Minshull & Chris Jolley for Wellard & Ademeno & almost instantly it seemed red sky at night brought the Dons delight.

Within 10 minutes of the second half the Dons were ahead with a great chip from Wellard being knocked down by fellow sub Jolley, for Jack Midson to score with a deft finish. And we didn’t have to wait long to double our lead on the hour mark again Jolley & Midson combined with Midson scoring his and the Dons 2nd after Jolleys header was saved by the Plymouth keeper. The Dons could have scored again, but Plymouth could have too, so the travelling Dons fans were sent home happy seeing the Dons win 2-0 for the second time in 4 days. Those that stayed behind got to see the Plymouth skyline lit up again as the fireworks championship took place.

Then it was back to Kingsmeadow v Hereford, who had not scored a goal or earned a point yet from their first 3 games so were always going to have a point to prove, and with a crowd of over 4,200 who braved the down pour before kick off it was Hereford who started better, and took the lead after just 8 minutes, the Dons equalised in the 25th minute & despite playing at a higher tempo in the 2nd half we could not score the winner with Luke Moore putting the ball in the back of the net only for it to be offside because despite a player being on the line the goalkeeper was further afield after blocking Toks shot, Ademeno had his header cleared off the line and despite shouts by the players it was a goal it was not given, and the Dons had to settle for their first point at home in the League.

Overall 7 points from our first 4 games is a great reward that the players totally deserve, and we will hope to continue our 100% away record at Macclesfield for a late 5th birthday present for me! Wow I will be 5 years old on Friday what a long way we have come since I was born at home v Borehamwood!

On another note If you are going away do not forget to take your toy Haydon’s and take photos of him enjoying his break, there will be a prize (from my own hard-earned/found on the common pennies) for the best one, the top three will go to a vote, where you my followers get to vote.

And if with no midweek football you are at a loss Terry Brown says he will give a few first team players a run out in the reserves game at Walton Casuals tomorrow night.

And if you are still at a loss without a game on Bank Holiday Monday I will be at two fun days at Deen City farm and Merton Abbey Mills Kidsfest flitting between the two ( a short stroll along the River Wandle between them) between 10am & 2pm.

I can smell it, its that close, hurry up Saturday!

So the time is nearly upon us, a moment we have been waiting 9 years for & I cannot wait any longer this Saturday we will have finally arrived back in the league with our first League game at home to Bristol Rovers in front of a sold out Kingsmeadow, in front of the Sky sports cameras & I will be one proud Womble, please do not look too close as I may shed some tears of pride & joy!

Every Dons fan needs to get behind the lads & sing loud & proud and let the football world know we are back in the league hopefully to stay!

So will we or won’t we sign another striker is the question everyone’s asking well whether we do or don’t, I know what ever players are picked by Terry I know they will play their heart’s out and do us proud, though I am dismayed Terry still hasn’t asked me to sign, despite me showing off my skills every home game.

Don’t worry I have some special new moves, tricks & celebrations worthy of being a Football League mascot!

So roll on Saturday 6th August 12:45pm I am pretty sure I will not be the only one holding back tears of pride, but make sure you sing extra loud when I bang my bin, and I want plenty of hugs & high fives & If you take a photo please send it in to me so that I can put it on my programme page!

Predictions

 Well the pre season friendlies are almost over and AFC Wimbledon’s first season is almost upon us so I thought it would be great to have a little competition between my fans.

Please predict where you think we will finish in League 2, the League Cup the FA Cup, and the Johnstons Paint Trophy.

The predictions so far (via twitter are)

Haydon the Womble: League: 10th League Cup: 1st round. FA Cup: 3rd round JPT: Southern section semi final.

AFCW_Alice: League: 12th League Cup: 1st round. FA Cup: 4th Round JPT: quarter finals.

SimonVaughanMCR: League: Winners League Cup: Winners FA Cup: Winners JPT: Winners

Brilliantmosmart: League: Winners League Cup: 1st round FA Cup: 1st round JPT: Winners

Aceofherts5: League: 12th League Cup: Preliminary round FA Cup: 3rd round JPT: quarter finals

HubsAFCW: League: 13th  League Cup: Preliminary round FA Cup: 2nd round JPT: 2nd round

Afansclub: League: 12th  League Cup: Preliminary round FA Cup: 2nd round JPT: 3rd round

JHMackay: League: 8th  League Cup: Preliminary round FA Cup: 3rd round JPT: quarter finals

SuperWombleUk: League: 13th  League Cup: Preliminary round FA Cup: 2nd round JPT: quarter finals

MartenKats: League: 10th  League Cup: 1st round FA Cup: 3rd round JPT: Southern section semi final

MattLowndes: League: 10th  League Cup: Preliminary round FA Cup: 3rd round JPT: 2nd round

RobWilkinson85: League: 9th  League Cup: 1st round FA Cup: 2nd round JPT: Winners

Supermercado99: League: 10th  League Cup: 3rd round FA Cup: 3rd round JPT: quarter finals

WGimenes: League: 7th  League Cup: 2nd round FA Cup: 4th round JPT: quarter finals

Stevemac81: League: 13th League Cup: preliminary round FA Cup: 2nd round JPT: 3rd round

Brendan: League: 13th League Cup: Preliminary round FA Cup: 1st round JPT: 2nd round

AFCWman: League: 6th  League Cup: Preliminary round:  Fa Cup 1st round:  JPT 3rd round

Doobs: League: 8th League Cup: Preliminary FA Cup: 4th round JPT: quarter finals

If you would like to add your predictions to my competition either comment or tweet me @HaydontheWomble & I will add you to the above. If two people or more are the closest with their predictions they will be placed in to a draw to determine the winner of a Haydon or AFC Wimbledon related prize. Good luck.

Welcome to Haydon news

Welcome to Haydon news, I will be needing your help to run this blog, with your help writing match reports, I will be running competitions & keeping you up to date with what I am up to away from football. Bear with me as I am a technophobe & this is my first attempt so any advice & assistance would be appreciated!

Love Haydon the Womble.