For the 90 minutes that children frequent the pitch at a Bloomsbury Football session, they leave their worries behind. For 13-year-old Shola, a goalkeeper, the group has been a balm since their father Damian Jones had to give up his work in security in the wake of Shola and a sibling moving in with him, rendering paid-for after-school activities unaffordable.
Damian, who lives in Wembley, said the rise in the cost of living has hit him hard. “My heating costs have doubled,” he said. “I’ve had to cut back on everything. I saved every penny I could to get Shola’s birthday present but we have no money left for Christmas presents.”
