Solly Cup: Fifth annual football match in memory of Suleman Vesamia raises £500 for Hackney charities
Rushmore pupils beat Millfields 6-0 to win the Solly Cup. Solly�'s daughter Liyya (L) presents the cup - a 100-year-old piece of sterling silver that was bought at an auction specially for the annual event because it 'looked good'. Picture: Alastair Dent - Credit: Alastair Dent
Crowds gathered in Millfields Park on Sunday for the fifth annual football match held to remember father-of-three Solly Vesamia, who died in 2013 of a rare muscle-wasting illness.
Solly Vesamia in happier times. - Credit: Archant
Solly – a keen footballer who also owned a bike shop – was afflicted by a severe and aggressive rare form of myositis. It’s a muscle inflammation that affects only two in a million people.
As has become tradition, his children Aisha, Eisa and Liyya – now 16, 14 and 12 – handed over the silver “Solly trophy” to a team representing Rushmore, who beat their old school Millfields 6-0 in the event’s first children’s game.
The Millfields v Rushmore dads’ game ended on a 2-2 tie.
The event raised nearly £500 for the Nawaal Foundation. It will now go to the Rainbow Trust, which supports youngsters with a terminal illness, and the Hackney Pirates literacy charity.
To donate see the Just Giving page.
