Millwall Community Trust has released its 2025 Annual Report.
The report covers the work and the impact the Trust has had on the local community in the past year.
A word from Millwall Community Trust Chairman Keith Soper:
2025 has once again been a year of sustained progress for the trust.
We live in very challenging times with ever increasing numbers of people struggling with the effects of the increasing cost of living and the associated stark increase in mental health issues. The demand for support from our food banks continues to grow and it is a worrying statistic that 50% of those who use the food banks are in full time employment. It is particularly sad to see so many old people and nurses using the food banks. We remain grateful to the football club’s fanbase and supermarket chains for the donations they make which are essential to the well-being of so many families.
Our trust already does a lot to support the local communities in which we operate but we are hindered at doing more by the ongoing reductions in central and local government grant funding. Regrettably the current situation is unlikely to improve soon. We continue to put our case forward for funding to tackle these issues as our trust and other football related community trusts have the structure and the ability to effect the real change that wider society wants to see come about in so many areas.
The number of free meals we provide to children during the 13 weeks of the school holidays has grown in 2025 to 9,500. We are grateful to the football club for producing the meals and it is heartening to see so many children benefitting from this programme. The simple truth is that low-income families would go hungry through a combination of a lack of money and energy poverty without our work in this area. We have seen an increase in the number of parents we feed also.
With funding from the Department of Work and Pensions we have established a Job Centre within the Lions Centre at The Den and the uptake from the local community has been very impressive. Some 2,000+ individuals have attended the 234 employability related events we run and 250+ have secured employment.
Our new three-year equality and diversity strategy was approved by both our trust board and the main football club board in early 2025. This important work is overseen by our newly named Equalities Steering Committee under the direction of our lead officer Jason Vincent. The committee includes club and trust officials, as well as fans. Going forward the Millwall Race Equality Partnership is now up and running and we have already forged important relationships with council officers from Lewisham and Southwark Councils. Kings College, Citizens UK and the Metropolitan Police. 75% of the participants in our programmes and 80% of our staff come from ethnic minority backgrounds, which underlines the importance of this work. Professional football is still blighted by homophobic chanting and racist behaviour, and our work in these areas is so important. We are proud of the success of the Millwall Romans and the Millwall Lionesses and individual players from both are a great support to our work in this area.
Our core activities remain focused on the London Boroughs of Lewisham and Southwark and at a time when there are so many challenging issues including knife crime, drug abuse and gang culture our work has never been so vital. I continue to have nothing but admiration for our staff on the front line of our service provision. Across all these programmes we work with 14,500 individuals across 25 strands of activity for people aged from 5 to 75 years.
We continue to grow our programmes in a varied number of areas which are aligned with the strategic objectives of the councils in Lewisham, Southwark and Sevenoaks, where we have instigated programmes in line with the community development plan we have agreed with Sevenoaks District Council which has seen us form an exciting new partnership with Kent County Cricket. These programmes cover the following areas: -
· Community Engagement
· Education and Life Skills
· Employment and Training
· Health and Well Being including mental health and obesity
· Sport and Physical Activity
· Youth Interventions including anti-social behaviour, street violence and knife crime
I must again pay tribute to the hard work and dedication of our trustees who receive no financial reward whatsoever for their valued contribution to the work of the board of trustees and its sub-committees on finance and governance. Their passion for the work we do, and their sound counsel is so impressive and makes my role a lot easier than it otherwise might be. I thank also all the full time and part time staff who are the life blood of our organisation.
I must also thank our senior leadership team led by our hard-working and dedicated chief executive officer Sean Daly backed by Joubin Sarami and John Scarborough. Sean is the first person to be awarded Lewisham Legend status which is a source of pride for all of us. We lost the third member of our senior leadership team in 2025 in Tim Sells and this is a great loss of not only of a hardworking and inspirational individual who loved his job but also a good friend. I thank also all the full time and part time staff who are the life blood of our organisation.
Finally, thank you to everyone organisation, individual and Millwall fan who supports our work. We couldn’t do it with you, and we will continue to do all we can to support communities, families and individuals under the badge of Millwall governance. Their passion for the work we do, and their sound counsel is so impressive and makes my role a lot easier than it otherwise might be. I thank also all the full time and part time staff who are the life blood of our organisation.
Keith Soper
Chairman
