Girl searching for football top given by her late father before he died - and later mistakenly donated to charity shop
29 October 2022, 20:37 | Updated: 29 October 2022, 20:39
A young girl is appealing for the return of a football shirt given to her as a present by her late father before he died of cancer, which was later mistakenly donated to a charity shop.
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Sydney, 10, was given the Scunthorpe United football shirt for her eighth birthday by her father, Dave.
Dave, a married father of three, died of brain cancer last year aged 46, and Sydney kept wearing the shirt to remind her of him.
Dave's widow Nicki thinks she accidentally donated the shirt to local charity Lindsey Lodge Hospice, and is desperate to get it back.
The shirt has Sydney's name and the number 8 on the back, which was Dave's squad number for the local team he played for.
Speaking to the BBC, Nicki said that Sydney "absolutely loved" the shirt, adding that "she wore it for every game that she went to with Daddy."
Nicki said she was very upset when she couldn't find the shirt one day.
"I went into a bit of a meltdown," she said. "I said to Sydney, 'it must be upstairs in your cupboard'. She said, 'it isn't, Mummy'.
"The only thing I can think is that it has ended up with everything that I took to Lindsey Lodge's distribution centre."
The charity said they are searching for the shirt in the hopes of returning it to Sydney - who has become a keen footballer herself after her father's death.
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"She plays it at school," said Nicki. "She goes to football practice, she wants me taking her everywhere, to Scunthorpe and Chelsea games."
Lincolnshire side Scunthorpe play in the National League, the fifth tier of English football.
