THE 20th staging of the annual Sharon Wood charity mini soccer tournament took place at Wendron United’s Underlane ground on Sunday.

Hundreds of children took part in the event, which featured around 100 teams from all over Cornwall, as well as SB Frankfort of Plymouth, competing across seven different age groups, from under-7s to under-13s.

The proceeds from every event are split between Wendron’s youth football set-up and a cancer charity, with last year’s event taking the overall total raised for Cancer Research UK from all editions of the tournament past the £50,000 mark.

The beneficiary has changed as of this year to Marie Curie, which provides free care and support for terminally ill people and their families.

It is anticipated that the money raised from this year’s tournament will be around £4,000.

The event is held in memory of Sharon Wood, a founding member of the first Wendron Youth Football committee who died from cancer in 1999 aged just 44.

Fellow committee member and friend Roger Cleave proposed a youth football tournament in her memory, with the first staging on July 16, 2000 which attracted 50 entries.

Since then the tournament has grown year on year, with the organisers having to cap the number of entries due to the demand for places.

Wendron United football chairman and co-founder Peter Thorne, who received a British Empire Medal earlier this year for his role in raising the money for Cancer Research UK, said: “This morning when I woke up at half past six it was pouring down with rain and I thought we were going to have a day of it.

“But now at one o’clock in the afternoon it’s turned out beautiful, the flags are flying, the kids are on the pitch and it’s all going very smoothly.

“There is lots of people taking part and there’s going to be winners and losers but everybody is a winner today by us supporting our charity this year which is Marie Curie, and we hope to raise a lot of money for them and also Wendron youths.

“Today has been a success, I know it’s not over yet, we’ve got lots of trophies to hand out and present people with but we’re looking forward to another wonderful Sharon Wood tournament.”

This year’s event was the first without Wendron chairman Kevin Williamson, who died in February.

Mr Williamson, who was posthumously awarded the Cornwall FA’s volunteer of the year award in May, was a founder member of the club’s youth set-up.

“Our thoughts are with Kevin today,” Thorne said. “It was a fitting honour that Kevin was nominated and won the volunteer of the year award to show his longevity in running sport; cricket, football, everything that man has done for this club and he will have been very, very proud today.”

As well as the football there was a play area with a bouncy castle, with volunteers from the football club running a variety of stalls.

Scorse Foods organised a barbecue while Pip’s Pasties and The Cornish Barista provided refreshments, with many referees giving up their time to officiate matches held across the 14 different pitches.

Winners: Under-13 winners - St Just, runners-up - Truro; Under-12 winners - Helston, runners-up - Callington; Under-11 winners - Illogan, runners-up - St Blazey; under-10 winners - Saltash, runners-up - St Ives; Under-9 winners - St Mawgan, runners-up - Helston.