8 January 2007: SHINE is delighted to announce that David Beckham and Sir Peter Ogden have agreed to join our impressive list of Patrons.

David Beckham requires little introduction: one of the world’s most famous footballers, David has been involved with SHINE’s work since August 2005, when he adopted SHINE as the sole partner charity of the David Beckham Academy in Greenwich. Alongside its regular football camps and educational work with young people, including students at many of SHINE’s projects, David’s football academy holds an annual European Corporate Cup, the proceeds of which are donated to SHINE and grassroots football charities.

Sir Peter Ogden was Executive Chairman of Computacenter between 1981 and 1997 and is now Chairman of the Ogden Trust, which he founded when Computacenter became a UK public company in 1998. The Ogden Trust works to help bright children from low income backgrounds make the most from the educational system, primarily within the sciences. In 2005, Sir Peter was knighted for services to education.

We are also happy to welcome Mark Ferguson, who has just joined SHINE’s Board of Trustees. We are confident that he will make a major contribution over the forthcoming years.