Anthony Nolan staff joined in the festivities last night as the British-Asian community celebrated its sporting achievements at the Asian Football Awards.
With crowds packing out the Wembley Stadium venue, Swansea City’s Neil Taylor took the Player of the Year award, while Manisha Tailor took the Anthony Nolan-sponsored, and of course much coveted, Woman in Football prize.
Long-time Anthony Nolan supporter and campaigner Rik Basra was on hand to give Manisha her award, which she won for work scouting and coaching at Brentford FC and the Rachel Yankey Football Academy.
Among the Anthony Nolan staff attending was Head of Register Development Ann O’Leary, who welcomed the opportunity to make even more Asian people aware of the need to sign up to the register.
“It was a great night out for all of us, and it was an honour to sponsor the Woman in Football Award”, she said. “From our perspective at Anthony Nolan it is really important that we get the message out to the Asian community that we need many more people to sign up to the register. To be able to get that message across while being part of something so positive was a privilege. We congratulate everyone involved, especially Manisha!”
The decision to sponsor this desirable award was taken as part of the concerted effort by Anthony Nolan to recruit more members of the Asian community onto the bone marrow register. Given the importance of ethnicity in finding a suitable match, and the difficulty Black and Ethnic Minority (BME) people can have in successfully finding a suitable donor to save their lives, Anthony Nolan has made recruiting more BME people to the register a priority. They are especially keen to attract younger people whose stem cells offer the best chances of survival.