Two homeless young women joined Prince William and Prince Harry at the Dalwhinnie Crook Charity Polo Match. Marika and Jade, who are supported by Centrepoint and living in Centrepoint’s Westminster services, were gripped by the raucous polo match in which Team Umobogo, The Princes’ team, narrowly triumphed over Lovelocks in a nail- biting 7-6 victory.

As Prince William is Patron of Centrepoint, half of the proceeds of the polo match were donated to Centrepoint, the UK’s leading charity for homeless and socially excluded people.

After being treated to high tea in the marquees at the Longdole Polo Club in Gloucestershire and the highlight of the day, meeting Prince William and Prince Harry, Jade and Marika attended a presentation in which Centrepoint Chief Operating Officer, Seyi Obakin, was given a donation of £22,500, by author Kathy Lette.

On receiving the cheque, Seyi Obakin said:

“On behalf of the all of the young people at Centrepoint, I would like to thank all of the sponsors of this event for this generous donation. It will enable us to continue to provide much needed support for homeless young people. I would especially like to thank Prince William for his continued support.”

One of the homeless young women at the match, Jade, said:

“I wasn’t expecting to meet Prince William and Prince Harry while living in a hostel. I was so surprised about how down-to-earth The Princes are, they were joking with me and Marika about not being able to play polo. We really felt that they were on our level and they made us feel really welcome.”

Roger Defoe, Manager of Centrepoint’s Westminster services said:

“The event has been fantastic! The two young women were able to meet and talk with The Princes and really enjoyed a completely different and new experience of attending a polo match.”

ENDS

For more information about Centrepoint, or for pictures and interviews please contact Alex Bolton at Centrepoint on Tel: 020 7423 6887 or email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Notes to editors:

Picture shows (Left to right): The two young homeless women receiving support from Centrepoint, Marika and Jade; Centrepoint Chief Operating officer, Seyi Obakin; Manager of Centrepoint’s Westminster Services Roger Defoe; and Prince William.

About Centrepoint

• Centrepoint is the national charity working to improve the lives of socially excluded homeless young people.  It provides a range of accommodation based services, including emergency night shelters and short stay hostels, specialist projects for care leavers, ex-offenders, young single parents, foyers and supported flats and floating support services. These accommodation services provide the foundations from which young people can start tackling the issues that lead to them becoming homeless, and developing the skills they need for a sustainable future

• Centrepoint is a leading national charity that successfully prevents and tackles youth homelessness

• HRH Prince William became Centrepoint’s patron in 2005

• Since 1969 Centrepoint has helped more than 70,000 young people

• At any one time Centrepoint works with over 800 young people

• For further information about the work of Centrepoint, see www.centrepoint.org