Football club to bring overseas Larne resident home for Christmas

In partnership with Brighter Futures and Holiday Hotspot, the Inver Park outfit’s ‘Bring Them Home’ Christmas competition is back and will see an overseas Larne resident flown home from anywhere in the world to spend Christmas 2023 with their family.

Bring Them Home 2.0 allows individuals living at an address within the traditional Larne borough to enter the competition and nominate a friend or family member currently residing overseas to win the prize of return flights for two individuals and four tickets to Larne’s home game against Linfield on New Year’s Day.

This year’s competition recreates the magic of 2018, which saw the first-ever Bring Them Home campaign launched. Five years ago it captured the imagination of the town and eventually brought Larne native Lee Millar home from Qatar to spend Christmas at home with his family after he had been nominated by his mother Mandy.

Having won the competition, which collected over 100 entries stretching across every continent, the club brought Lee home to spend Christmas in Larne and attended the Boxing Day fixture with his family before returning to Qatar in the New Year.

Chairman Gareth Clements commented: “We’re delighted to be able to re-launch Bring Them Home 2.0 as the lead up to Christmas begins in November.

"The people of Larne always come together at Christmas and there’s a really good feeling in our community around the holiday season. This year, we’ll be playing our part by bringing someone home to their family and creating a memorable Christmas for those involved.

“The campaign had a fantastic response back in 2018 and I’ve no doubt the prize of return flights home from anywhere in the world will once again provide a fantastic opportunity for Larne residents to create a dream Christmas by bringing someone home to spend time with their loved ones.

“The competition is completely free to enter, so we look forward to seeing everyone’s entries and announcing our winner. I’d like to thank Brighter Futures and Ally Kerr for their support, alongside Holiday Hotspot Larne who are on board as a sponsor of the campaign.”

Brighter Futures Trustee Gregg Humphrey added: “The Trustees of Brighter Futures are delighted to be involved in what will no doubt make for a fantastic community-orientated campaign this Christmas. We’d like to thank Ally Kerr for organising a fantastic donation towards our charity earlier this year, some of which will be used to support the Bring Them Home campaign in partnership with Larne FC and Holiday Hotspot.

“On behalf of everyone at Brighter Futures, we’d like to wish everyone who enters the very best of luck and look forward to making Christmas extra special for our lucky winner.”

A club spokesperson said: “Overseas Larne natives must be entered into the competition by a friend or family member living within the traditional Larne borough. You can enter a loved one into the competition by clicking here and submitting the entry form.

"The deadline for entries is 11.59pm on November 30, with our winner picked at random.

"Our winner will be announced on December 1 on Larne FC’s social media channels.”