Grand new Uppermill FC/Inspiral Carpets strip deal helps raise vital funds for local charity
Date published: 11 August 2025

Inspiral Carpets trio Graham Lambert, Martyn Walsh and Stephen Holt show off the new Uppermill FC shirts at Seel Park
As regular Chronicle readers may know, Uppermill FC have had a very successful ‘collaboration’ with the local legendary band, the Inspiral Carpets, to produce a range of football shirts complete with the Inspiral’s imagery and logos.
The club have been busy putting the shirts up for public sale, and their first wave of sales led to 250 replica shirts being purchased.
With purchasers coming from as far afield as Germany, Australia and the USA, the shirts have clearly struck a chord with both music and football fans.
With the incredible support of the shirt designers and manufacturers, Hope & Glory, a very small number of shirts were rushed through production, in time for the Inspiral Carpets appearance at the Kendal Calling gig at the start of this month.
Kev, the drummer in the band, proudly wore the Blue version of the shirt at the gig.
Having given each member of the band their own shirts, Uppermill CEO Steve Southern and Inspiral Carpets lead guitarist, Graham Lambert, had the idea to have six shirts autographed by the band, and for those shirts to be put up for auction.
The football club have a very close relationship with local hero Sally Maher, and her Our Community Wardrobe Oldham (OCWO), and Steve suggested that if the signed shirts could be sold, all the proceeds could go to Sally and her team at OCWO.
In a matter of just a few days, all six shirts were sold and a fantastic £1,000 was raised for the Community Wardrobe.
Steve said: “The project with the shirts has been a fast and fun journey for everyone at the club.
"However, never far from our minds are our commitments to our local and wider community.
"With the support of the band, we felt it was a perfect way to complete the circle by using this project to raise some much needed funds for school clothes for kids in the Oldham area.
"Graham and the band kindly signed six shirts, and six generous people have purchased them.
"We are particularly grateful to a gentleman named Oliver Vorwig from Hamburg in Germany who purchased the signed pink shirt.
"He even paid a little extra to cover the postage!”
Sally, from OCWO, said: "We continue to be grateful to everyone at Uppermill Football Club for their support of our efforts and for helping us ensure that as many local children as possible have school clothing when the new school year begins again in September.”
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