IN PICTURES: Celebrity charity football match nets £10K for servicemen

Two matches took place at the ground on Dimple Wells Road last Sunday, along with family entertainment, to raise money to buy a bench to remember two servicemen killed in Afghanistan.

Sergeant Gareth Thursby, 27, and Private Tom Wroe, 18, both from the Yorkshire Regiment, died when a rogue Afghan police officer turned a gun on them in 2012.

The day was initially organised to help raise cash for a permanent cast-iron bench and a plaque bearing the soldiers’ names at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

Jonathan Horsman, who lives in Ossett and is friends with Pte Wroe’s family, helped organise the event and was overwhelmed by the donations.

He said: “We were initially hoping to raise over £1,000, but it looks as we will have broken the £10,00 barrier - if the figures are correct it will about £10,200.

“It was unbelievable, we could not have asked for a better day.”

Among the former players to appear included goalkeeping legend Bruce Grobbelaar, footballer-turned-prizefighter Curtis Woodhouse and former fullback Lee Briscoe.

They played against an Army 11, while the first game saw Ossett Over 35s take on a team of celebrities, with actors from Emmerdale and Hollyoaks among the line-up.

There was an auction of signed football memorabilia and games for children, along with an assortment of famous cars from the movies on display.

The total raised by the event will now be split between the new bench, the Army Benevolent Fund and other local causes.