PETITION: Help us get England champion Beth Mead Freedom of the Borough of Scarborough!

Councillors have decided the Euros star hasn't done enough to get Freedom of the Borough of Scarborough...

Beth celebrates her first goal at the Euros 2021
Author: Karen LiuPublished 30th Jan 2023

We need your help to make sure one of England's top football stars is given Freedom of the Borough of Scarborough.

After helping England lift it's first major trophy in more than half a century, the council has decided not to give Beth Mead Freedom of the Borough of Scarborough.

That's despite Beth becoming the tournaments joint top-scorer of all time, and even recieving an MBE from King Charles.

Now, Greatest Hits Radio has started a petition because we agree that she should be honoured for her achievements.

Who is Beth Mead?

Beth Mead is a footballer who plays as a forward for Arsenal and the England women's football team.

She grew up in Hinderwell, near Whitby, which she describes as: "the sort of place where people are outnumbered by sheep".

Beth started playing football when she was just six-years-old, joining her local side, where she says it turned out she was "rougher than most of the boys".

She quickly went on to join the youth team at Middlesbrough, before joining Sunderland, and then making a name for herself in the Women's Super League with Arsenal.

In 2021, she became the joint top-scorer of all time at the women's Euros, totalling six goals and helping the Lionesses lift the trophy.

Scarborough councillors have now been told to reconsider their decision not to award Beth Freedom of the Borough for her achievments.

Our petition has already been signed by some of those who watched Beth grow up, including Jan Husbands, who works at the footballer's old schoool in Hinderwell.

Jan said: "She's an ambassador for women's football. The achievements she's made and accolades she's got recently are phenomenal like Personality of the Year and the MBE. It's a great honour for her to be recognised locally for her efforts and what she's achieved. She's phenomenal."

Jan has been speaking to Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire Coast's Karen Liu:

Jan added: "We're a small village. We're a good community and we pull together so everybody's been buzzing in the pubs and we have a hub at the bottom of the village. We always have people wandering around looking at the village and everybody's talking. The older people love it and see pictures of Beth. People really get together to support her.

"She's seen in the village and the children went down to the local farm and she was in the window giving them a wave as they went past so that was nice, because the kids go 'there's Beth!' She's a down-to-earth girl from a small village and it's incredible because she never forgets about the community and everybody that's supported her. She's an ambassador.

"Girls now you see a difference taking on the boys and really giving everything they've got. Any little girl that believes in themselves and has a dream can achieve anything and I think that's what she's done for inspiring these children here, especially the girls, because they say 'well Beth did it so we can do it.'

"She's made such a different really and hopefully we'll get her back to maybe bring in her Personality of the Year trophy, her MBE and the Freedom of the Borough. Maybe we'll get a blue plaque on her house that would be good wouldn't it? She's incredible. She really is.

"We have a lovely photograph of her with one of her friends in the same year group before they won the cups that they all won. We were hoping to get a mural done of her in the school and the children could get even more inspired by saying 'oh, there she is.' She's a great down-to-earth village girl that's made good."

You can find the petition on the change.org website

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