Construction consultant Thomson Gray has helped raise over £7,500 in support of Seamab School thanks to a successful 5-a-side tournament last month.

The sun was shining as The Thomson Gray Seamab Fives – The Blue Dragons Tournament kicked off at Powerleague Sighthill in Edinburgh. 19 teams entered the tournament, some with an eye on the prize, others, let’s just say with an eye on future opportunities in a tournament full of construction related companies.

FES Support Services convincingly defended the crown they won in the inaugural tournament last year.

Manchester property services consultancy Rapleys, who are experiencing great growth in their new Edinburgh office certainly fell into the latter category. The team were in high spirits however when they received their wooden spoons. Bragging rights could be claimed by Will Rudd Davidson’s Glasgow office as they progressed through their group, with the Edinburgh office failing to do so.

After a tough group stage the tournament advanced to a straight knockout. There was a shock early on as last year’s beaten finalists Clark Contracts lost the last 16 battle of the contractors against Robertson Central East. The contractors generally would have been high in the pre-tournament betting and the team from Bam Construction Scotland showed some early promise topping their group, but by the semi finals only FES were still standing.

Another group winning team quietly going about their business were the Thomson Gray Allstars. They came up against the dark horse combination team of Michael Laird Architects and Harrison Stevens Landscape Architecture who showed how a design team can come together to rise from finishing fourth in their group to reach the semi-finals, where the TG team prevailed. In the other semi-final, tournament debutants Dougall Baillie Associates had conquered Oberlanders Architects and Robertson before facing FES.

The final started with the words ‘It’s bad form to win your own tournament’ perhaps ringing in the players ears. Perhaps not, as the team were steamrollered by a dominant FES, winning the final 4-0. The Thomson Gray team must now wipe themselves down and go again as they face the finals of Business Fives in a few weeks’ time.

All of the teams can be happy with their efforts on the day which in total raised over £7,500 for Seamab School. While the football and chat is all good fun, the real purpose of the day was to maximise fundraising for Seamab School.

In the post-match charity auction the main auction prize, a weekend’s hire of a new Harley-Davidson kindly donated by Edinburgh Harley-Davidson and worth over £500 went unsold. This is still for sale. Anyone interested should contact tgseamabfives@thomsongray.com or get in touch with Edinburgh office manager Kim Manson.

Tamsin Ferrier, director of development at Seamab, said: “Seamab would like to thank Thomson Gray and everyone who took part in the tournament. All of the money raised will help us to change the lives of some of the most vulnerable children from across Scotland. Children come to Seamab between the ages of 5 and 13 and stay as long as they need. They have often suffered severe trauma, abuse or neglect and may have had multiple care placements breakdown. Seamab are only able to change the lives of these children because of support like this and we are all very grateful.”

The proceeds from last year’s tournament went towards experience extras for the school children such as ski passes and mountain bikes as well as equipment to enable their forest schools programme.

Michael Steel, associate at Thomson Gray, on behalf of The Thomson Gray Seamab Fives – The Blue Dragons Tournament extended thanks to all of the teams who participated, sponsors Cornhill Building Services, Bauder, Ashwood Scotland, Forth Stone and Business Fives, everyone who donated the excellent auction and raffle prizes, Jordan and his team at Powerleague Sighthill for providing a seamless tournament experience, official photographers from Spence Photography, Josh from La Favorita restaurant manning the pizza wagon and finally fellow organising committee members Kim, Duncan, Neil, Emma, Jamie and Stewart.

Photos courtesy of Spence Photography.