A NINE-YEAR-OLD girl is jetting off to Germany where she will get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join England pitchside at the Euros in their final group game.
Charlotte Grange, from Oxspring, has earned the opportunity to join the squad thanks to her grandfather Kelvin Connolly, 72, who won a spot for her through the ‘Lidl Kids Team’ programme.
It gave people the chance to enter a prize draw, with only 77 winners chosen across all of Europe, each aged between six and ten years old.
When Kelvin found out he had won, he couldn’t believe his luck, and knew just how excited his football-loving granddaughter would be.
He told the Chronicle: “The competition just popped up on my phone from the Lidl app.
“I thought I may as well enter and if I needed to fill anything out I could always get my wife to do it.
“I didn’t think anything of it after that, so when I got a message saying I’d won I thought it was a scam.
“My oldest daughter checked everything and told me it’s real, we’d won.
“It’s unbelievable.”
Charlotte - who plays for Penistone Church - will be joining Southgate’s team next Tuesday, when they’ll be facing off against Slovenia.
She will be representing England as a mascot, walking onto the pitch while holding the hand of one of the players.
Unfortunately, Kelvin is unable to join his granddaughter, as in his words, he’s getting ‘a bit long in the tooth’.
In his place, Charlotte’s aunt Clare Connolly will be taking the young girl, who beyond her time at the match is also being treated to a jam-packed schedule of activities, all paid for by the supermarket chain.
The pair will be heading back the day after the match, which just so happens to be Kelvin’s 73rd birthday - though he’s not upset they’ll be missing it.
“The itinerary they’ve sent over is amazing,” Kelvin added.
“When I saw all the things they’re doing I couldn’t believe it.
“They’re going down to London on Monday to catch the train through the Channel Tunnel.
“Then they’ll be changing at Brussels before arriving in Germany.
“She has to train with the team on Tuesday before the match so she knows what to do on camera, and they’ve sorted out a match for the kids to play.
“They’re going to spend three days there and are coming back on the Wednesday.
“It’s a pity I can’t go, but how Lidl has done this has made an old man very happy.”
