Jack Stephens and Rosie Parnell visit Senior Saints
Southampton FC men’s club captain Jack Stephens and Saints Foundation Ambassador Rosie Parnell visited a Senior Saints session in the days leading up to our record-breaking Charity Dinner.
The pair would speak about their experience at the session on stage at the dinner, sharing the experience they had taking part in the over 60s exercise class and some of the participants they had conversations with, including 76-year-old Paul Davies.
A Senior Saint main stay, Paul has been attending the sessions with his wife for four years, and he described the years before joining Senior Saints as just ‘drifting by’ as he wasn’t doing much. He said: “I walked in there, a bit of trepidation I think, I was welcome instantly not only by the staff but by the other people who were there.”
From that cautious start, the sessions quickly became a key fixture in his life, as he is now attending 8 sessions a week: “I’ll do all three sessions at Test Park on Monday, two normally on a Tuesday, I might have Wednesday off, two on a Thursday, and then a walk on Friday.
“It’s almost become part of my life, because you wake up and you know you have something to look forward to. I think we all like to see each other.”
Paul has described the connection he has built at sessions as some of the key parts of what he enjoys with the walking football group he is part of being particularly close, but also the walking groups who come together regardless of weather as seen on ITV Meridian last week.
It isn’t just the connection with fellow participants, but also the staff that is special for Paul: “Certainly Mel and Jack, to see them grow from their first session both stood in the corner, Jack with his hands in his pockets and Mel looking away from everyone. To see how they’ve grown into their roles, and they are completely different people.”
As a lifelong Saints fan, some people might recognise Paul from last summer’s season ticket campaign, and it is Senior Saints that really helps him keep his connection to the club on a day-to-day basis.
Paul was awarded at the end of the year in 2024 as the highest attendance of any Senior Saint over that year, and last week joined Ambassadors Rosie Parnell and James Beattie’s table to enjoy the fun of our Charity Dinner 2025.
