On Saturday 16th September, family, friends and work colleagues of Dipak ‘Dips’ Chouhan came together for a charity football match at Haringey FC to celebrate his life and raise vital funds for Lifelites, a charity that Dips had supported for many years.
Dips, who sadly passed away in October 2021, was a huge football fan, passionately following his beloved Liverpool, as well as a committed Freemason of 15 years. It was through the Lodge of Eastern Bon Accord that Dips first became aware of Lifelites’ vital work and began supporting our efforts to empower children with life-limiting conditions to play, create and communicate through specialised assistive technology.
The match was arranged by Dips’s former colleagues at GSF Car Parts Tottenham, where Dips had worked for 6 years, while wife, Dell, and daughter, Nikita, supported by providing a wonderful spread of food for the post-match memorial event.
Dell said: “The event was brilliantly organised, and Nikita and I were delighted in the way GSF came together again in honour of Dips. The fact that his colleagues and friends wish to continue to support Lifelites, which was so close to Dips’s heart, is a great tribute to him.”
The match saw staff and customers from GSF branches in Tottenham and Essex, with whom Dips had worked during his career, compete for bragging rights and a special trophy in his memory.
Both teams wore shirts with Dips’s name emblazoned on the back as a special mark of respect.
The game was a classic match of two halves, with the Tottenham branch taking a commanding 5-1 half team lead, only for the Essex branch to make up the deficit in a thrilling second half, going on to win 8-6.
Mustafa Ugan, General Manager at GSF Tottenham and a friend of Dips since 2008, said: “Dips was very loved by everyone at the branch, and when we found out about Lifelites we were amazed by what they do and the children they help, so we wanted to organise more matches to honour Dips and raise funds for the charity he supported."
Simon Pitts, Head of Fundraising and Communications at Lifelites said: “We are incredibly grateful that Dell, Nikita, Mustafa and his friends at GSF Car Parts Tottenham and Essex have decided to honour Dips by continuing his support of Lifelites and the work we carry out across the British Isles.
Through this fantastic event and the corresponding fixture last May, they have raised almost £4,000 in Dips’s memory, enough to fund specialist eye-gaze technology that will empower children with life-limiting conditions to communicate and connect with the people they love and with the world around them."
