Police club hosts free family fun day to support Doyle-Phillips Foundation

A free family fun day is being hosted by the Merseyside charity dedicated to supporting the families of police officers and staff who have passed away during their service.

The Doyle-Phillips Funday will take place at the Riversdale Police Club in Aigburth on Sunday, July 5 and visitors can look forward to a barbecue, stalls, games, a bouncy castle, and face painting.

The event will also feature appearances by police horses, a display by the dog section, new and vintage police vehicles, and a showcase from the police drones team. Additionally, a charity football match will kick off at 1 p.m. between Merseyside Police and Mersey Mindset—a local organisation dedicated to supporting men’s mental and physical wellbeing through sport.

Sarah Doyle, founder of the Doyle-Phillips Foundation, said:

“It’s just a really good, free fun day for police officers and for the wider community. And it’s lovely to get lots of people coming along and having a great time. But it’s also about raising awareness of the charity and letting more people know it’s here and what
we do.”

This marks the fifth annual family funday organised by the Foundation, which was launched in September 2021 in memory of Sarah’s late husband, PC Neil Doyle, and PC Dave Phillips—two Merseyside officers killed within a year of each other.

PC Doyle, 36, tragically died after being assaulted on a night out in Liverpool city centre in December 2014, having been recognised as an officer during a Christmas party. PC Phillips, 34, lost his life in October 2015 after being struck by a stolen pick-up truck during a police pursuit.

While existing charities support the families of officers killed on duty, widows Sarah Doyle and Jen Phillips wanted to ensure aid was available for families of officers lost in any tragic circumstances, whether on or off duty.

Sarah, now 48, explained at the Foundation’s launch that losing a loved one also meant losing a vital connection to the wider police family. The Foundation bridges that gap by offering crucial peer support from people who truly understand the experience.

Sarah, who had been married to Neil for just five months at the time of his death, says:

“It’s important that people know we’re here to help and support police officers and the police families, God forbid
they should ever need us. We have already given so much help over the last six years to families who are suffering, whether
that’s because of the loss of a loved one or someone who needs other forms of support.

“We can offer counselling services, support if someone is ill, and more. You need that. We offer peer support like I got from Care of Police Survivors (COPS), which offers help for on-duty deaths.

That was a lifeline for me, and it makes me proud that we can offer that and build those bonds so that anyone can pick the phone up if they need to; they might be struggling because there’s an anniversary coming up or they’re just having a bad day, and they can call and speak to someone who knows exactly what they’re going through.

“Unless you’ve experienced it, you wouldn’t know how valuable that is. It could be a child who’s not coping after the death of a parent through cancer. Whatever it is, we’re there.”

“We’re helping to support the people and families that everyone else can rely on when they need them. We organise the Funday to bring the police families together with their neighbours and the community to show they are human beings who, because of the job they are doing, put their lives on the line every day.

And to raise funds to be there for them when they need us.”

Find out more about The Doyle Phillips Foundation here.

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