Enterprising Barrow AFC supporters have continued to find ways to support their club, all without leaving the house.

Despite the crisis, they are still raising thousands to help the National League leaders during their enforced lay off.

The Bluebirds Trust has continued to use a wide range of initiatives, to raise the required share capital to support their club through maintaining their part ownership.

Trust Chairman Steve Herbert heaped praise on the Barrow fan base, saying:

“Obviously, football is utterly unimportant in times such as these, but nevertheless, our fans have kept supporting our ‘Play Your Part’ campaign.

"The club has already received over £40,000 of the £65,000 target.

"It’s an incredible effort."

Although football is suspended across most of the globe, Barrow fans have continued to enjoy some of their traditional match day rituals, such as the ‘half time raffle’, which has been a fund raising feature of the Holker Street terraces for many years, as has its collector extraordinaire, Russ Rawley.

“Russ Rawley has been at the heart of our club for years and is held in high esteem by all,” continued Herbert.

“We have simply moved the half time raffles into cyberspace and ‘Virtual Russ’ sold more than 1300 tickets for last Saturday’s ‘match’ versus Stockport.”

The well-loved Bluebirds Trust president, currently hundreds of miles away in the north of Scotland, even released a short Facebook video to encourage fans to take part.

The lucky winner of the 50-50 draw on Saturday, winning over £600, immediately donated half of his winnings to a Furness General Hospital fund raising effort, to support frontline NHS staff during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Another raffle was held for the recent ‘trip to Harrogate’.

Last weekend also saw the end of the ‘Play Your Part Weight Loss Challenge’ which raised over £700 for the trust.

Portly pair Stu Nichols and Steve Herbert lost a combined total of three stones over three months. “I’ve quite enjoyed it and we’ve raised more than we expected,” said Herbert.

Bluebirds chairman Paul Hornby also praised the Barrow supporters fund raising, saying “please pass on my thanks to the Trust for their support, it’s been invaluable.”