A FOOTBALL match featuring top former players and celebrities is being held at Priestfield Stadium in May to raise cash for a charity which helps injured servicemen and women.

The line-up so far includes former England and Chelsea striker Kerry Dixon, the Wimbledon 1988 FA Cup winning captain Dave Bessant, the QPR and Chelsea striker Gary Chivers, the former soldier Guy Whittingham who played for Portsmouth and Aston Villa, England youth and Middlesbrough player Phil Stamp, Spurs FA Cup winner Paul Allen and West Ham winger Bobby Barnes have agreed to be in the starting line-up.

Details of the event have been announced as soldiers from the 36 Engineer Regiment returned home to Medway and Maidstone from a six-month tour of Afghanistan.

The aim of the soccer match on Sunday, May 4, is to raise cash for Help for Heroes, a charity which has set a £6m target to build a swimming pool and gymnasium at the Forces’ Rehabilitation Centre in Surrey.

It is where any injured servicemen and women from Kent would be sent to rebuild their bodies and lives.

The football will kick off at 3pm but the turnstiles will open at 1.30pm for pre-match entertainment. Military and civilian marching bands, a mass karate demonstration, a penalty shoot-out competition and a dog display team have been lined-up

A Royal Engineers team – wearing a replica kit from their FA Cup appearance in 1875 - will play a team managed by the former England and Chelsea goalkeeper Peter Bonetti.

Gillingham Football Club chairman Paul Scally has donated Priestfield Stadium free of charge but the cost of staging the event is estimated to be around £8,000. Several local companies have already expressed an interest in helping with sponsorship.

* Readers of the Medway Messenger can get £1 off the usual entry fee by cutting out the voucher which will be published each week in the Medway Messenger. Normal admission prices will be £5 for adults and £3 for children.