A FOOTBALL team has left dozens of sweet treats across the county to be found by unsuspecting passersby.

Sands United FC carried out the “random acts of kindness” in memory of children who have died.

The team is made up of fathers who have lost a child.

There are Sands Utd teams across the UK and the Brighton and Hove squad was set up in April.

Andy Lindley, an account director at Legal and General, organised the random acts of kindness.

The 38-year-old and his wife Leah had been trying for their second child when she became pregnant in 2014.

But the couple were devastated when they were told by doctors their baby would not survive the birth.

Andy left small bags of chocolates at bus stops and on park benches across his home town of Shoreham in memory of his son Dexter.

He said: “I saw a story from Stockport Sands support group of them placing chocolate around the town in memory of babies lost too soon. It inspired me to arrange for my team to do the same.

“So on Friday, October 18, we set about our mission to try and brighten up somebody’s day with the thought that our gift could be the only things that makes their recipients smile that day.

“Being able to dedicate these acts to our own angels and all babies that sadly never made their trip home was a truly amazing thing and I think did just as much for us as the recipient of the treats.”

The players also left handwritten notes with their gifts explaining their reasons for leaving them.

One note, strapped to a box of Celebrations, read: “Please enjoy this random gift that we have left for you. This gift is in memory of our baby girl Angel who was born sleeping.”

Another note stuck to a bag of Kit Kat bites said: “Please enjoy these in memory of Baby Jude and Baby Ezekiel.”

The treats were left in places including the Pavilion Gardens, Manor Gardens, Blakers Park and Westdene Green in Brighton, Chichester Cathedral, Crawley and Littlehampton.

The team planned the act to coincide with the end of Baby Loss Awareness Week 2019, which ran from October 9 to 15. Run by stillbirth and neonatal death charity Sands, with which the team shares its name, the week aims to “give bereaved parents and their families an opportunity to remember the precious babies that have been taken too soon”.

Andy said: “With men aged 45 and under more likely to die by their own hand than any other reason it is important that men are offered many different ways of seeking and getting support.”