It was on 10 March 1905 that our great club was founded, 116 years ago today. To mark the anniversary, which takes place while we are still apart, we have created a unique short film narrated by Joe Cole, a born-and-bred Chelsea supporter from London who went on to play for the club he loves.

The film celebrates seven real stories of people who have opened businesses, adapted their output to support key workers, helped their communities, and inspired through art.

Joe Cole said: ‘Being a Londoner myself, it’s been great to be able to work with my old club to celebrate those that have done something special over the last 12 months. Londoners never cease to amaze me and listening to some of the stories featured in the film has been really inspirational.’

As a way of showing how ‘Proud of London’ The Pride of London are, we are also launching a campaign to help support local businesses get back to their feet following the punishing impact of the global pandemic.

From this coming Friday we are inviting small businesses with a London postcode to apply for free advertising space on matchdays, including a branded Instagram Story. With a digital community of hundreds of millions of people around the world, small London companies will gain exposure like never before via this valuable advertising space that is usually only available to sponsorship partners or business’s buying one of our digital collaborations

'Proud of London is our way of showing how incredibly inspired we’ve been of the city we call our home,' said Chelsea director of marketing Gary Twelvetree.

'London is full of creative minds that push boundaries, support each other, and adapt to what has been an unprecedented challenge through the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. We hope that we can continue to support this great city, just like it has supported us.'

Applications will open on Friday 12 March and close on Friday 26 March. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees and that have a website are invited to apply, with the successful applicants chosen by Chelsea based on the efforts they have taken during the pandemic to launch, sustain or grow. Further information will be released on Friday.

The seven real Londoner stories featured in the film are:Love Triangle Pizza Starting their business during the pandemic, Love Triangle donate one meal to Wandsworth food bank for every pizza sold.

William Sevigny Stevens Fifteen-year-old William was given a community award for his unwavering support for the most vulnerable in his neighbourhood throughout the Covid-19 outbreak.

IzeIze is a football coach who has endeavoured to keep kids active during the lockdown by offering free weekly online skills classes.

Simon GarnerSimon brought his neighbourhood together and kept their spirits up with his weekly doorstep aerobics sessions.

No Signal RadioBorn during the lockdown, No Signal Radio have combatted isolation and brought black communities together.

Emergency Designer NetworkThis group of female designers galvanised voluntary garment production to produce scrubs for the NHS. This is their funding page.

Wood Street Walls X Holy MolyLondon based collective Wood Street Walls collaborated with Holy Moly to create a stunning tribute to the heroes of the NHS.