10 coaches from Longridge Town Juniors Football Club have decided to raise money for two very worthy causes close to all our hearts. On the 22nd of June, Sam Thurlow, Dave Ellis, Tony Smalley, Andy Sidgreaves, Andy Davis, Ashley Fletcher, Stuart Bolton, Harry Bolton, Johnathon Kenyon and Mac Willan will all take on the 12k obstacle race called “total warrior” based in Leeds. Our coaches are committed and currently training hard for the race. We are asking for your support in sponsorship.

What are we raising money for?

Our first charity is Miles for Mitchie.

Mitchie is a lovely little boy who is currently training in our development squad. When Mitchie was just 3 years old he was diagnosed with Medulloblastoma (a type of cancer that affects the brain and spine). Mitchie needed 6 weeks of brain and spine radiotherapy at The Christie, 30 sessions of treatment each performed under general anaesthetic. Mitch was allowed a 6 week break to let his body rest before chemotherapy started. He was admitted back into the RMCH on the 21st April to begin chemo. He had 4 treatments of chemo, each lasting 4 weeks. With each treatment, Mitchie was neutropenic, meaning he had to be in isolation as his immune system was extremely poor. We are very pleased to hear that Mitchie rang the End of the Treatment Bell on the 3rd of August! This is not the end of his journey though. Tests and scans will be needed regularly for the rest of Mitchies life. Since then, his friends and family have all got together to raise money for Cancer Research UK, this idea snowballed and soon the whole village was wanting to get involved! They then started up Mitchies very own charity "Miles for Mitchie" and share all the funds raised between local, childhood cancer related, charities. Ward 84, Royal Manchester Childrens Hospital, The Brain Tumour Charity and Ronald McDonald House who have all helped Mitchie and his family.

More info can be found at:

Miles for Mitchie

Our second charitable cause is for the Oliver Ashton appeal.

Oliver Ashton is the brother of one of our coaches- Andrew Sidgreaves. He was born on Christmas Day, and has just turned 19.

Oliver was diagnosed with a rare life shortening condition called Coffin-Siris Syndrome. This affects Oliver in a number of ways.

He has severe upper respiratory issues which means he requires oxygen at times and he is on a ventilator for upto 12 hours a night. Oliver is unable to eat and is fed by a gastrostomy tube in his tummy. Oliver can't sit up, crawl or walk and has no speech.

He is an extremely happy child and our aim is to raise funds to support his ongoing care and provide him with additional equipment.

Although Oliver is provided with a wheelchair this is becoming extremely difficult to push as he gets older so we would like to get him a powered chair and also improve his vehicle for taking him out and about.