Hello. Some old blokes are doing a 160 mile bike ride from Airdrieonians F.C (Excelsior Stadium) to Sunderland F.C. (Stadium of Light) on Friday 28th/Saturday 29th April. Why?

Well, in September 2016, a very close friend of ours, Bruce Ford, 49, had a terrible accident and broke his neck. He's paralysed from the waist down and Doctors have told him he will never walk again. Obviously this is life changing for not only Bruce but also for his family.

We want to raise as much money as we can to help Bruce adapt his home ready for when he leaves hospital, sometime in mid 2017.

Bruce comes from South Shields and is a lifelong Sunderland fan. He now lives in Airdrie, Scotland, and so also has a keen interest in Airdrie FC. He also has close ties with a few Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United fans as he spent many years living and working in Sheffield during the 1990s.

A few of those Sheffield mates have put their (old) heads together to think of ways to help Bruce raise the money he needs. The conclusion was: "Let's do a bike ride from Airdrie to Sunderland. How hard can that be?"

Well, since most of the guys are the wrong side of forty and have not been on a bike for 30-40 years, it might be quite hard! Needless to say we have taken the bull by the horns and we are going to do whatever it takes to do this. It's only 160 miles after all...(gulp).

As you might imagine this challenge is not going unnoticed by Bruce's friends in Scotland & the North East and some of those guys are jumping on the bandwagon and will also be doing the ride. Rumour has it they are even older and fatter than the Sheffield lads! Bring it on!

This really is such a worthy cause. Bruce, despite the accident, remains positive and he has not lost his sense of humour which is a good thing when you support Sunderland!

Any donation, however small, will help in our quest to raise as much as we can for our great friend. Thanks!