45 years ago Macclesfield Town beat Telford Utd 2-0 in the first ever FA Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium and our Dad was the player manager. Unfortunately he will not be with us to celebrate his team’s achievement later this year as he passed away just over 3 years ago after a long and brave battle with cancer. All our family still miss him dearly and he is never far from all our thoughts, I personally lost my best friend, role model and inspirational figure on November 6th 2011 when he sadly passed away. We are extremely proud of everything Dad achieved as a professional footballer while playing for Barnsley, Bury, Stockport County and Macclesfield Town but we are all even more proud of how he coped with cancer. 

So to celebrate his life and career as a footballer, I have decided to mark Macclesfield Town’s historic Wembley win by visiting every team’s ground in order that they played on their winning route to the final.  The journey will take me to Burscough in Lancashire, Gainsborough Trinity, Bangor City in Wales, Burton Albion, Stoke City where they played Barnet in the Semi Final; I am then going to travel to Brighton where the team stayed whilst preparing for the final by training at Brighton Hove Albion. From there I will head up to Craven Cottage Fulham, the venue of a historic FA cup third round tie in 1968, where they nearly caused a major cup upset after leading 2-1 but eventually losing in a closely fought game 4-2. From here I will complete the FA Trophy trail by finishing my chosen challenge at the home of English football Wembley Stadium. 

We have decided to raise money in Frank Beaumont’s memory for Barnsley Hospice the place he spent his last few days, for the dignified care we all received from the superb staff that helped us cope at a truly horrendous time, we would also like to give some money to Weston Park Cancer Hospital where he received his treatment and lastly, make a donation to Cancer Research UK to hopefully find a cure for this horrendous disease one day.  

With it being 45 years our plan is to do 450 miles, this will be mostly done on a bike but my plan is also to run as well, for example Macc to Stoke is 24 miles so my running shoes will be on that day to give the backside a rest and the last 8 miles from Fulham to Wembley will be a nice occasion to run/walk with my very supportive family members to hopefully finish our emotional journey remembering a very special man and his team’s superb achievements.

My support to carry out this challenge with come from my loving family, my wife Simone, kids Hannah & Callum, nephew George along with my Mum will be with me all the way offering support and participating when possible. My Brother in law Steve is planning to cycle most of the route with me and his support and assistance will be a vital part if I am to complete the challenge, my other Brother in law Dean and sister in law Tracey will join me in the 24 mile run as they are both training for the Manchester marathon, so I am really lucky to have their support in hopefully achieving our goals.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and  any donation will be greatly appreciated – Martin & Family 

Frank Beaumont His Memory Lives On !