‘Elfman’ will be one of the flagbearers in Grimsby Town’s match against York City this weekend.

Otherwise known as Noah Nicholson, he spent the first two-and-a-half years of his life in Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

Since moving to his Holton-le-Clay home, the nine-year-old – who loves to be called Elfman - and his family have been supported by St Andrew’s Hospice.

Theirs is a story familiar to the thousands of patients and their loved ones who have benefited from its services over the years.

My family has been among them.

It is why we decided to donate the publicity around our match sponsorship on Saturday to the hospice.

Not only are we wanting to raise awareness – the hospice costs more than £7-million to operate each year, with just a fifth funded by the NHS and rest reliant on the community to cover – but fundraise too.

A collection will be held around the ground before kick off and funds are also being raised through this page.

Thank you for your contribution – from Elfman and everybody at the hospice.

We hope he, plus the other patients and their families who are guests of the football club at the weekend, have a fantastic day – and inspire the Mariners to victory.

Thank you to you all for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.