Sunderland lads set for Christmas Day charity walk to raise money for hospital

Dave Potter, John Kelly and Kris Haikeney are all set to journey across Wearside to raise cash for the hospital’s children’s ward.

The lads will be walking from the hospital, off Chester Road, to South Shields and then on to Washington and Penshaw before going returning to the hospital later on the same day.

The trio have a target of £200 for the fundraiser, of which they have already generated £60.

They will also be posting live video and pictures en route to keep people up to date with their progress.

Dave, 41, from Hendon, says despite it being a tough year after his dad Amos, 68, passed away and his mum Josephine, 69, battling cancer, he is prepared to do something good for the community.

“The three of us have been mates for a while now and we just thought that rather than spend the day sitting about we’d do something different.

“My dad passed away five months ago and my mam has had cancer so it’s not been an easy year, but I wanted to use the day to do something good for other people.”

The friends will walk more than 30 miles as part of the trek and have not set a target for how long it will take.

“We’ve worked out that it’s roughly 32 miles,” added Dave.

“We’ll set off at 10am from the hospital and then end up back there but we haven’t got a clue how long it will take us to be honest.

“We know it’ll be tough and John has a bad leg but I’m sure we’ll pull through together.

“It might look like a scene from Run, Fatboy, Run at the end!

“We’ve got £60 donated already and we’ve been promised money from local businesses so that should spur us on really.

“The idea is to help as much as we can by putting something back into the community.”

Those wanting to donate can fund the lads’ fund-raising page on the Go Fund Me site which is at www.gofundme.com/for-sunderland-royal-children039s-ward?fbclid=IwAR2-JOybLeUxL-ybOUvF8V31kyFnBPpG-dqc1ogKtHr-P6CY0NapAoEcsqE