Win tickets to see Tony Jeffries at Sunderland fundraising night

The Olympic medallist will make a rare trip home to Sunderland to give a Q&A at a Night4Chuf being held at the Stadium of Light this Friday evening.

The fundraiser is the latest to be organised by David Barker, 26, from Hendon, who has so far raised £13,000 for the Children’s Heart Unit Fund in Newcastle. He was inspired to help by son Jake, six, who’s undergone three operations already after being born with heart complications, including a hole in his heart and only two working valves.

David, who is also dad to Oliver, three, and Jenson, 10 weeks, said: “The fund have been great with Jake. He had his first operation at just five weeks old and has had another two since then. At the minute he goes for check ups every six months but he will need another operation in his teenage years as he grows out of his stents.

“We can’t really thank them enough for what they’ve done for us, which is why I wanted to do something to help them with their research.”

Tony now lives in LA with his family where he runs a successful Box’n’Burn gym franchise. Speaking about the local sporting hero’s involvement, David said: “I struck lucky with Tony as he’s doing a Box’n’Burn Academy in Sheffield. I don’t think he was going to come to Sunderland but when I told him about the cause he made the time.”

As well as a talk from Tony, the night will feature a football talk in with former SAFC players Kevin Ball, Darren Williams, Darren Holloway and Tommy Miller.

The Police Interceptors from the hit Channel 5 show will also be available for selfies. Meanwhile, music performances will come from Grindon singer Olivia Lawson who made it through to the knockout round of The Voice in 2015, East Rainton singer Tom Smith who’s appeared at festivals across the country and Charlie Healy who appeared on the X Factor in band The Risk.

•Tickets for the night, priced £10, are available from Ebay under the listing “night4chuf”. We also have four tickets to give away for one Echo reader and their friends. To be in with a chance of winning, answer this question: in which sport did Tony Jeffries win his bronze medal? Email your answer and contact details to Katy.Wheeler@jpress.co.uk by Friday morning,