Friends start football tour to raise money for charity

Neil Mardlin, 41, and James Hunter, 35, both from Sheffield, and Dave Williams and Richard Green, both 46 and from Barnsley, will cruise from pitch to pitch, totting up a total of almost 2,400 miles on a sponsored drive.

The friends, who have known each other for 10 years, will visit each of England's professional league clubs and only stop for photos at each stadium.

Their trip will begin from Weston Park Hospital on Saturday, May 8, with the first stop being Bramall Lane. Mr Mardlin, a senior analyst programmer at HSBC, where all four work, said: "We're all friends who have been affected by cancer – my mum has been undergoing treatment for lymphoma cancer at Weston Park for the past six months and James' father passed away from melanoma.

"The disease also took Dave's father and uncle and Richard's grandparents, so we've all got a pretty good reason to raise money for such a worthy cause."

Their mission will take them as far south as Plymouth and as far north as Carlisle, before finishing at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough ground.

Mr Mardlin added: "We'll be sleeping in the car and drinking a lot of energy drinks to stay awake."

Catherine Newman, senior fundraiser at the Weston Park Hospital Cancer Charity, added: "We are absolutely thrilled that Neil and the rest of the 92 in 92 group have chosen us as their charity for such a fantastic fundraiser.

"We wish them the very best of luck and look forward to waving them off when they begin their adventure from the hospital."