Charity fundraisers stop off at APEC Taxis Stadium ahead of marathon challenges

Top: Neil Atherton (Buswalker) and Pinktutuguy David Ash with Linnets mascot Ron Corn. Picture by Kelly Jones. Bottom: Neil meets Runcorn manager Brad Cooke plus players Adam Moseley and Lewis Crane while David catches up with the action. Pictures by Peter Cantwell.

Two award-winning community fundraisers dropped in at APEC Taxis Stadium, home of Runcorn Linnets, for our Easter Monday game against Bootle while limbering up for tough charity challenges this weekend.

Holder of the British Empire Medal, Neil Atherton (alias Buswalker) is putting on his walking boots on Sunday for a 50-mile trek.

This will take the Arriva employee to six North West bus depots in one day - starting in Southport, ending at Runcorn and covering Bootle, Green Lane, St Helens and Speke in between.

Neil's first fundraiser of 2025 is in aid of food banks across Merseyside and Halton.

Meanwhile, the recent recipient of a British Citizens Award, Runcorn's David Ash (aka Pinktutuguy) is preparing to run the TCS London Marathon, also this Sunday, for Cancer Research UK.

He has so far raised £6,394.51

(+£695.31 Gift Aid) through his participation in the event after setting himself an initial target of £2,000.

This was a third late-season visit to the APEC for David, whose late father Keith Ash was an assistant secretary of Linnets' predecessor club Runcorn AFC and with wife Betty ran the old Linnets Travel Club.

Sunday's long-distance walk is one of three Buswalker challenges planned for this year by Neil from Widnes.

At the time working as a bus driver for Arriva NW and Wales, he received his BEM in the New Year's Honours List of 2023 "for services to Public Transport and to the community in Liverpool and Widnes during Covid-19."

Neil, now a bus supervisor, has so far brought in £2,870 towards his £5,000 target for the year.

He said: "I aim to shine a light on the pressure of hunger in our society by taking on three individual challenges.

"Once the full year is completed and the big challenge has finished, any local food bank that we walk past on the walks will get a percentage of the money that we raised over this period, helping local people in our region."

David is one of only 26 people honoured at this year's the British Citizens Awards, held in January at London's Palace of Westminster.

Having over the years raised more than £165,000 for the cancer charity, the 59-year-old was awarded the BCA Medal of Honour for Service and Charitable Giving.

He said: "My story is long, but quite simple; we make smiles, we run miles, we literally have miles with smiles!!

"Together, we can smile and together we are beating cancer...one mile, one smile and one pound at a time."

These fantastic fundraisers are very grateful for the pledges made by the fans of both clubs at the Bank Holiday fixture.

All at Runcorn Linnets wish them the very best of luck on Sunday and with their ongoing efforts for charity.

Support David's London Marathon campaign for Cancer Research UK here.

To contribute to Neil's Big Challenge, visit his GoFundMe page here.