Friends to complete fundraising walk from Worksop Town's Sandy Lane to Lincoln in memory of popular teacher Sam Fisher

Richard McHugh – alongside Reece Pressley, Layne Cavell, Sam Richardson, Anthony Crump, and John Williams – will be walking from Sandy Lane, in Worksop to Lincoln United’s Ashby Avenue for Worksop Town Football Club’s fixture on Saturday 13 November.

The walk is in memory of Sam “Sponge” Fisher, who passed away in Australia in October.

The fundraiser will hope to raise money for his family to help cover his repatriation, funeral costs, travel expenses, and for his families’ arrangements.

Mr McHugh, who has raised £630 so far, said: “When I found out the costs for the repatriation, I was just thinking about how I wanted to raise money.

“People had different ideas, and even though we all supported different teams – I’m a ‘Blade’ and Sam was a ‘Wednesdayite’ – we used to come together through our love of football and being from Worksop, we used to come down and watch the Tigers together.

“In his memory, and for a different fundraising idea – with Alex Leverton, Kurt Lewis and Kieran Wilkinson doing the ‘Sponge Fest’ night in Sheffield with his love of music – we looked at something else he loved, so this idea was just a way of honouring him.

“It is going to be tiring, but it is for Sam’s name and hopefully, it raises a little bit of money for his family for all the costs that they’re going to have to outlay.”

The group will be joined by Worksop Town manager Craig Parry and coaches Luke Jeffs and Mark Whitehouse for part of their journey.

Mr McHugh also discussed the importance of men’s mental health following the passing of his close friend.

“There was a lad me and my friends knew who recently passed a couple of weeks before in the same circumstances and it left people scratching their heads,” he added.

“I think with mental health, it is being talked about more, but it is just getting lads talking among each other, knowing that they’re not going to be ridiculed or anything because we cannot just be losing anymore friends.

“It is just sad and people who are in a dark place need to understand that there is light at the end of the tunnel – we’re all still in shock with what has happened.

“If friends do see an individual going downhill then maybe like Sam used to say when he met you, say ‘alreyt’ bod, how are you?’ and talk about things.”

To donate visit the Go Fund Me page here.