FIVE decades of friendship spurred former players of a local football team to take on an epic walk in honour of a teammate who was diagnosed with cancer.
Jonna Barton’s friends rallied around him when he was diagnosed last summer with non-Hodgkin lymphoma – a type of blood cancer.
They took on a sponsored 12-mile walk from London’s Wembley Stadium to the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in November to support to Spurs fan Jonna – raising over £5,800 in the process.
Now in remission, Jonna joined his teammates to present the windfall to the Bloodwise charity, formerly Leukaemia Research.
The team reunited to present the cheque to staff at the Lutterworth Bloodwise Shop.
Many of the group first met in 1962 at Abbots Farm and Paddox Primary schools when they were just five years old.
They remained close throughout their time at Dunsmore School for Boys – despite Jonna choosing to go to Lawrence Sheriff School.
And they stuck together after leaving school and formed Paddox FC in 1977, playing together for over 30 years in Rugby and Daventry district leagues and veterans competitions.
Paddox FC in 1978.
Now in their early 60s, the friends decided to do something to show their solidarity with Jonna.
Russell Bott, who helped to organise the walk but was unable to take part for health reasons, said: “One of us was in trouble and we wanted to show our support to Jonna and his wife Julie in a practical way.
“As usual our best plans appear in the pub, and at one of our monthly meet-ups in the Merchants Inn a plan was formed to raise money for Bloodwise and keep a link to Spurs fan Jonna.
“At this point, after agreeing that we’d all contribute a decent amount, we were hoping to raise £1,000.
“With generous donations from former Paddox players who had moved away from the area, together with a walking football tournament, a Just Giving page and many generous donations, that figure grew and grew.”
Chris Newnham took part in the walk, which took nearly 12 hours and grew to 16 miles in length by the time detours were factored in.
He said: “The walk went exceptionally well, considering most people hadn’t walked that far in one go for a long time.
“To keep spirits up we sought out a number of hostelries to keep up our intake of liquids and take the weight off our feet. These stops also gave us opportunities to take the collecting tin around and get some more donations.
“About half way through it started to rain, which meant we were all very wet by the time we reached White Hart Lane.
“Completing the walk felt fantastic. Everyone has contributed to raising a fantastic amount for the charity and we are all both humbled and pleased at the total.”
The teammates presented a cheque for £5,843 to staff at the two Bloodwise charity shops in Lutterworth.
Jonna Barton, now in remission, at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Jonna has now completed his course of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, is currently in remission, and has watched Spurs play at the new stadium. He would like to thank all the NHS staff at St Cross Hospital and University Hospital Coventry.
