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Matthew’s sitting down on the job
Five years-old Matthew Hodge of Garswood staged his own fund raising challenge at Wigan's DW Satdium sitting on 100 seats to raise cash for Wigan Hospice.
ONE of the borough’s youngest charity fund-raisers ensured that sitting down on the job could definitely not be construed as laziness.
Five-year-old Matthew Hodge, from Garswood, raised money for a local hospice by sitting on more than 100 of the seats at Wigan’s DW Stadium.
The RL Hughes Primary School pupil swapped his usual perch in the South Stand, where he is a regular attendee at Wigan Warriors matches, for the West Stand where he sat on 112 of the stadium’s blue and red seats in around half an hour, bringing in more than £150 for the Wigan and Leigh Hospice with his efforts.
There was an extra surprise for avid Warriors fan Matthew as former Wigan prop Andy Coley dropped in to lend his encouragement to the fund-raising efforts.
Despite his tender years Matthew is already a keen fund-raiser to help others less fortunate than himself, completing a one-mile walk last year for children’s hospice Derian Hospice and planning further events to help good causes to follow his latest exploits.
Proud grandma Maureen Carroll said: “It was a fantastic day and Andy was just brilliant. He asked Matthew if he was a fan and said he was doing a really good thing.
“Matthew started fund-raising when he brought a box home from school to fill with coins, but said that wasn’t enough for him and he wanted to do something else.
“I suggested the walk and he raised around £60 as we got friends and family to sponsor him.
“I suggested this year that he could do the seats challenge, and said that as he raised money for a children’s hospice last year he could move on to help an adult hospice. I’m not sure what he wants to do next for charity, but he’s very concerned about the mistreatment of animals at the moment and has been watching programmes about wildlife, so it might be something related to conservation.”
n Are you a charity fund-raiser? Do you have plans for a charity event? Ring our newsdesk on 01744 611011.
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Weather for St Helens
Wednesday 19 June 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
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Light rain
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