Charity champion to complete Ukraine to South Shields challenge

A charity champion from South Shields is set to complete his latest mammoth challenge at 1st Cloud Arena on Saturday.

Stephen Thompson began a 2,000km cycle from the Ukrainian border last Saturday, and the two-week journey is due to come to an end shortly before the game against Rushall Olympic.

He will be joined on the final leg of his journey by South Shields FC operations director Carl Mowatt, before taking part in the Great North Run the following day.

Stephen served almost nine years in the Royal Engineers and is using the challenge to give something back to former servicemen and women.

He is raising funds for Talking 2 Minds, Walking with the Wounded and the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust.

It will be a true homecoming for Stephen, who now lives in Germany but was born in South Shields. He joined the Royal Engineers after leaving Redwell Comprehensive School in 1987.

After leaving the armed forces in 1995, Stephen got married and decided to stay in Germany and in 2007, was diagnosed with a tumour in his foot.

He now wants to use his experience to help others.

Stephen said: “I was at the point of no return but managed to get back to normality; however, there are veterans out there who are in a much worse situation than me.

“Some of them are just young kids who have been through wars and have seen things that people shouldn’t see.

“They need all possible help that they can get and if I can give just a small contribution to help these people then I’ll be happy.

“Then the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust is a small but brilliant charity which helps children and young people with mental awareness.

“At the age of 52 and knocking on 15-and-a-half stone in weight, it is going to be more mind over matter than being tough physically.”

Please join us in supporting Stephen this weekend! Donations can be made by clicking here.