Fund-raisers prepare for mammoth bed push

More than a dozen people will be tackling the traffic between All Saints’ Square Rotherham town centre and Maltby on Sautrday as they attempt to raise money for the Maltby Miners’ Welfare Junior Football Club and Help For Heroes.

Setting off from Rotherham town centre at around 12.30pm, the group plan to travel to Morrisons at Parkgate Shopping before heading to the Asda supermarket at Dalton and travelling to Tesco on Maltby’s High Street, via the Morrisons supermarket at Bramley.

Event organiser and Maltby Juniors’ manager, Jim Liversidge, said: “It’s going to be quite a challenge to push a bed that far, on some pretty busy roads, but we wanted to do something that was a bit different in the hope that people will come out and support us.

“We’re not just raising funds for the young footballers in Maltby but all the soldiers that are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. They deserve our support.”

Jim explained that even a bed requires a licence and insurance if you are taking to the borough’s roads.

He said: “We needed a licence from the borough council and the Miner’s Welfare have had to add us to their public liability insurance to make this happen. It’s tougher than getting a car on the road.

“When we reach the M18 motorway we’ve got to transport the bed over the roundabout in a van because the police suggested they would have to close the road at a cost of between £700 and £800 otherwise.

“Lets hope that all our efforts are worth it.”