This is my story.

Ivan Bicknell. RIP. This is largely for you. Ivan was my friend. We shared a huge passion for climbing mountains and football. We played football together for about 20 years. We both loved a good tackle, often crunching into each other! Unlike me, he was a big, fit, strong lad. I often came off worse!

In Feb 2019, Ivan suddenly announced to the world that via a long journey of misdiagnosis, it had emerged that he had Stage 4 colorectal cancer, with a prognosis of less than 18 months. Whilst Ivan remained incredibly strong and positive about the fight ahead – and boy did he fight, he very sadly passed away on May 6 2020.

This project is partly my attempt at a dedication to Ivan. My attempt to do something to honour his name – and join the fight to beat cancer.

I’ve been a teacher for most of my adult life and off the back of that, I have had the huge privilege of attending the ‘Sebastian’s Action Trust’ care homes for seriously and terminally ill children, seeing and hearing all about the incredible work they do at first hand to support families is unthinkable turmoil. They need and deserve as much support as they can get. Their story is incredible. Since the age of seven, I have always been so excited about the new season’s football shirt release – and I still get that feeling of excitement and anticipation every single season. Similarly, as a player, football shirts have always held very special memories. Football has been the soundtrack to my life – and it feels good to combine this huge passion with doing something positive. You are supporting ‘Cancer Research UK’ and ‘Sebastian’s Action Trust’ as you become one of our ‘Football Shirts For Charity’ supporters. Thank you.