Mower man's mission for 2021 - and he needs you to help

Dad-of-two Andy Maxfield from Inskip, is the holder of two Guiness World Records for mowing and had plans for a big fundraising event in 2020, but everything was put on hold due to the pandemic.

Now, he is gearing up to renew his efforts - and wants North West football fans to join him.

He wants to push a mower 55 miles across Lancashire from Burnley FC’s Turf Moor, to Ewood Park in Blackburn, then to Deepdale, onto to AFC Fylde’s Mill Farm, before finishing at Bloomfield Road, home of Blackpool FC.

The 51-year-old, who works as a prison officer at Kirkham Prison, said: “The idea was to get football fans involved and tie it in with a pre-season game one weekend, but it’s all gone belly-up.

”We want to resurrect it for next year, hopefully with me pushing a mower and other people joining in.

”I think think we could do something like £100 per person sponsorship, that’s an achievable amount for people to raise.”

Andy hopes to raise a total of £9,200 - £100 for each of the 92 league clubs - which would go to the Altzheimers Society.

He began fundraising for the charity in 2016 with a black tie ball, to support the charity because his father suffered from the disease for 13 years.

He wrote to John Deere, asking the company to donate a ride-on mower as a raffle prize, and offered to test the reliability of their machine by riding it from John O’Groats to Lands End to set a new world record.

He said: “I never actually expected them to get back to me but they did and said what a fantastic idea – so obviously I set myself up for an epic journey.”

He completed the 874.3 mile journey in five days, eight hours and 36 minutes, and last year beat the walk-behind mower record by completing 273 laps of the pitch at Ewood Park, home to his beloved Blackburn Rovers, in 24 hours.

He completed that feat despite suffering breathing problems and vomiting blood due to dehydration.

Andy said: “After the last time, the missus said ‘don’t be doing anything like that again!’ She says I’m not as young as I was!

“But this time round it wouldn’t be for a World Record, so I wouldn’t have to do it all myself. I would have a support team, and if I needed a break, then someone else could push the mower for a bit.”

He added: “I’m always looking for different, quirky things, it makes it interesting.

"Going from John O’Groats was quite good, I met a lot of lovely people. It’s good to chat to different people about their family.

”It’s also important to realise that when there is someone with Altzheimers in the family, then it’s easy for the family to be sucked into a depressive state, it can consume you. You need to do something to raise spirits."

Any fan who wants to take part is asked to contact Andy directly. They can do as much or as little of the journey as they like.

Email: [email protected] or [email protected], visit @AndyMax69 on Twitter or donate at: justgiving.com/fundraising/mowerman