I’m sure many of you will know Burnley supporter Alan Beecroft. Sadly Alan was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease earlier this year.

His son Simon has made the decision to do a sky dive next month to raise money for the MND Association. He is doing it with Lenny Johnrose. Alan has told him he must be crazy but I think it is terrific what he’s doing to support his dad.

If you would like to sponsor Simon or even just pass on the link then I know it will be really appreciated. The link is below.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/simon-beecroft" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sponsored. Such sad news.

Will be sponsoring Simon.

Alan, as discussed on a thread last year, is for me the top Claret. Helped make me and many others Burnley fans.

Loyalclaret wrote:Will be sponsoring Simon.

Alan, as discussed on a thread last year, is for me the top Claret. Helped make me and many others Burnley fans.

When you know of Alan it’s easy to think he’s just some loud fan with a big hat who you probably don’t think too much of. When you then actually know Alan you realise just what a good, decent, helpful fellow Claret he is. I’m very proud to call him a friend.

Travelling with, and subsequently helping run, Colne Clarets is where it all began for me as a Claret. Some of my happiest years. 20 years ago, where has that gone?

Thank you Alan.

Delighted to see that the total raised has now gone up to £240 - I'm sure Simon will be able to reach his target of £1,000 and hopefully go beyond.

Known Alan as a Burnley fan for donkeys years.I am so sad to hear of this news.Will definitely be supporting this worthy cause.

I have donated.

My mother followed the clarets home and away from the sixties, Nineties and died of MND in 1987.

Cruel disease

Alan is a good friend of my dad's, as a kid I spent weekends up and down the country on all sorts of outings with him, not always football related.

I went to many away games with Alan and Simon in the years before he started up Colne Clarets and then carried on going on the coaches. He helped us out many times with away tickets even when we weren't travelling on his coaches or needed extras for mates.

He's always been good entertainment and long trips to and from the likes of Maidstone were always a good laugh, even if the results were often crap.

One highlight was when we were walking on what seemed to be a very playable pitch at Exeter after the game had been postponed; a bloke appeared who asked us to leave, Alan asked who he was and he foolishly introduced himself as the ref who had just called the game off! The response he got was unrepeatable on here.

Good luck Simon.

I will sponsor Simon when I get home this evening. I have known Alan for over 40 years - he was a colleague of my step father at British Gas for many years. As Tony said, he is a loud Burnley fan, though back in the day minus the large hat! I can remember him taking my brothers and I on a trip to Downham in his Land Rover which had a canvas rear cover - ex army I think. My parents were taking the sensible option and driving in a car. We came to a large grass verge area, the car drives around it and to the delight of my 2 brothers and I in the back, Alan drives straight across the verge and onto the road in front of my parent's car. I would guess I was 11 years old or so, with my brothers 2 and 3 years younger. As I can remember all of this, it makes me old enough to remember Simon being born. For the many who will no doubt have watched the 1992 Champions video, Simon is on there when the group of kids say something like 5 games left, 7 points needed for the Championship, NO PROBLEM!

As many have said, he was well known for running Colne Clarets along with Banny and my parents had some great weekend trips to places like Exeter and Cheltenham amongst others. I also went on the train they organized for the play off final v Stockport. Extremely brave of Simon to take on the parachute jump, which pales into insignificance compared to the bravery shown by those like Alan and Len who suffer this horrible disease. Best of luck Simon, your Dad is a top bloke and a True Claret.

Thank you Tony for posting my link up on here and Thank you to everyone who has commented and donated. Please share away with the link even if you can't donate. I started the just giving page on Saturday morning and I'm overwhelmed with the response so far. I've set my target at £1000 but would love to go beyond that. I'm currently at about £600 with online donations and with sponsors I've collected via sponsor forms.

Once again I can't thank people enough for their kind words and donations so far. Keep the funny stories coming.

Thanks
Simon.

Well done Simon: just donated. Alan’s a top bloke!

Donated Good Luck Simon, your Dad is a top guy.

Donation made last night, posting this to bump the thread up the page. Be great if it could stay near the top if all those who donate post to confirm. It's a worthwhile cause, funds being raised to support a life long fan and an ex player.

If you have a spare fiver, make a choice. Buy a twix next time you are on the Turf or support 2 guys jumping out of a plane.....

Really pleased for Simon - online donations now up to £640

Bump. Lets get Simon and Lenny up and above the figures that have been mentioned. UTC!

What a fantastic response I've had since Saturday. Can't thank everyone enough. Please keep sharing and donating. You're all amazing.

Moving up nicely with £775 raised now online

Donated. Don't know Alan personally but travelled to the odd away game with Colne Clarets when I was younger and can certainly remember him and Tony B!

jrgbfc wrote:travelled to the odd away game with Colne Clarets when I was younger and can certainly remember him

Unlikely not to with Alan

Online sponsorship now up to £895.

Excellent news. Keep it going Clarets!

Just hit the £1000. Blown away by the amount of support and kind words. Please keep sharing and donating. Who's up for £2000

Again want to thank everyone. Thanks to Accy clarets and Burnley Football supporters club for their contributions and generous ones at that.

Another £100 gone in too from John B - up to £1,260 now online which is brilliant and with three weeks to go.

Total over £1500 now. As there is no Clarets game this weekend, what better place to donate the few quid that you would spend on a pie, a pint and a programme on a match day to support a life long Claret who is suffering from an incurable, life ending illness.

Bump to top

I've made a donation. Alan is a top bloke and did so much to help me get to away games. I remember one game sometime in the mid 90's when he caught the match ball after a wayward shot. Quick as a flash he whipped out a marker and signed the ball. Some match day sponsor, somewhere in the UK (Part of me thinks it might have been Fulham or West Brom), is probably still wondering who the hell Alan Beecroft is.

I spoke to Alan a couple of days ago. He and Georgina had just returned from a week’s holiday in Spain staying with friends.

He was, now how can I put it, typical Alan but I know he’s so proud of what Simon is doing and I know Simon is overwhelmed at the support he’s received. Alan said he thought a grand was a bit ambitious but I’ve just looked and it is now at £1,620.

Brilliant so far and 13 days to go.

Fantastic support. Thank you everyone. As regards the signing of wayward balls it became a regular occurrence. Got to the point where most of the Colne Clarets coach had signed the ball before it got returned to the field of play. Completely forgot about this until mentioned above. Great times

fantastic cause please dig deep chaps and chapesses

Over £1,700 now

Just had a phone call off the Motor Neurone Disease Association tonight to say how well this fund raising page is doing and thanking me for raising money for them. Obviously this fund raiser wouldn't be what it is without all the people who have shared and donated so far. I just want to pass on that thank you to each and every one of you. 10 more sleeps until jump day

Brilliant news - online sponsorship now up to £1,875 plus £276.25 gift aid. I know Simon has also got some offline sponsorship so the total is going to be outstanding no matter what comes in over the next few days.

Six days to go.

Only four days to go - can we get the sponsorship any higher?

Quick update. Today's jump was cancelled yesterday afternoon due to bad weather. I have 're booked for Saturday the 15th of December. Thank you for all the support so far it's been amazing. UTC!

The picture below is Lenny Johnrose who was able to do his skydive last week.

Hopefully Simon's will go ahead this weekend. If it is called off I'm told it will then be next year.

He's currently at £1,905 online but the gift aid and his offline sponsorship will add to that.

LINK: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/simon-beecroft" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hope all goes well this time Simon.

Please keep donating folks

Just bumping this. Because of weather conditions, Simon's skydive was cancelled on 2nd December and then again on 20th December. He's finally got the go ahead today. I've just spoken to both him and his dad. They are there with Simon now waiting for the call to go which should be very soon. Dad (Alan) is nervous, Simon is really looking forward to it.

He's doing to this to raise money for Motor Neurone Disease Assocation (MNDA), supporting Alan who is suffering from this dreadful illness.

He's raised some money offline but online it is currently at £1,965 and they have both asked me to thank those who have donated for their generosity.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/simon-beecroft" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Brilliant. Good luck to all.

Good luck today Simon. Incredibly brave thing you are doing today in support of your dad, who is a top bloke and a true Claret.

Good luck Simon, although sad to report he’s just been booked by Anthony Taylor.

Alan told me how cold it was up there this morning, I said it's bloody cold down here. But he's finally got a clear day for it.

martin_p wrote:Good luck Simon, although sad to report he’s just been booked by Anthony Taylor.

And his assistant didn't see any of the sky dive.

Good luck and well done to all concerned.

I can report that Simon has landed safely and completed his skydive. And we’ve got the justgiving over £2,000.

I’m told he loved it but his dad was so nervous he’s had two changes of underwear.

ClaretTony wrote:I can report that Simon has landed safely and completed his skydive. And we’ve got the justgiving over £2,000.

I’m told he loved it but his dad was so nervous he’s had two changes of underwear.

That's more than he usually has in a week