Three men to tackle 48 hour walk between Chesterfield and Stoke on Trent to raise money in memory of a lifelong Port Vale fan

Scott and Kevin Mckenchie and Paul Wooley will be walking over 40 miles between Chesterfield FC’s SMH Stadium and Port Vale’s Vale Park to raise money for two organisations.

They are doing this in the memory of Stephen Woolley who passed away in January from Bowel cancer after being diagnosed with the disease in January 2023.

From Stoke On Trent and a lifelong Port Vale fan, Stephen had been living with his wife and former Chesterfield resident Jill Woolley. The pair had been together for 16 years and got married in hospital the day before Stephen’s sad passing.

Jill said: “It’s been an extremely tough time for us but this has given us all something to focus on.

“And the support we’ve had from a lot of people has been tremendous.”

Jill’s sons, Scott and Kevin enjoyed a very close relationship with Steve, attending both Chesterfield and Port Vale games together.

This led to the brothers taking up this fundraising challenge – walking between the two football clubs stadiums.

On their fundraising page, Scott wrote: “Steve was an important part of our family, very much loved by everyone that knew him and will be sorely missed by us all.”

Scott and Kevin will be joined by Stephen’s brother Paul on the over 40 mile walk.

The money raised will be going to two foundations – The Douglas Macmillan Hospice and the Port Vale FC foundation.

Steve had been a lifelong Vale fan. He first went to the Vale with his Dad when he was almost 3 yrs old and followed them home and away ever since.

The three men will be beginning the intrepid walk from the SMH stadium at 3.00pm on Friday 26 April and will be arriving at Vale Park in time for Port Vale’s last game of the season against Cambridge at 3.00pm the next day.

To donate some money visit the Just Giving page for either the Douglas Macmillan hospice or the Port Vale FC foundation. So far, both pages have raised over £380.