Family set to walk from Jarrow to St James’ Park in memory of ‘footie mad’ Bobby Swinney who collapsed outside

The family of a Jarrow grandad who suffered a cardiac arrest on the way to a Newcastle United game are raising money for defibrillators in his honour.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

"Footie mad” Bobby Swinney was on his way to watch Newcastle play Manchester City on December 19 last year when he suffered a cardiac arrest outside of St James’ Park.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

As a way of raising money, a group of family and friends will walk from Jarrow to St James’ Park on Sunday, March 20.

"Footie mad" Bobby Swinney with Alan Shearer."Footie mad" Bobby Swinney with Alan Shearer.
"Footie mad" Bobby Swinney with Alan Shearer.

Bobby’s grandson, Kieran Swinney, has told the Gazette what his grandad was like and why they are raising money in his memory.

The 20-year-old said: “He was a big Newcastle fan, just your standard footie mad Geordie and all he thought about was football.

"His favourite journey was to leave his house in Jarrow and make his way to St James’ Park so we thought that it would be a fitting way to honour him.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"It wasn’t until after he passed away that we looked into cardiac arrests and found out how important defibrillators are but how few of them are available when needed.

Bobby's grandson Kieran Swinney.Bobby's grandson Kieran Swinney.
Bobby's grandson Kieran Swinney.

"So because of this, we’re hoping to have one installed outside of St James’ Park in his honour and then another put somewhere in Jarrow.”

Read More
Teacher raises over £1,000 with reverse Jarrow March cycle ride from London

Money is being raised through the Red Sky Foundation and so far, more than £2,000 has been raised which will cover the cost of one defibrillator.

Kieran added: “We are all buzzing with how much we have raised so far as when we set it all up, we were unsure about how much support we’d actually get.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"The fact that we’ve already smashed the first target before the walk in great and we’ve now pretty confident that we’ll be able to raise around £4,000 to have two defibrillators installed.

"As a personal goal, I’d like to see us try and hit £6,000 as that would mean that we could have three installed but we will see.”

If you wish to view and donate to the fundraiser in Bobby’s memory, then you can do so by clicking here.

Support your Gazette and become a subscriber today.

Enjoy unlimited access to all of our news and sport, see fewer ads, experience faster load times, test your brain with daily puzzles and get access to exclusive newsletters.

Your support for our journalism means we can continue telling South Tyneside’s stories for generations to come. Click here to subscribe - and click here to get a snapshot of the Gazette’s news and sport to your inbox through our email newsletters.