Veteran Roller John Inspired by Captain Sir Tom

VETERAN ROLLER JOHN has been inspired by Captain Sir Tom to raise money for charity before his 90th birthday.

John Wilcock, 89, of Warwickshire has been named Roller John, and is set to raise money for a charity which supports hungry children and their families, by rollerskating around his local car park.

Veteran roller John’s inspired challenge will run for 45 weeks and is set to end shortly before his 90th birthday on January 21. The challenge will end on January 18, and will see him complete 90 laps of the car park which comes in at a staggering 3.5 miles.

John was inspired by both Sir Captain Tom and Marcus Rashford, from Manchester United. The Manchester United star struck a chord with Roller John as he raised concerns over free school meals. This is something close to John’s heart as he received them as a child.

So far Roller John has raised a staggering sum of over £27,000 for his challenge which he started on March 9, and originally he had only hoped to raise £500.

Speaking of his challenge to the BBC John said that, “Walking’s a bit boring, jogging’s a bit boring, and I saw this boy and his father rollerskating, and I thought, ‘Well, that’s the thing to do.’

“Along comes Sir Tom, with his trolley, and I thought, with my wife’s roller, I’ll be able to skate!

“I’ve worked out that if I do two laps a week, that’ll take me to 90 laps. He did 100 laps for his 100th, I’m doing 90 laps for my 90th.”

Donations can be made on John’s JustGiving page where he is providing regular updates of his challenge.