Rock the Crossbar brings musicians and footballers to West Lothian for a great cause
Two brothers brought celebrities from the music and footballing worlds together for an entertaining day of fundraising at two West Lothian venues.
Brothers Jonathan and Michael Ward wanted to raise money for the Maggie's Centre in Edinburgh and came up with the idea of Rock the Crossbar – two linked events – a celebrity football tournament and a concert.
They chose Maggie's in memory of 20-year-old son Jay Schumacher from Livingston who passed away almost a decade ago. Jay's parents, Morris and Claire, run Neo Recruitment, the recruitment partner of Jonathan's own business.
Rock the Crossbar, a play on The Clash's song Rock the Casbah, kicked off with a football tournament at The Volley Park in Armadale featuring former Scotland players
Jonathan said: 'We had a 12-team seven-a-side tournament during the day. It was brilliant, what a day. It was a mix of local businesses and celebrities, and four ex-Scotland international players.
'We had Charlie Mulgrew, Kris Boyd, Colin Hendry and Simon Donnelly all playing. Charlie Mulgrew is still an absolute player and took his team to the final.
'The others were good in spells. They were all tremendous and came along and got really involved.
'The Darkness also had a full team with three of the five band members playing.
'The football was brilliant, the stadium was packed out and it was played in great spirit.'
The events are part of a year of fundraising which so far has raised £38,000, including £17,500 from Jonathan's company, Spring Solutions in Bathgate, which provides supply chain solutions for the aerospace industry.
He continued: 'We are doing a whole series of events which started with my wife and I skydiving, and has involved the majority of our team doing a Tough Mudder as well as some individual events.
'A full year of fundraising will finish when my Michael and I take on the London Marathon next year.'
Michael is involved in music management and was well placed to handle the logistics of the evening entertainment event, a concert at the Regal Theatre in Bathgate.
'Michael manages Ben Walker and organised the music side of it,' said Jonathan.
'We had the idea for a football tournament to follow on from the golf day we done, and my Michael just ran with it. He used a lot of his contacts in the music industry and together, though mostly him, and with the help of some very kind volunteers and businesses we pieced together this incredible event.
'The evening event was on a completely different level to anything I've seen before, the live jam would have been at home on any stage in the world. I couldn't believe this was in our hometown.
'On days like this there are no losers, hundreds of people coming together to have an excellent time, watching amazing entertainment and raising money for a beautiful cause. It was such an honour to play a part in bringing it together.
'We took the guys out from The Darkness for breakfast the next day and about 20 people asked Justin for photos. They had actually played in front of 10,000 people the day before.'
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