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Daily Record
22-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Family of football fans from West Lothian complete 24-hour SPFL club challenge
They started off in Annan at 3pm last Friday as they took on the 720-mile journey Three generations of football fans from a West Lothian family visited the grounds of all 42 SPFL football clubs in a 24-hour challenge. Graeme Cunningham, 38, from Fauldhouse, his dad Colin, 66, and his 11-year-old son Cole, who lives in Bathgate, started off at Annan at 3pm last Friday as they took on the 720-mile journey north to Dingwall, raising over £4,700 for three worthy causes. Graeme, a bus driver with Lothian Country, had set a target of £3,000 to be split equally between baby-loss charity SiMBA, Scottish Autism, and for Cole's team - Bathgate Thistle Community FC. All three organisations are close to his heart, his baby daughter Rebecca-Rose was still-born in 2013, and SiMBA supported the family then. His four-year-old niece Evie, Cole's cousin, is autistic. Graeme, Colin and Cole arrived at Ross County's Victoria Park on Saturday afternoon. 'We completed our challenge yesterday at 2:05pm so inside the 24 hour target,' said Graeme. 'There were no hiccups on the road. 'Some of the grounds are behind gates, like Spartans and Airdrie, so we couldn't get really close but that's understandable as we were there in the very early hours of the morning. 'Highlights for me were Kilmarnock, East Kilbride, Peterhead and Ross County. 'My dad's friend David Sneddon, whose own dad was Kilmarnock manager years ago, met us outside Rugby Park and donated a bottle of Kilmarnock FC gin and also presented Cole with a Kilmarnock top signed by the whole team, which made him so happy. 'East Kilbride's kitman Davie let us into the dressing room and pitchside and gave Cole an away and goalkeeper top, which was amazing. They even told us to keep in touch so we could meet them in Elgin as they were travelling north to play in the Premier Sports Cup. 'Peterhead gave us full access to the dressing room, media room, and allowed us to take pictures at pitchside even with it being a match day. Sharon the General Manager was absolutely fantastic with us. I even bought myself a Peterhead top as a keepsake. 'Ross County, our last stadium was equally as good. Ryan who works for them let us in and walked us round the pitch so we could get some amazing pictures to finish off our trip.' The challenge and trip is one that will last a lifetime for Graeme, a self-confessed 'fitba geek', his dad Colin and Cole. He has documented every stadium on his social media accounts with his TikTok page attracting a fair bit of attention. You can see for yourself on Facebook: 42 Clubs in 24 Hours and TikTok: @42in24. Graeme added: 'Overall it was an absolutely amazing trip with memories I will cherish forever. Most importantly we are sitting at £4,700 raised for the three charities which is crazy considering I only aimed for £3,000. 'Big thanks to everyone in Lammies Bar in Fauldhouse as well, they had a fundraiser on Saturday night (July 19) and raised £800.'
Edinburgh Live
18-06-2025
- Sport
- Edinburgh Live
West Lothian trio set to take on 720-mile challenge for charities close to their hearts
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info A West Lothian family trio are set to take on a 24-hour challenge for charities they hold close to their hearts. Graeme Cunningham from Fauldhouse, his dad Colin, 66, and his 11-year-old son Cole, who lives in Bathgate are set to visit the grounds of all 42 SPFL clubs. They will depart from Annan on the 720-mile trip next month. Graeme, 38, a bus driver with Lothian Country and self-confessed 'fitba geek', hopes to raise at least £3,000 to be split equally between baby-loss charity SiMBA, Scottish Autism, and for Cole's team - Bathgate Thistle Community FC. Graeme said: "I've done stuff for SiMBA before, I knew nothing about them until I lost my daughter Rebecca-Rose who was still-born in 2013, and they helped me and my family then. "We were in the Royal in Edinburgh and they told me, and my partner at the time, about memory boxes and the tree of tranquillity they have. We have the wee keepsakes to look back on. I was 24 and looking forward to my first wean arriving, you're a bit naïve going into it and you don't expect anything to go wrong. "It was literally 10 days before her due date. You just don't think of anything like that. 'Cole's football team, I've seen how much it has brought him on and all the other wee boys on with their confidence. It's just a great set-up they have and they put a lot of work and time into the boys and girls there. They are always looking for some help so I thought it would be nice to give back to them. 'The third one is Scottish Autism, my wee sister's oldest daughter, Evie, who is four, has had an autism diagnosis and out of that, it's educated us a bit more. It's helped me, as I had a situation in my job recently where a wee boy was stranded. "I could tell he was autistic because of my niece I knew what to do to help, probably before I wouldn't have known what to do. I'm quite close to my sister and my niece loves me to bits, so I thought it would be nice to give back to them as well.' Graeme, Colin and Cole will leave from Annan Athletic's Galabank Stadium at 3pm on Friday, July 18 and aim to finish their trip on the Saturday in Dingwall before 3pm, kick-off time. 'It's something that's always been on my bucket list to try and go and visit all the stadiums,' Graeme revealed. 'I watch the guy on Footy Adventures and stuff like that, and this 24-hour thing came into my head and I thought I'd try it, then I thought it might be a bit ambitious. 'We've planned it out and if you went through every one and never stopped you can do it in about 18 hours, but we're going to stop and get pictures and I've contacted all of the clubs. Teams like Ross County, Aberdeen and Edinburgh City have all got back to me. It's still a month away so hopefully more will get back to me. 'We'll be leaving Annan to Queen of the South, along to Stranraer and then up the west coast. We'll do the Glasgow teams and central Scotland. With Hamilton moving to Broadwood, we'll do there and then Livingston and Edinburgh, then shoot back to Falkirk, then Fife, Tayside, Aberdeen and the rest. 'I've been to most of the big stadiums but I'm looking forward to some of the smaller ones such as Peterhead, as I've never been there. I've been to Cover Rangers' old stadium but I've never seen the new one.' The online fundraiser can be found at:
Daily Record
18-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Generation game as family trio from West Lothian set to visit every SPFL club ground in 24 hours
Graeme, Colin, and 11-year-old Cole Cunningham will take on the 720-mile challenge to raise money for three causes Three generations of a family from West Lothian are set to visit the grounds of all 42 SPFL club in a 24-hour challenge. Graeme Cunningham from Fauldhouse, his dad Colin, 66, and his 11-year-old son Cole, who lives in Bathgate will depart from Annan on the 720-mile trip next month to raise money for three worthy causes. Graeme, 38, a bus driver with Lothian Country and self-confessed 'fitba geek', hopes to raise at least £3,000 to be split equally between baby-loss charity SiMBA, Scottish Autism, and for Cole's team - Bathgate Thistle Community FC. All three are close to Graeme's heart, as he explained: 'I've done stuff for SiMBA before, I knew nothing about them until I lost my daughter Rebecca-Rose who was still-born in 2013, and they helped me and my family then. 'We were in the Royal in Edinburgh and they told me, and my partner at the time, about memory boxes and the tree of tranquillity they have. We have the wee keepsakes to look back on. I was 24 and looking forward to my first wean arriving, you're a bit naïve going into it and you don't expect anything to go wrong. "It was literally 10 days before her due date. You just don't think of anything like that. 'Cole's football team, I've seen how much it has brought him on and all the other wee boys on with their confidence. It's just a great set-up they have and they put a lot of work and time into the boys and girls there. They are always looking for some help so I thought it would be nice to give back to them. 'The third one is Scottish Autism, my wee sister's oldest daughter Evie, who is four, has had an autism diagnosis and out of that it's educated us a bit more. It's helped me, as I had a situation in my job recently where a wee boy was stranded. "I could tell he was autistic because of my niece I knew what to do to help, probably before I wouldn't have known what to do. I'm quite close to my sister and my niece loves me to bits, so I thought it would be nice to give back to them as well.' Graeme, Colin and Cole will leave from Annan Athletic's Galabank Stadium at 3pm on Friday, July 18 and aim to finish their trip on the Saturday in Dingwall before 3pm, kick-off time. 'It's something that's always been on my bucket list to try and go and visit all the stadiums,' Graeme revealed. 'I watch the guy on Footy Adventures and stuff like that, and this 24-hour thing came into my head and I thought I'd try it, then I thought it might be a bit ambitious. 'We've planned it out and if you went through every one and never stopped you can do it in about 18 hours, but we're going to stop and get pictures and I've contacted all of the clubs. Teams like Ross County, Aberdeen and Edinburgh City have all got back to me. It's still a month away so hopefully more will get back to me. 'We'll be leaving Annan to Queen of the South, along to Stranraer and then up the west coast. We'll do the Glasgow teams and central Scotland. With Hamilton moving to Broadwood we'll do there and then Livingston and Edinburgh, then shoot back to Falkirk, then Fife, Tayside, Aberdeen and the rest. 'I've been to most of the big stadiums but I'm looking forward to some of the smaller ones such as Peterhead, as I've never been there. I've been to Cover Rangers' old stadium but I've never seen the new one.'
