IT'S a world record attempt - with added heart!

IT'S a world record attempt - with added heart!

To help The Evening Star's vital 'Have a Heart' appeal a group of footballers are planning to play the beautiful game for 38 hours non-stop.

If they reach the target it will blast them into the record books for the longest ever football match, as well as hopefully raising thousands of pounds to help Ipswich Hospital's quest to provide the best possible heart care in Suffolk.

Now the players need help to find a venue to hold their epic game from 10am on Saturday, August 29, to midnight on the morning of Monday, August 31, and also want volunteers to make the challenge run smoothly.

Ross Wishart, from the Adnams Licensed Trades League, who is organising the event, and will be taking part as a left fullback for AFC Claydon, said he was keen to help build up cardiac facilities at Ipswich Hospital so emergency heart attack patients would not need to be treated outside the county.

“I can't fathom how we can not have the specialist facilities at Ipswich Hospital too,” the 25-year-old said.

“So I'm going to do everything I can to help and go for a world record at the same time.

“To break the record there must be two teams playing the whole way through. There can be 18 members of the squad and rolling substitutions.

“There will be short breaks every 90 minutes, but it will be pretty hard work. When players aren't playing they will be able to sleep on the side of the pitch.”

If the bid is successful those taking part will break the current record - a 36-hour marathon which saw Leeds Badgers beat Bristol Academy 285-255 in April.

Anyone who would like to help out, or can offer a pitch with floodlights that can be kept on overnight, should call Mr Wishart on 07786373835 or e-mail r_wishart@sky.com.

To support the 'Have a Heart' appeal send cheques made payable to Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust to Have a Heart, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN, or donate money in person at the Star's Ipswich offices.

Have a Heart appeal

The Evening Star's 'Have a Heart' appeal is raising money to help fund a specialist heart attack centre at Ipswich Hospital

Three high-tech primary angioplasty (PPCI) centres have been set up at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, Papworth in Cambridge and Basildon in Essex, but not in Suffolk

From September 1 serious heart attack patients in Suffolk will be sent to these centres, facing much longer journeys for care than people living nearby, and therefore having less chance of survival

Health bosses say Ipswich Hospital does not currently have the infrastructure or staff to provide the service

The Evening Star has been campaigning for a primary angioplasty centre to be set up in Ipswich so residents have the best level of care possible and don't face long journeys for treatment

After successfully changing healthcare policy with our campaign we have now launched the 'Have a Heart' appeal which is raising money to help set up a catheter laboratory at Heath Road

The Star is asking for just one pound from every person who may need care at Ipswich Hospital's cardiac department in the future - which would collect around �350,000

The lab will originally be used to treat non-urgent heart operations but could eventually be expanded into a primary angioplasty centre