The Farrars Arms in Grasscroft, Saddleworth in Oldham, is kicking off a new charity drive to raise money for motor neurone disease, after one of its regulars was diagnosed with the condition.
Last year, the pub, which is owned by Rob Norbury (previously known as an actor on Hollyoaks and Emmerdale), launched a special menu which raised over £2,000 towards MND research.
The ‘seven for seven’ menu was inspired by rugby player Kevin Sinfield’s ‘7 in 7 in 7’ challenge, during which he ran seven ultra marathons in seven days in seven cities in 2020 to raise money for MND and his former teammate Rob Burrows, who has the disease.
The former Leeds Rhinos player is a regular at The Farrars, and ultimately raised a massive £2.4 million in 2020.
He then used The Farrers as the start and end point for five further fundraising marathons in 2021.
But since then, one of the pub’s regulars, Marcus Stewart, a former professional footballer himself for the likes of Bristol City, Preston North End and Huddersfield, has also been diagnosed with the disease.
So now The Farrars Arms is aiming its fundraising towards the local Darby Rimmer Foundation, which also raises money for MND research.
Rob told Manchester’s Finest: “When Kevin did the seven in seven in seven, we started to talk to him about doing something. Kevin lives around the corner from us, and asked us if he could use The Farrars as a start and end point for the runs, when we were closed during lockdown.
“Then a friend of ours Marcus, who comes into the pub, was diagnosed with MND, which felt like a cruel twist. So it’s pushed us towards doing something with the Darby Rimmer Foundation.
We raised over £2000 from doing seven dishes for seven pounds last year, and we’ll now be doing a supper club on Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 4pm, dishes priced at £10, and 10% of every meal goes to charity.
We get asked to support a lot of charities, so I think it’s great to nail our flag to this particular one and do everything we can for it. We just want to make the biggest difference we can.”
The menu launches at the pub tonight.
The Farrars Arms, 56 Oldham Road, Grasscroft, Oldham. OL4 4HL
Tags:
Charity Pub Food Pubs supper clubs
