A VILLAGE football club near York will stage a ‘family footy funday’ tomorrow (Sunday) to fund research into childhood brain tumours in memory of a player’s brother.

Lucas Hughes, of Dunnington, near York, whose brother Oscar died from medulloblastoma in 2014, aged nine, plays for Wheldrake Juniors as well as Dunnington.

Oscar’s parents Maria and Ian set up OSCAR’s Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity after his death to help fund research into the tumours suffered by children and young people.

Wheldrake coaches and parents said they wanted to support the charity after discovering that Oscar’s father Ian was also now suffering from a brain tumour and were organising a series of events between 2pm and 5pm tomorrow afternoon on the village playing fields and in the village hall.

A spokesman said that both the football teams were close-knit and so it had been a shock to hear about Ian’s illness.

“We want to do something positive to raise money for Oscar’s Research Fund and what better way than by playing football and generally having fun,” he said.

He said the activities and attractions would include an under11s charity football match, speed kicks, a barbecue, an inflatable assault course, a raffle and tombola with great prizes, and candy floss and cakes.

He said there would also be a charity auction, with sporting items under the hammer including a signed Man Utd football shirt, signed Man City photos and boots belonging to Super League legend Robbie Paul.

There was also a PLAYR Smart Football GPS Tracker Vest - as used by Raheem Sterling - and signed Harry Wilson boots with a photo of him holding them, along with more surprises on the day.

“There’ll be the chance to bid for them in a fun and unique way,” he said, adding: “Entry is free, 2pm-5pm.”

Oscar’s mother said in July that she hoped his legacy would be to help other children avoid the gruelling treatment he endured.

She said Oscar would have been “very proud” of the charity’s extraordinary achievements.

She was speaking after the charity gave The Brain Tumour Charity £75,000 to co-fund a ground-breaking clinical trial, known as SIOP PNET5, which aimed to find out if children with Oscar’s illness could receive less toxic chemotherapy and lower radiotherapy doses without reducing their survival chances.

Marie said Oscar’s treatment regime left him unable to take part in his beloved football or tennis, go to school regularly or even to play with his three brothers.

He also lost his hair following chemotherapy, which he found particularly hard to bear emotionally.

“If he had been on the PNET5 trial and he’d been able to have less chemotherapy, less radiation, there’s a potential that he could still have done some of the sport that he was doing,” she said. “He might not have been so tired.”