Thumbs up as Corby gamers take on 24-hour marathon fundraiser

A pair of gaming enthusiasts will take up their controllers for a 24-hour session of titles to raise money for two charities close to their hearts.

Friends Martin Brown and Katie Donnelly will battle against each other virtually to raise funds for Make-A-Wish UK and Lakelands Hospice

During the livestreamed games-athon Martin, aka BigCiD1, and Katie, aka Km_Donn, will work their way through old school titles to new releases.

Martin said: “These are two charities that are both dear to us. Katie has a strong connection to her charity of choice - Make-A-Wish UK .

"Katie was born with a brain tumour, which wasn’t discovered until she started missing important milestones in her development.

"Her family was told that Katie would never learn to walk or talk and would probably never see the age of five. But one-by-one she proved that doctor wrong and learned to walk, learned to talk and is now 20-years-old.

"Katie applied for a wish from the charity and was taken away for a couple of weeks, with her family, to meet her great-aunt and uncle in Florida. She spent time at a children’s holiday village and went to various parks. This trip wouldn’t have been possible without the Make-A-Wish Foundation."

Martin's choice, Lakelands Hospice has been his charity of choice ever since he was volunteered to compete in the annual Strictly event.

He said: "Back in 2013, I was strong-armed into taking part in the Lakelands annual Strictly event. I really had no interest at all in dancing but after several weeks with my dance partner Laura, I really came to enjoy dancing and thanks to that event, I eventually moved on to my passion now of musical theatre.

"I credit a lot of my love for the theatrical arts to Lakelands and the Strictly event. And since that night of dance, glitter and raising a lot of money, I have been a strong supporter of the hospice."

The 24-hours will be a packed with a mixed bag of games from old school Nintendo 64 game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, to newer releases such as Resident Evil 3: Remake and Fallout 4, as well as some community-based games Gartic Phone, Jackbox Party Packs 2&4, Among Us and Marbles.

Supported by friends the pair will start their fundraiser on July 3 at 12pm.

It's third time lucky for online games marathon duo. Their first attempt at a 24-hour event raised funds for Macmillan Cancer Support making £100 for the charity. Buoyed by success, the pair decided that they wanted to do something bigger and better. So they doubled the time to 48 hours, this time raising £540.

Now the pair have introduced fundraising incentives throughout the broadcast to boost donations and audience participation.

Martin said: "We hope to raise in excess of £1,000 between these two amazing charities to help them continue to do the amazing work they do.

"To help boost the figures, there are several donation incentives which are as follows. At £250 I will have my head shaved. At £500 Katie is going to have her hair dyed a colour of the viewers' choice - via a poll.

"When we reach £750 I am going to have my legs, chest and back waxed. At £1,000 I will be shaving off my beard and eyebrows. And if by some amazing stroke of luck we manage to raise £1,250 Katie can wax my eyebrows instead. There is also a secret incentive for every £100 raised which will be revealed at the start of the stream."

Any Twitch donations on the day, including Subscriptions, Bits and donations through Stream Elements will be split between the two charities.

Donations can be given via the JustGiving link found here https://justgiving.com/team/24hourgamingpart2 and the schedule for the event can be found on https://horaro.org/24hourgamingpart2/schedule.

The event will be streamed live on Twich, a video game streaming site by Amazon, at https://twitch.tv/bigcid1.