IN this week's column Sedgemoor FM DJ Dave Englefield discusses fundraising for Freddie Vallender.

It's that time of year again where Mums, Dads, Aunties, Uncles, Nannys and Grandads trot off dutifully to school for the annual sports days. It was a day I never particularly looked forward to, having never been the most athletic of people. I hated running and usually finished last until I got to secondary school when I seemed to find a bit of extra speed from somewhere. Given how uncompetitive we are led to believe these things are now, I do sometimes wonder if the events have that much relevance now other than to ensure that family members visit the school once a year.

You may have read the story on the front page of the paper a couple of weeks ago regarding four-year-old Freddy Vallender. If you missed it, Freddy is from Bawdrip and has a tumour growing on his heart. It is an extremely rare condition and the only hospital that can help Freddy is in Boston, Massachusetts. As you can imagine, the cost of the treatment along with flights etc is very expensive and the family face a bill of around £100,000. There are a variety of events that will be taking place over the next couple of months to help raise as much as possible for Freddy. For my part I have agreed to undertake a marathon breakfast show. Starting at 6am on Friday, September 1, as per normal, I will then continue the breakfast show through the rest of the day and also through the night into Saturday morning finishing at 9am. Over the course of the 27 hours I will be joined in the studio by other members of the radio team, along with some musical guests. Others will be joining me on the phone, those who are unable to do either will hopefully be able to send messages to play on air. It’s going to be a long show but if it helps Freddy and his fight for life, it will all be worth it. More details will be released as we get closer to the date. Wish me luck!

You can hear Dave Englefield on the breakfast show on 104.2 Sedgemoor FM weekdays from 6am-10amec