A FANTASTIC fundraising football fixture which raises thousands of pounds for worthy causes every year is set to return for another edition.

Inverclyde resident Mark Nelis has brought in almost £20,000 for a variety of charities since he first began organising the match more than a decade ago.

This year’s game is being held at the Battery Park on September 7 and will be in aid of Cancer Research UK.

Mark, 40, told the Telegraph he was hoping to build on the success of last year’s fixture, which brought in hundreds of pounds for the Children's Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) charity.

He said: “Last year was a great success, I don’t really set targets because anything raised helps, but we had great support from the community, friends and family.

“I think this time around we seem to be getting a lot more interest. I don’t know if that’s just because of how long we’ve been doing it.

“We’ve got to be pushing about £20k now when you work out how much we’ve raised over the years.

“We normally hit around £1200 to £1800 raised each year and I’d love to smash that this year.

“The charity this year is Cancer Research UK.

“We know the stats about cancer, it affects one in two people and it ruins a lot of people’s lives.

“It’s a horrible disease. We’ve had some of the players lose some family recently through it and I think we’ve all been through it in one form or another.

“We always try and choose a charity that’s close to people’s hearts but that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t support another charity if they were to reach out to us for next year. “

The match will kick off at half three and is open to anyone who wishes to come along.

Mark said he has already received many kind donations of money and prizes, including a £100 contribution from his employer Care Visions.

He added: “I’m thinking I’ll do an auction or potentially a bonus ball this year for a couple of prizes, we’ve got some brilliant ones this year.

“Tickets for that will hopefully be on sale from August 1, all players involved will be selling tickets as well as the Green Oak Bar and the Black Cat.

“The Green Oak Bar support us every year and put on hospitality after for us.

“David Carswell, the local playwright, has given us four tickets for his new show and he’s also managed to get in touch with someone at Celtic to get us a Martin O'Neill signed canvas, which is fantastic.

“I’ve always struggled getting in with the big clubs so a special mention to him for helping us out with that.

“We’re also really grateful to Chris Collins at Dominos who for the second year running is going to supply pizzas for all the boys after the game as well as some vouchers for the raffle.

“I’d like to make sure that everyone who’s donated prizes is welcome to come along.

“I should say thanks to Inverclyde Leisure, Marion and Claire at the booking office are amazing with us and put up with me booking for sevens every week.”