Old school pals Gary Lovelace has inoperable cancer; John Sweeney is in Ukraine. Who dies first? Let's raise money for their charities.
Gary Lovelace and John Sweeney are great pals from their days at Barton Peveril Grammar School in Eastleigh, Hampshire, a lifetime ago. Gary became a much-loved headteacher in Leeds, John a reporter, currently in Kyiv. The moment Gary told John that he had inoperable cancer, John said: "well, I'm going back to Kyiv. Who dies first?"
The pals are raising money for their favourite charities. Sharing a dark sense of humour, "the winner" - as it were - that is, the first one to die, gets 51% of the charity pot and the loser gets 49%.
The loser doesn't want to win. And the winner doesn't want to lose.
Gary is on twitter as @Old_Mod, John as @johnsweeneyroar
Gary's charities are:
Mind - https://www.mind.org.uk/
Crisis - https://www.crisis.org.uk/
Yorkshire Cancer Research - https://yorkshirecancerresearch.org.uk/
John's is
Lifeline Ukraine https://lifelineukraine.com/en
This project successfully funded on 29th May 2025