Former England winger Dave Thomas, the first ever professional footballer to be registered blind, smashed his considerable target of raising £100,000 for Guide Dogs UK at a special golf day supported by a host of celebrities on Tyneside.
The event, organised by the Toon Legends Club, took place at Arcot Hall Golf Club in Dudley and topped up Dave's fund by a further £4,000 to reach its magical figure after two years of relentless campaigning.
"I cannot believe it, I am so staggered and so grateful," said Thomas. "To have so many of my old footballing friends travel from all over to support my cause and have a very special group of Newcastle United supporters organise the whole thing made me very emotional. I have now managed to raise the full £100,000 I set out to achieve all that time ago."
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A West Auckland lad, Dave was awarded a guide dog after officially being diagnosed as blind. He and his hugely supportive wife Brenda, who comes from Sunderland and was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Sunderland's FA Cup winning skipper Bobby Kerr, moved back to the North East to live in a lovely cottage on the Lartington estate near Barnard Castle. They have relentlessly pursued a fund raising expedition since Hannah, a golden labrador guide dog, "gave me back my life."
Thomas, scouted by Jack Hixon who also discovered Alan Shearer, enjoyed a star studded career with Burnley, QPR and Everton, gaining eight England caps and setting up a couple of goals for SuperMac to help him break the Three Lions scoring record when netting all five against Cyprus at Wembley.
The stars of yesteryear turned out in force to boost Dave's worthy cause. Two former Goodison team-mates Jim Pearson and Dave Lawson, who both also played for Newcastle, led the support along with QPR and England forward Andy Sinton, a Cramlington lad who travelled up from Birmingham.
Les O'Neill, Newcastle's 1962 FA Youth Cup winner, came over from Carlisle to join the likes of Jinky Smith, Alan Foggon, Dave Hilley, Ray Ellison and Paddy Lowery.
"Paddy played on the right wing for England Boys when I played on the left wing," recalled Thomas.
Chris Emmerson of Toon Legends, a relentless supporter of Dave Thomas, added: "Anne Carter, the ladies captain at Arcot Hall this year, did so much to help everything go smoothly. Anne is the partner of former United star Chris Guthrie (he also played for Sheffield United and Fulham) who presented Dave with a cheque for £703 raised at his annual fishing competition.
"Gary Siswick and friends from Barnard Castle, won the four ball which was appropriate because Gary's eight year old son Ollie had previously given Dave a cheque for £1275 he had collected on a sponsored walk which was an unbelievable achievement for such a young lad."
The first inkling that there was a problem with his eyesight came when Thomas was 50 while he was working as a PE teacher.
"My father went totally blind with glaucoma and he told me to get my eyes tested so I did," explained Dave. "The optician said he needed to get me to a specialist straight away. That is how it all started."
Thomas was diagnosed with severe glaucoma and from there it was a steady decline. In 2003 the DVLA revoked his driver's license and in 2008 he was registered blind. He retains a fraction of central vision but can see nothing on the margins.
I worked on stage with him at a Toon Legends event earlier in his fund raising crusade and he is the bravest, most dedicated and uplifting of men full of stories about his footballing life and determined to give something back to those who helped him in his time of dire need.
Guide Dogs UK receive no government funding for their service and therefore rely entirely on donations from the public and business community. Each lifetime partnership, from birth to retirement, costs the charity a staggering £68,000 which is why Dave Thomas launched his fund raising campaign.
Such has been his impact that he has been given the honour of naming a puppy in training. He called it Burleigh after his dear friend Martin Burleigh, the former Newcastle goalkeeper who played in the same Durham Boys side with him and passed away a little while back.
