A STROKE victim who set up a walking football club to help his recovery is inviting others to get involved.

Mike McLoughlin, who teaches A Level Politics at Carmel College, runs the club which launched in September.

Mike, 61, suffered a stroke out of the blue on October 31 last year and was hospitalised for 18 days. Having spent five months off work, Mike had to learn how to reuse his left leg with the help of physiotherapists at Whiston Hospital.

And Mike is hoping to expand the club to the wider community for over 40s and to help others who have suffered from strokes.

“We have a roving squad of about 14 players, mostly men but a few women players too, and we rely on the generosity of Carmel College for all our facilities,” said Mike.

“The walking football has been very beneficial for me personally as I am engaged in an exercise that I love, and am still able to exercise my football skills that I still have, albeit a little bit slower.

“I have always played football until I was 55 when I dislocated one of my shoulder blades. But at age 60 I started again with walking football, and it is a great buzz too.”

Mike, who lives in Rainford, added: “The problem is we never quite have enough players so I was thinking of expanding into the wider community, for the over 40s and people like myself who might want and need a more leisurely form of the game.”

The club meets on the artificial pitch outside Carmel College on Wednesdays, playing at 4.25pm until around 5.30pm.

To get involved, contact Mike on mikem@carmel.ac.uk. See the club's Facebook page for more.