FORMER Saints packman Kieron Pickavance officially reaches retirement age of 66 on Saturday – but the following day he will be turning out at Ruskin in aid of the Tommy Makinson Testimonial/Steve Prescott Foundation.

It is not the first time Pickavance, who played for Saints between 1976-80, has put his boots back on for a benefit game having packed down in the testimonial games of both Paul Forber and Paul Loughlin in the early 90s.

And in 2016, then aged 61, the prop played 20 minutes each half of full contact in the Cathie Stankevitch Foundation match.

Pickavance – who has a black belt in karate and has trained in mixed martial arts and Thai boxing – has maintained his fitness since his rugby days and so is relishing another outing.

And he plans on carrying on his role as a support worker for the YMCA and Salvation Army past the weekend, but he is relishing Sunday’s gala day at Ruskin.

He said: “I am happy to do something for Tommy. First time I met him I thought he was a real gentleman and that has transpired through his career.

“Even fans of other clubs like him and that’s a rarity. When he broke into the international scene a few years ago against New Zealand he smashed and won the Golden Boot.”

As Pickavance was the former MC at Saints from the late 90s, and his ex-wife Leanne ran the original Saints Angels, organisers asked if he could put a word in to get some of the former cheerleaders to turn out.

“As soon as I was asked I contacted my ex-wife Leanne (now Allen) and it looks like we are going to have half a dozen of them there.

“We will have Lucy Gaskell, Helen Reid (now Kewley), Leanne Haggerty, Vicki Davies, Rebecca Duane now Walton) and Nicola Varinder there.

“It promises to be a real gala day,” he said.

The game between Tommy Makinson’s Saints Legends and the Steve Prescott Foundation Team is at Ruskin, Sunday 5 December, kick off 2pm.

Admission is £5, free to under 16s. There will be Christmas Markets from 12-6pm with Santa’s grotto.