A GROUP of city council staff are planning to run up and down all 30,000 steps in Wembley Stadium to raise cash for charity.

They are hoping to raise as much money as possible for children in Malawi, homeless people in Glasgow and cancer research.

The team members are trustees with the Paradise Steps Group charity which was set up in 2014 to provide a hot meal each day for pupils at Chipindu school in Malawi.

For many of the youngsters it will be the only meal they will eat that day.

The lure of hot food has resulted in improved attainment and attendance with children receiving an education which benefits them and their families and hopefully helps them out of poverty.

City council staff will take part in the Wembley challenge with members of the Paradise Steps charity in partnership with the Bobby Moore Foundation

It will be the first time any group has attempted to run up and down all the steps in in Britain’s biggest stadium.

However they have completed similar challenges at venues including Celtic Park and Old Trafford raising more than £35,000 for good causes.

The city council team is being led by Seamus Connolly, 47, who is principal officer for the city centre in the development and regeneration department.

He said: “We have been training since last February and have been out every weekend. We had done lots of hill runs and have been up and down thousands of steps for hours on end to get our bodies ready for what comes next.

“Running up and down 30,000 steps in Wembley will be hard both physically and mentally.

“It will be really difficult but if it was easy everyone would be doing it.”

Seamus expects the challenge will take up to four hours with the 10 strong Glasgow team only taking breaks of a couple of minutes at a time.

He said: “I have only visited Wembley once to speak to the English FA and have not seen the stadium from ground level but am told it is intimidating.”

The Scottish FA has agreed the team can have a trial run at Hampden Stadium next Saturday.

As well as Malawi, money raised through the Wembley challenge will also go to the homeless night shelter in Glasgow and the Bobby Moore Fund for Cancer Research UK.

Bobby Moore was captain of the 1966 World Cup winning England team and the fund was set up by his widow Stephanie when he died to fund pioneering, life-saving bowel cancer research.

Since the fund was set up in 1993 over £23.5 million has been raised and mortality rates have fallen by 30%.

Anyone who wants to donate to the Wembley fund raising challenge can visit The Wembley Steps Challenge