Fundraiser Jordan’s ‘heroic’ efforts in memory of stepdad

Guitar Hero marathon helps Arbroath man raise £1,300

A 12-hour non-stop music session in memory of his stepfather, streamed live around the world, has hit the right note for an Angus man.

Jordan Siddalls, 23, used to be told off by his stepdad Ray Speirs for spending all his free time on the Guitar Hero computer game.

As the first anniversary of Ray’s death approached, Jordan, a barman at the Millgate Bar in Arbroath, began to plan a novel fundraiser he knew would raise a smile with Ray – and a lot of money for the British Lung Foundation.

Ray lost his fight with pulmonary fibrosis on January 23 2017.

Jordan said: “While he was never my blood relative, he was always the man I considered to be my dad. He always told me I played too much Guitar Hero. I had an obsession with the game when I was at school.

“He was a practical joker, always doing stupid stuff. If I told him I was going to be doing this for his sake he would have called me an idiot and then let me get on with it. I think if he could

I think if he could see I had done this for him, he would have been moved but would have seen the funny side ofit

see I had done this for him, he would have been moved but would have seen the funny side of it.”

Guitar Hero sees the player hooked up to a games console and strumming along with a guitar-shaped game controller to popular songs, gaining points for accuracy.

Jordan live-streamed his 12-hour stint and was “over the moon” with the support he received. “We had Germans, Canadians, Americans and British people watching,” he said.

“I asked people to make requests so I didn’t have to think of songs to play for 12 hours. I ended up with a list of about 30 songs constantly sitting there.

“There were a lot of requests for the famous Through The Fire And The Flames by Dragonforce, which is notoriously difficult.”

Jordan set up a Just Giving page with a target of £500, but smashed through it with almost £1,300 pledged. He added: “When I played Through The Fire And The Flames, I knew everyone was watching. The more the money went up, the more emotional I got.

“The last hour was very emotional and when I played David Bowie’s Life On Mars the donations hit £1,000 thanks to an anonymous donation of £165 – all my friends started throwing money at me. It was like someone had punched me in the chest, listening to that song, I was welling up.”

Jordan will put his gaming talents to good use as he is about to begin a course on computer games and web design at Dundee and Angus College.

Picture: Kris Miller. Jordan Siddalls said he was “over the moon” with the support for his challenge.