North-east gold medallist Neil Fachie MBE and his wife Lora Fachie MBE have been appointed as ambassadors of the Aberdeen FC Community Trust (AFCCT) and will visit Pittodrie this weekend for the charity’s first ever AFCCT Day.

The couple, both gold-medal Paralympians in events for individuals with visual impairments, have added their support to the Trust, which delivers health and wellbeing, social inclusion and educational programmes to children and adults across Aberdeen City and Shire.

They will appear on the pitch for the half-time draw during the Aberdeen v Motherwell match on Saturday, which has been designated the official AFCCT Day to raise awareness of its work.

AFCCT was established as the official charity partner of the Club in 2014, with the aim of providing support and opportunity to change lives for the better throughout the North-east.

Neil, who is originally from Bridge of Don, won a gold medal in the men's individual 1km time trial and silver in the individual sprint at the London 2012 Paralympics, as well as taking home a silver medal at the Rio games in 2016.

Lora competes in para-cycling tandem road and track events. She won gold and bronze medals at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, winning gold in the tandem pursuit and bronze in the road time trial. She is also a double world champion, with pilot Corrine Hall, in the tandem road race and road time trial events.

Neil said they were inspired by the work the AFCCT does to engage people of all ages in sport and physical activity.

“Both Lora and I are honoured to have been appointed as ambassadors for the Aberdeen FC Community Trust. Sport has played an enormous part in both of our lives and we have been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to experience competitive cycling at the highest levels,” he said.

“The Trust is doing an incredible amount of work in the community and we are pleased to do whatever we can to help encourage both children and adults to get involved and take advantage of the opportunities that are available to them.”

Facilities to support the development of the charity are a key element of the Club’s plans to develop a major, multi-million pound football and community sports hub for the North-east of Scotland at Kingsford.

Neil added: “The potential opportunities at the proposed new stadium are huge and the region can only benefit from additional new sports facilities if we are to nurture the sportsmen and women of the future.”

Ally Prockter, Aberdeen FC Community Trust's chief executive, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have Neil and Lora’s support as ambassadors for the Trust and we look forward to working closely with them.”

“The Trust’s focus is on positive activity, health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and learning, and the Fachies’ story of commitment and dedication to their sport will be an inspiration to the people we work with.”

The Red Army is being urged to show its support for the charity by buying a ticket for the match and turning out at Pittodrie on Saturday.

Supporters will notice an increased AFCCT presence before, during and after the match with a number of additional activities, including live music on the Richard Donald Stand concourse and AFCCT flag bearers.

Pupils from Northfield Academy will also be taking over AFCCT’s Twitter feed and compiling an AFCCT match report.

The Dons will mark the occasion by wearing a one-off shirt which will feature the AFCCT logo.  The shirts will subsequently be donated to AFCCT to help Aberdeen Football Club’s partner charity with fundraising efforts.

The charity engages with more than 12,000 participants each year across 60 programmes and initiatives, with volunteers from the organisation already delivering more than 3,500 hours of free community support in their spare time.

Tickets for the Aberdeen v Motherwell game on Saturday remain available with a 20% discount until match day. For more information, please visit afc.co.uk/tickets