Widnes Vikings have announced that the Club will be returning to the North East in January.

The Vikings will face Newcastle Thunder in a pre season friendly at Kingston Park on Saturday, January 9th (3pm).

The Vikings were keen to leave a legacy in the region after last year’s Magic Weekend by delivering coaching sessions to a number of North East schools and community clubs.

There was also the fantastic partnership with the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation in which Vikings supporters raised over £20,000 to help the charity tackle cancer.

After the recent announcement that St James’ Park is to host the Magic Weekend in 2016, the Vikings have said that they are keen to continue this legacy project.

This will kick off at Kingston Park for a fixture in which the Vikings will donate all revenue to Newcastle Thunder.

Vikings Director, Brian O’Connor commented: “The project in 2015 was to ensure that the Vikings were prominent in the North East, not only for the Magic Weekend itself, but throughout the build up to the event.

“Our objective was to leave a legacy which we now have a tremendous opportunity to build on in 2016.

“We have a fantastic relationship with Newcastle Thunder and the work that they are doing in the North East to grow the sport of Rugby League is outstanding.

“If the revenue from this fixture goes someway to ensuring that the Thunders’ message only gets louder then it will no doubt benefit the growth of our game.

“I am sure that as we prepare this year’s Magic Weekend, the partnership with Newcastle Thunder will be instrumental in the success our initiative.”