WESTBURY and District Cricket Club members have helped raise over £4,000 for local charitable causes this August, with a charity race with a difference and a Ladies’ Cricket Festival.
The club once again hosted the Hilly Helmet challenge on Wednesday 10th August, organised by Robin-Marc Schols of Orange Helmet Events, which saw over 100 runners flock to the cricket ground with an array of funky helmets to raise money for Brain Tumour Support.
Following this, on Sunday 14th August, the club also put on a Ladies’ Cricket Festival where money was raised to support the family of a child with cancer.
The cricket club say that over £4,000 was raised on the day of the Hilly Helmet and a further £179 was raised through a bake sale and a raffle at the Ladies’ Cricket Festival to support the recuperation of a young Westbury lad, Jamie Butcher, who was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour last year. Jamie has since donated the money to the charity, Young Lives vs Cancer.
The Ladies’ Cricket Festival featured six teams battling it out for the win in a round robin of three matches each. The Westbury Cricket Club Ladies team were being cheered on from the side-lines by Jamie.
James Clack, chairman of the cricket club said, “It was great to see Jamie come up to cheer on the girls – we loved having him up here! The club ran the bar, barbecue, cake sale and an inter-club game in the afternoon, with Westbury and Chippenham winning all their games in a round robin.
“Jamie and his brother started cricket last autumn at the club after attending last year’s ladies’ cricket festival. Jamie asked if he could join the All-Stars cricket training for five to eight-year-olds. Unfortunately, he never managed to take part because the unexplained bouts of sickness were becoming more frequent and within a few weeks of signing up, he received the devastating diagnosis that he had a brain tumour.
“Fast forward to July 2022 and he has managed to join in for the first time, on the last training session of the season! It’s unbelievable to think that he was able to participate despite not finishing his cycle of treatments – his positive attitude is an inspiration to us all.”
Earlier this season after following Jamie’s progress and seeing that he often wears his goalie gloves as cricket gloves, the club gifted him a set of gloves when he arrived to support them in their match against a touring team from France.
Full details of the Hilly Helmet can be read about on page 25. For full details about Jamie’s story and where to donate, please visit the Facebook page Being Brave with Jamie.
