On 12th April, I shall be walking with fellow Essex Seniors cricketers to support the Bob Willis Fund — raising money (donation link at the foot of this post!) for better prostate cancer screening — with Prostate Cancer UK.
Prostate cancer is the number one diagnosed male cancer in the UK, killing 11,500 men a year. There is still no national screening programme.
The Bob Willis Fund is supporting research to develop new tests, which is why I shall be joining #RonsMarch.
In one of my first games of “Seniors” (over 60s) cricket, I played against a combined team from Buckinghamshire and Middlesex, organised by a quietly efficient chap by the name of Ron Hedley. The game had been switched to a new venue at short notice, after a week of heavy rain had left the original ground (and many other grounds in the SouthEast) unplayable — typical of the man, perhaps, to make sure the game went ahead.
What I didn’t know at the time was that Ron had been diagnosed with prostate and bone cancer in November 2018. And that he has since been raising funds to support the Bob Willis Fund, and the quest to discover a more accurate screening test for prostate cancer.
Marches are planned around the country — upcoming walks in Surrey (Horsley & Send CC) and Abergavenny on 17th & 23rd April, respectively, and Berkshire on 12th May — with the hope that all of the Counties represented in the over-60s competitions will host a walk by 15th September 2024, Ron’s 75th birthday.
You can find out more about the campaign and the programme of walks here.
Or make a donation to support Ron’s march for prostate cancer.
Thank you!
The Teesra 