LATEST NEWS

More Player Support for the Benevolent Fund 

Big thanks must go to Robert Croft for his recent donation to the Benevolent Fund (BF), following his benefit year in 2012.  A cheque for £500 has been received from Crofty and we really appreciate his support of the BF throughout his benefit year.

2013 Beneficiaries to Show their Support for the Charity

David Masters of Essex, Mark Wallace of Glamorgan, Jim Troughton of Warwickshire, Stephen Peters of Northants and Graeme Swann of Notts have all pledged their support to the Benevolent Fund during their forthcoming benefit years. We would like to congratulate them for being awarded a benefit year, and thank them for choosing the Benevolent Fund as their nominated charity.

"Napes - true PCA family man"

Graham Napier, has donated £2,000 to the PCA Benevolent Fund after concluding his Benefit Year accounts for 2012.

Its not the first time ‘Napes’ has done something to help his fellow members. He’s been the Essex PCA representative for 6 years and has competed in every group challenge to raise money for the Benevolent Fund in recent years, including climbing Everest and the 3 Peaks respectively. Not with standing another busy cricket summer, he’s also already committed to Octobers Big Bike Ride.

Many thanks for your support Napes!

Shantry to Swim the Channel for the Tom Maynard Trust and Benevolent Fund

Former Glamorgan seam bowler, Adam Shantry, has committed to swimming the English Channel in 2013 to raise funds for the Tom Maynard Trust. 

The 30-year-old, who is a former playing colleague of Tom’s, was signed to Glamorgan by Tom’s father, Matthew Maynard, in 2008. Shantry aims to raise a five-figure sum to be shared between the Tom Maynard Trust and the PCA Benevolent Fund. He will be joined on the swim by former Warwickshire seamer, Tom Mees, and Mees’ partner, Emma Lawson. The swim will take place between 25 September and 2 October 2013, subject to the most favourable tide around that time.

Adam Shantry commented, “Having played with Tom, and worked under Matthew, I really wanted to do something to raise some money for the Trust. After retiring from professional cricket due to chronic knee injuries, I saw it as a great opportunity to help the PCA, who were really good to me when I was forced to retire. Obviously, with knee problems, I couldn’t join in with any of the cycling projects, and running was also out of the question, but I am a keen swimmer and this seemed to be a great fundraising opportunity.

We have been given a week’s window to swim, and we’ve sorted out all the logistical support issues we were faced with. Only 10% of those who attempt to swim the Channel on their own are successful, and because I didn’t want to let the Trust down in any way, we agreed it would be a good idea for three of us to swim in relay format, an hour at a time in turn. I’m really grateful that Tom and Emma have agreed to join me. We’re confident we can raise a significant sum of money, and I hope we can provide some publicity for the work the Trust is doing as the challenge draws nearer.”

Matthew Maynard also commented, “What a fantastic gesture. Shants has always been a bit off the wall, but I suppose if he can’t cycle or run then this is about as big a challenge as you can get! He tells me that they’re only allowed to wear a basic swimsuit, cap and goggles, so it’s going to be pretty cold. He also says there are 700 commercial ship movements, basking sharks and, depending on tides, they may end up having to wade for 25 miles. Even though they are swimming in a relay, this is still quite some effort. I take my hat off to the three of them and I’m really grateful that they have shown such commitment. The whole venture deserves a great deal of support and should raise a lot of money for both charities. As much as I enjoy getting involved in some of these ventures, I think I’ll be watching from a safe distance with this one!”

The charity is still at the stage of completing the paperwork to set up Just Giving on behalf of individual fundraisers, but details of how to support Shants’s swim and how to donate online will be publicized in due course. 

For more information on the Trust, visit the website, www.tommaynardtrust.com/.

Boyce - successfully walked for mental health

On 3rd December 2012 Matt Boyce of Leicestershire completed his amazing walk from John O'Groats to Land's End.  The whole route took him 66 days.

Matt first decided to support a charity during the winter months of 2011/2012, after seeing an interview between Andrew Flintoff and Piers Morgan amidst the media coverage of the tragic deaths of sportsmen Gary Speed and Peter Roebuck. Matt realised how lucky he was not to have suffered from mental health issues and decided MIND and the PCA Benevolent Fund were the perfect charities for him to support. As a professional cricketer and a sportsman, he understood the difficulties of coping with the pressure and scrutiny of performing in the public eye. Matt decided to make a difference and support the two charities.

To find out more about Matt’s successful challenge, go to http://www.mattboycecharitywalk.co.uk as there is still time to donate!

To see PCA's Mind Matters tutorials go to http://www.thepca.co.uk/mind-matters.html

Well done Matt!!

PCA Team England Dinner 2012 at Lord's Nursery Pavillion

The PCA Team England Dinner was held on Wednesday  24^th October and raised funds for two causes close to the players’ hearts – our own charity, the PCA Benevolent Fund, as well as Chris, Stuart and Gemma’s own initiative, The Broad Appeal, in aid of Motor Neurone Disease.
 
The night was attended by both England’s Men’s and Women’s teams as well as the PCA Ambassadors. Guests were entertained by a Q&A session, led by the host of the evening, ex-England captain, Nasser Hussain.  A fabulous £55,000 was raised on the night as a combined fundraising total for the two charities.

A big thank you must go to our loyal sponsors and supporters, who continue to support all of our events.

Henderson/Foster/Smith donate to the charity

Many thanks go to Claude Henderson, James Foster and Ben Smith as they become the latest players to join the ever-increasing list of players supporting the PCA Benevolent Fund.

Both players had recently been awarded benefit years, and have contributed to the Fund, which continues to work for those most in need within our cricketing family.

Notably, the £4,000 donated is Fozzie’s second contribution, after previously donating in 2010.