CRICKET COLLECTORS GET CHANCE TO SUPPORT PCA LEGACY YEAR APPEAL Cricket memorabilia collectors will have the opportunity to get their prized items valued by an expert and support the Professional Cricketers’ Association Legacy Year Appeal at the Cheltenham Cricket Festival on July 4. Nottingham-based cricket memorabilia specialist Trevor Vennett-Smith will be on hand to provide a free valuation of items of cricketania brought by collectors to the College Ground during the second day of Gloucestershire’s Specsavers County Championship match against Glamorgan. The ‘Cricket Collectors Roadshow’ will follow the format of the popular BBC television series and will give collectors an opportunity to discover the market value of their items and to add to their prized collections by bidding for 50 rare items of memorabilia and pledges of services that have been donated to the PCA by players past and present. As part of the PCA’s 50th anniversary celebrations, the Legacy Appeal has been launched with the target of raising £ 250,000 to support the PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust. All 3,500 PCA members – which includes past and present players – were asked to support the Legacy Appeal by donating items of memorabilia or pledging a service that could be auctioned off during the 50th anniversary year. Among the many items that have been generously donated and which will go under the hammer at Cheltenham are Tom Graveney’s Worcestershire blazer, Claire Taylor’s 2005 Ashes shirt signed by the men’s and women’s squads from that year, signed items from Geoffrey Boycott’s 100th first-class century against Australia at Headingley in 1977, David Capel’s England tour blazer, signed shirts from Alan Knott, signed bats from Chris Tavare and other items signed by England and county teams. The PCA Professional Cricketers’ Trust helps past and present county cricketers and their immediate family members in their hour of need. The Professional Cricketers’ Trust, which is generously supported by Royal London, provides vital funding for operations, helps those who are having difficulty adjusting to life after cricket find an alternative career and provides current players with professional support and expert advice. With Gloucestershire’s permission, the ‘Cricket Collectors Roadshow’ will be held in a marquee close to the one in which the PCA will be holding their annual Past Payers’ Day. This popular annual event usually attracts more than 100 former players from across the decades with this year’s event taking on added significance in the PCA’s Golden Jubilee. A number of the surviving founder members who attended the historic first meeting of what was then known as the Cricketers’ Association at the Fleet Street offices of the Daily Express in November 1967 will be present. Those attending will include Fred Rumsey, the former Worcestershire, Somerset, Derbyshire and England fast bowler, whose vision it was to establish an organisation to represent the interest players in an era when there was little security of employment, no guarantee of winter work or pension and insurance schemes. Rumsey served as the PCA’s first secretary from 1967 to 1969 before he stepped down after taking up a post as player/PR officer with Derbyshire, a role that required him to sit on the county’s committee. Admission tickets for the second day of Gloucestershire v Glamorgan cost £ 15 for adults, £ 10 for concessions and £ 3 for under-18s if booked in advance before 6pm on July 2. Ticket information here.
