PCA England Masters help Bramhall raise £ 20,000 for heart screening charity Bramhall CC raised more than £ 20,000 for a local heart screening charity from hosting a recent PCA England Masters match. The Cheshire County League club partnered with 1000 Hearts for Harry, a charity that was set up two years ago in memory of Harry Dubois, who died suddenly at the age of 17. Harry’s family set up the charity to provide 1,000 heart screenings a year for undetected heart conditions in young people and the ‘Bramhall Bash’ at Bramhall’s Church Lane ground went a long way to raising the charity’s annual target of £ 35,000. ” We had a very deliberate objective which was to raise a significant sum for the charity that we partnered with which we succeeded on,” said Bramhall Chair Ian Milligan. ” 1000 Hearts for Harry was set up for a local lad who died aged 17 two years ago. It was a similar case to James Taylor but sadly, in Harry’s case he didn’t survive due to the problem remaining undetected. Mario, Debbie and Emily Dubois have focussed their efforts over the last two years on providing free heart screenings for young people, locally. ” To give it some scale, the charity’s annual objective is to raise £ 35,000 to fund 1,000 heart screenings. So we have raised over £ 20,000 of that in one event for them which is an achievement we are tremendously proud of.” Despite indifferent weather on the evening Bramhall attracted a crowd of 500 plus 200 guests in a marquee who were entertained by a PCA England Masters side, including the captain Mark Ramprakash plus the likes of 2005 Ashes winners Steve Harmison and Simon Jones. Thanks to 62 from opener Usman Afzaal and three wickets from Dominic Cork, PCA England Masters beat their hosts by six runs in a thrilling T20 contest. As well as raising vital funds for their chosen charity, Bramhall also strengthened their links with their local community and businesses outside of their normal catchment area as a result of staging the biggest match in the club’s history at their Church Lane ground. ” I would certainly encourage clubs to put on a PCA England Masters match,” Milligan said. ” I think it’s rare that you get something in your club calendar that can bring not only the whole club together but also such a diverse group of community and businesses and, frankly, people who have never heard of you. ” We have enjoyed hosting three or four Minor Counties games but they are more club events not wider community events. The PCA England Masters have the pulling power that can attract a much bigger and diverse audience.” If your club is interested in hosting a PCA England Masters match click here for more information or email pcamasters@thepca.co.uk. {{ak_sharing}}
