Story

STOP PRESS:

Dear all

As you know, I entered the Bushy Park 10k on 4th October and the Royal Parks Half Marathon a week later. Having completed the 10k in 56 minutes I was injured a few days before the half-marathon. So, not wishing all the effort to go to waste - and eager to show some return for those of you who have supported me - I registered immediately for the Downton half marathon in Wiltshire which I ran today (29th November). I can't describe it as the fastest run of my life (a rather slow 2.5 hrs) but in mitigation I would plead driving and torrential rain, roads that were more suited for swimming in than running on, an encounter with a herd of cattle that made the road impassable and a course that being described as "hilly" only revealed the course organisers to be masters of understatement.

In short, it was an utterly joyless experience, but one that has at least yielded over £3,500 for the club refurbishment fund so may I thank all of you who have sponsored me for your generosity.

All the best, and many thanks

Phil

Spencer CC Junior Chair

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

At Spencer Cricket Club in Wandsworth, we have over 600 children between the ages of 6 and 18 who play cricket, the biggest junior cricket section in the county (if not the country). The aim of the cricket section is to promote excellence in the community, which means we attract children from a wide variety of backgrounds, and with differing levels of ability, and we try and give them all a great experience in the game (and hopefully turn out a few top class players!).

Spencer is a "not for profit" amateur sports club that relies very heavily upon a dedicated team of volunteer coaches and team managers. A club with this size of membership and following has an enormous positive effect on the local community, and provides a great opportunity for boys and girls of all ages and backgrounds to focus on sport in their time away from school. As many of you know I've been associated with Spencer for 7 years, first as coach and then as Chair of the Junior section, and its been a great experience watching so many kids get so much enjoyment from this wonderful game.

The playing facilities are great, but the clubhouse and changing rooms are not, and simply cannot cater for the demands placed upon it by our thriving membership. So we need to refurbish our tired clubhouse whose facilities have fallen way behind the successes and dynamism of this top class junior cricket section.

Donations you very kindly make to this (and the other colts managers') Just Giving website pages will go directly into the Spencer Clubhouse Refurbishment Appeal. Our overall target is £33,000 towards a total cost of £150,000 (the remainder provided directly from the club's reserves and the other sections of the club).

My personal target (to start with) is £1,000.

And my first challenge is the Bushy Park 10k run on 4th October, which is merely a prelude to the main event on 11th October - the Royal Parks Half Marathon. I haven't run a half marathon before so please donate whatever you can to the cause, preferably by using the very simple facility on this website (which grosses up your donation with money you thought you'd already lost to HM Revenue !).

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Many Thanks, and all the best

Phil

Phil Burns' page

Phil Burns' page

Story

Donation summary