I lost my grandad at the back end of 2020 having suffered with Dementia for the last 5 or so years of his life (fully appreciate many have been living with this horrific disease for much longer). I had been contemplating doing something to raise some money for research towards battling it.

Some of my fondest memories with him were associated with our mutual love of Cricket (also involving my dad and sister) and therefore this became the starting point for the idea of Runs4Research. Playing club cricket regularly, my idea was that local cricketers commit to a donation at the end of the season based on how may runs they score or wickets they take during that season.

These amounts would be minimal (5p per run, 50p per wicket) but across the season would accumulate to a donation that feels substantial enough come September but not so significant that they feel unduly out of pocket (despite the good cause).

We now enter our fourth year of the initiative and have raised more than £32,000 across those 3 years across more than 1,300 players with 893 involved in 2023, more than 600 of these donating! We hope to continue our support of the great charity in the 2024 with the main target being to reach the £50,000 mark (totally) as well as having 1,000 players participating in the cause!

If you have any questions, please reach out to us on social media or via email at runs4researcharuk@gmail.com

Thanks for your support

Jake Burton