Cricket Legends compete at The Park Club
Local school children receive coaching from the masters
On Friday 7th July, The Park Club played host to an awesome line up of cricketing legends past and present who put aside their age-old rivalries to raise money for Operation Smile.�
The event marked the third of Operation Smile�s annual Celebrity Charity Cricket Day and proved a huge success raising an incredible �100,000, a sum which will significantly change the lives of thousands of children.
Hammersmith based IT company Agilisys sponsored twenty local cricket mad school children and gave them the priceless opportunity to receive coaching from the masters.
Former England Captain Nasser Hussain and �The Analyst� Simon Hughes were there along with past cricket greats; Peter Such, Angus Fraser and Derek Pringle. These legends were joined by a host of international stars from the world famous Lashings World XII Squad including, Aravinda De Silva, Paul Wiseman, Vasbert Drakes, Chris Lewis, Nantie Hayward, Alvin Kallicharran, Deepak Patel, Phil Simmons, Tatenda Taibu and Chris Harris!
The day was organised in aid of Operation Smile, a charitable organisation which repairs childhood facial deformities while building public and private partnerships for sustainable healthcare systems.
Dr. Bill Magee, Co-Founder of Operation Smile said “We can’t thank the cricketers enough. With their continued support, this year’s event was bigger and better – with over 300 for dinner, and 2000 people on the day. The thousands of children that we treat each year are helped not only by our volunteer medical professionals, who give so willingly of their time, but also by those committed individuals who use their platform to raise awareness for our work.”
Speaking at last year's event, Nasser Hussain said “We get many requests to give of our time and support charities, and there’s only so much you can do – but seeing what we were able to accomplish with this particular event has really affected all of us who participated – and we are delighted to be repeating it – and will continue to do so for years to come I hope.”
"It was a humbling experience to see so many people commit time and money to the cause of Operation Smile. A fantastic day was had by all - the teams that played with stars like Gibbs, Blewett, Garner and Laxman; the kids that were coached by Andrew Strauss, Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain; and the guests that were so ably hosted by Simon Hughes. The event was visited by over 1000 people during the day, and we are extremely grateful to The Park Club to use their fantastic facility.”
July 17, 2006
