Pretty in Pink

By Barmy Kev and Vic Demain
July 26 2011

Here's a report on the highly successful curry night to raise funds for Breakthrough for Breast Cancer.  The fun of the evening is recalled followed by a chilling message about the reality of the disease.

Vic mentioned the curry night during the close season last year. This was the first entry on my 2011 calandar and given last years success I was looking forward to this event for ages.

We are Only Here for The Cup Cakes

Jeff Colemen, ‘Ammersmith Les and Vic’s partner Lyn set up this stall for 20/20 matches at Uxbridge.    This was a major sacrifice for JC who has referred to 20/20 as the “Devil’s Game” and never thought he be in the viscinity of this form of cricket.  These cakes were all the rave. Regularly, people disappeared from Vermin corner and returned with a handful of cup cakes. Despite 100s of supplies baked by Lyn these were sold out by end of Hampshire game. £500 was made for Breakthrough from this alone.  Well done you three.

Have your cake and eat it.

Build Up To Curry Night.

Having the hottest day of the year two days ago, this weather wise was the worst day imaginable.  Players were off after half an hour from the start of play.  5 hours to kill in an overcrowded pavilion, which was the only reasonable shelter. Having a festive night ahead, nobody wanted to hit the beers too early.  Wimbledon was rained off, the ODI was on for about an hour for those seeking TV for solace. It was fair to say they were a lot of irritated edgy people and if it wasn’t for the curry night, I would have gone home.  At least this gave Dasher Denning a chance to buy something pink in Uxbridge.  We had 8 balls of cricket to follow then more rain, more time to kill. Then for our entertainment heard there was football match between Middx and Glous, which we enjoyed. especially the guest goalie for us

Spot the goalie?

Pretty In Pink.

The theme was that everyone should try to dress in pink and most made an effort.   One person wore what looked like pink curtains and pink wigs floating around. Don Shelley took lots of persuading but eventually donned a pink wig. There was a feel good factor amongst all there including players of both teams.  All that was missing was some Middx committee representation.  

Who R U?                                Sounds painful                       Suits you sir

Ramesh Patel, assistant groundsman put on an excellent spread with plenty to go round, for some twice.   The speed of service and general efficiency given the numberswas second to none. 

Reality Check.

Vic gave a moving speech on the drastic effect of Breast Cancer.   He said how in some ways  all of us have been directly or indirectly been effected by this disease.  Posh Margaret lost her twin sister to breast cancer and found Vic's speech very moving.  There were charity boxes for donations.  Given there was no charge for the meal there were lost of folded notes going in, which proved awkward as slot was really designed for loose change. 

Auction

This was the major source for fundraising and with Vic’s moving words fresh in everyone’s minds we were hopeful for more funds.  Here are some edited highlights

Jeff Coleman- In his words. “Had the tough job of bidding for 'ammersmith Les as well as myself. Two of the items he wanted were also on my list. Got in early for a cheaper option, in case Lower Pav cleaned up. Then luckily secured his number one item, albeit at over his limit. As Les was away on a cruise, and therefore obviously loaded, I sent him a text to confirm the purchase and price. Fortunately he was well pleased.”

Lower Pavilion- In Barmy Kev’s words.  He generously donated back the framed Adam Gilchrist Middx shirt that he successfully bid for last year.  While we did not get same price this was a good result.  Luckily, for other items there was less counter bidding to up the ante compared with last year.  He was within his budget while raising vital funds acquiring the Angus Fraser contributions. (more to follow about this later)  

Diamond Ruled OK- I believe he was very happy with his Jack Russell picture and surprised about lack of competition for a classic work of art

Barmy Kev- 3 items purchased. 

1/ This is  over my PC as I type.  Two signed framed photos taken by our own Harringay Racer from Uxbridge last year.   One Panesar bowling Strauss through the gate and other Strauss lofting Panasar for 6 into Gatting Way.      This I feel is worth more than the £100 I paid, but as early guess people were caught cold.

Bargain

2/ Chateau Hackneyshire. Hackneyshire had provided some homegrown Elderflower Wine throughout the festival.  I knew how good it was and having had so many freebies of this, I was happy to pay above going rate to secure this item.

3/ Some Orchids for the Mrs. A beautiful presentation and wanted to show my appreciation to her for coping with my mood swings when I return back from cricket.   There must have been something wrong with my hearing as I was told I was bidding against myself. 

Angus Fraser. It wasn’t all about MTWD generousity.  The next from Vic. "Some auction items take a lot of work to track down, others just seem to fall into place. Such was the case with one of our better items this year. On a visit to see my family back in the winter, I asked "do you still have those two Steve Waugh retirement medals that we picked up in Sydney", "I think they are in the draw upstairs" was the reply and moments later they were delivered to me along with a postcard we had picked up in Barbados around 2000. The card was a reproduction of a painting taken of the West Indies v England test played at The Kensington Oval in 1994. When I returned home, I looked up the match on Cricket Archive and to my delight saw that Angus Fraser had taken 8 wickets in the first innings. This was too good to miss. I printed the innings scorecard and managed to track down a photograph of one of his wickets. This would make a good presentation item. Then in February, Angus kindly came to Uxbridge to address a group of groundsmen. I asked if he would sign the scorecard and showed the other items, "I was in my loft the other day and I have that shirt, you can have it" he said. Well true to his word Angus passed the Tetleys shirt on. Not only that but he stood and gave a few memories of that innings at the curry night and personally autographed the shirt for Lower Pav, the highest bidder".

Happy Days – but not for all of us.

Everyone is on high as the end of the evening comes to a close. The next days at Uxbridge various highlights were discussed.  We were further boosted to learn that close to £5,000 was raised.  There were many amusing moments not mentioned in report to reflect on and we are all excited by next years’ event. 

I’d love to finish the report here.  However, there is a very good reason behind all of this and I would like to leave Vic and Lyn with some final words.

Vic

"People will not understand the reality and why should they?

To be told at 44 years old that you have cancer is scary, most peoples first thought is am I going to die? Having got over that you decide to fight it, but the truth is you can't. Everyone is different and every case different but for Lyn, it stripped her of her hair, her energy and her confidence. Is it the illness or the treatment, who knows? There was sickness and blood loss, I can't remember the last time she got a full nights sleep.

Now 2 years on from diagnosis, it is still there, she has now lost her job due to the time she has had to have off on the sick. To add to the physical side, she now has the mental stress of worrying where the next car payment is coming from and how to pay for the shopping. Benefits? Oh yes £62/week, thank you government, if only we could start popping out kids!!

It has now developed into leukaemia, which involves having blood transfusions through a specially fitted cannula because the veins have collapsed and countless steroids.

Despite all this she remains positive, she always puts on a brave face when we meet people and at the curry evening she looked stunning and had a great time, as she did when opening the donation boxes.

We will continue to fight on and do what we can. We know that we have great support and friends. And we know that we are not alone.

Sometimes we get carried away on the message board, but when all is said and done, it is just cricket and there is more to life".

Lyn

"We thought that this year I would be well on the road to recovery but unfortunately that's not the case, the cancer has now appeared in my blood so treatment has begun again. During the last two years I have had endless treatments with all their various side effects - when people say the cure is worse than the disease they aren't lying!!! But through all of this Vic has been at my side offering unwavering support, always there with a gentle hug when I need a boost, making me laugh through all the bad stuff, I could not do this alone and I will never be able to thank him enough or find the words to tell him how much his love and support means to me.

And all of you who come to the curry night and donate so much money to such a worthwhile charity, through your donations the docs are so close to finding a cure for this disease, I don't know how to thank you all, you are truly amazing!"

Final Word From Kev.

Middlesex CCC and MTWD have been very generous to the Breakthrough cause. On the one hand there is only so much you can give on the other hand we can all do more.

http://breakthrough.org.uk/donate/.  Through this link it is really easy to set up a monthly donation for a minimum of £3 a month, which will go a long way to supporting this worthy cause.   I have just set up a direct debit and urge many of you who can spare a few quid a month to do likewise.