Backing Beefy

THE wonderful fundraising efforts of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation were celebrated in today’s Northern Echo, and tomorrow we turn our attention to another sporting legend with strong links to our region.

Sir Ian Botham, who helped to establish Durham as a first-class county and who lives in North Yorkshire, has raised more than £13m since 1985.

Through his 14 epic walks around the world, and hundreds of other challenges over nearly 30 years, he has helped good causes such as Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, Cardiac Arrest in the Young, Battens Disease, Juvenile Diabetes, and Brain Tumour Research in Yorkshire.

It is no exaggeration to say that significant progress on research into those conditions has been made thanks to his efforts.

Last night, Sir Ian – England’s greatest ever cricketing all-rounder – launched a new charity partnership with Rockliffe Hall, at Hurworth-on-Tees, near Darlington.

Beefy’s Charity Foundation is to stage a series of fund-raising events in the coming months and The Northern Echo is proud to be supporting the initiative.

It is a fitting partnership – using a five-star venue to give five-star care to those in desperate need of support.

We are committed to doing all we can to spread the word about the forthcoming events and we urge our readers to watch out for details about how they can get involved.

Sir Ian had a remarkable record as a sportsman, playing in more than 100 Test matches for England, scoring 5,200 runs, and taking a record 383 Test wickets.

His record as a charity campaigner during his retirement from cricket is heroic too and we wish him well as he embarks on another round of fund-raising for the causes close to his heart.