A charity, set up in memory of a teenager who died during a football match, has reached a fundraising milestone.
The Huw Thatcher Trust has raised £100,000 for the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust – just in time for what would have been the Holmfirth youngster’s 19th birthday today.
Huw – a keen footballer, cricketer and tennis player – died while playing for Hepworth United FC, in March 2011.
The Holmfirth High School student succumbed to an undiagnosed brain aneurysm.
Since his death Huw’s family and friends have held numerous fundraisers and have taken on several challenges, included a sponsored cycle tour of football stadia around the country.
Huw’s dad Nick, who cycled the full 1,000-mile challenge, said: “The trust fund has reached the figure of £100,000 in the last few weeks and today is the perfect day to announce that achievement.
“It is an achievement made up of thousands of individual donations – each one born out of kindness, love, care, or regret.
“It has also brought lots of smiles to our faces and hope for the future.
“We all have talents, love, and time to give in some way or other. What happened to Huw makes it clearer than ever that we should make the most of these things.
“The Huw Thatcher Trust has achieved so much as a result of the talents, time and love not only from his friends and family, but also from others who knew of him and who cared.
“I don’t know what will happen to the trust in the future – it will be what it will be. What is for sure is that we’re not done yet.”
Some of the cash raised has been used to buy physiotherapy equipment and iPads for people undergoing treatment at Daniel Yorath House, Leeds.
Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust (BIRT) chief executive, Barrie Oldham, said: “I am delighted that The Huw Thatcher Trust has now raised an amazing £100,000 for BIRT.
“This is a wonderful achievement, for which we are very grateful and I would like to thank Huw’s friends and family for their continued commitment to supporting BIRT.
“Huw was clearly a young man who was much loved and we are privileged that his memory lives on at so many of our centres.”
For more information about the trust here.
