“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).

Our initiative went live ahead of the 2021 season with a target to get 100 players involved, raising £1,000 and remarkably, this was hit for 6 (apologies for the terrible pun). The finalised totals following the season saw 257 club cricketers signup donating just short of £6,000 which is incredible to think about, even now. In 2022 we followed this up with 533 players raising more £11,000

After the growth in 2022, we followed with an even bigger jump in participation numbers for the 2023 season with 893 players involved. Their performances along with other generous contributions from clubs and businesses saw us raise nearly £16,000. Since starting in 2021, those involved will have donated more than £33,000 which is a remarkable achievement, one I can scarcely believe off the back of such a simple idea. 2024 promises to be another great year with 1,000 players and hitting that overall £50,000 mark the main targets whilst continuing the successes of our Runs4Research XI matches after the success of our trip to Sarisbury Athletic for the inaugural game in August 2023.”

Jake BurtonFounder, Runs4Research