Celebrities from the worlds of sport, television and theatre came together yesterday to provide entertainment at Hampstead Cricket Club’s annual fundraising event. Famous faces including Greg Wise and Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens took to the pitch for the star-studded cricket match, which saw Emma Thompson bowl the opening ball. Imelda Staunton manned the cake stand whilst a host of other Downton stars such as Penelope Wilton provided autographs.
The day also proved a useful recruitment drive for Anthony Nolan, the charity that helps save the lives of people with blood cancer who need a blood stem cell, or bone marrow, transplant. The charity launched their GET10K campaign earlier this year, to recruit 10,000 young men aged 18-30 to the register.
Lynsey Dickson, donor recruitment manager for Anthony Nolan, says, “The cricket match was a great way of targeting our key audience of young men, and lots of the cricketers and their male friends signed up to the register. We even recruited Dan Stevens! Everyone was only too happy to help when they learnt that they could be a potentially lifesaving match for someone with blood cancer. If you didn’t manage to sign up on the day, you can still join the register online by visiting www.anthonynolan.org.”
Downton star Jim Carter, who organised the event as Club chairman, adds, “It was a brilliant day – the rain held off and the celebrities emerged victorious for the third year running. We raised some much-needed funds for the club, and we encouraged healthy young men to join up to the Anthony Nolan register. Success all round!”
There are over 420,000 people on the Anthony Nolan register, but the charity aims to grow this to one million potential donors. They are particularly looking to recruit young men aged 18-30, as they are the most likely to come up as donors but account for just 12% of the register. For more information please visit www.anthonynolan.org
Photo: The celebrity cricket team, including Dan Stevens, Greg Wise and organiser Jim Carter, line up with Anthony Nolan staff.