Many long time Brakes fans will be aware that our former player Jamie Sheldon was diagnosed with cancer last November. The 26 year old, who played for Brakes in two spells between late 2010 and 2013, recently received the heartwarming news that after three cycles of chemotherapy he is now in remission from the disease.
On Sunday 18th March there will be an afternoon of fundraisibg for Jamie, who also wants to thank the staff who looked after him in the Young Persons Unit at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham by raising money for the unit. Two of his former clubs, Sutton Coldfield Town and Stratford Town, will be reuniting their play off winning squads from the 2014/2015 season to play each other. With the help of Richard Batchelor, Brakes have also put together a squad of players and coaches to take part in the afternoon. There are also some fantastic prizes available via a raffle and an auction to be held during the afternoon.
This will all take place at Sutton Colfield Town's Coles Lane stadium (Postcode B72 1NL), a ground that we have visited on many occasions over the years. Directions can be found here.
The game between Sutton and Stratford will kick off at 2pm. The admission price is a donation of your choice in support of Jamie.
It would be great to see plenty of Brakes fans over there on the day to support our former midfielder, who made 30 appearances for us in all. He did not have the best of luck with injuries during his time with Leamington, but remembers the support he was given by the club and supporters when he broke his foot while playing for us. He deserves to be fondly remembered for scoring twice on his full debut against Rugby Town!
Please do try and get along to Sutton Coldfield on March 18th if you can. If you are unable to make it on the day, a crowdfunding page has been set up in support of Jamie for donations. (Link) We will also be doing a bucket collection at the home match v Chorley on Sat 10 March again for those that can't make the charity match.
Also, former Brakes players Stephan Morley and Richard Gregory have launched fundraising bids of their own in support of Jamie. Former Brakes skipper Morley is embarking on a 105 mile bike ride from Leicester to Hunstanton on March 14th. Richard Batchelor has also pledged to ride alongside him.
Gregory was a team mate of Jamie at Stratford, and is taking part in the Simplyhealth Great Birmingham 10k run on May 6th.
Both players have already raised impressive sums in donations, you can find the fundraising pages here and here.
The squad of past and present Brakes players and coaches that will be involved on the day is as follows:
Mark Gayle (GK)
Lewis Fenney (GK)
Richard Beale
David Busst
James Mace
Jamie Hood
Stephan Morley
Ben George
Richard Batchelor
Lee Downes
James Husband
Lee Williams
Sam Adkins
Martyn Naylor
Liam O’Neill
Tom James
Harry Harris
Matt Dodd
Luke Corbett
Stefan Moore
Coaches: Paul Holleran, Richard Edy, Jacob Blyth
