Cricket relay to Lord’s in memory of Wreningham man

Friends of a keen sportsman who died of cancer are taking part in a two-day relay challenge with his cricket bat to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The team are marking what would have been George Rudd’s 50th year by covering 226km (140 miles) from his childhood cricket club, near Wroxham, Norfolk, to the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London.

Mr Rudd grew up in Wreningham and was a firefighter based in Egham, Surrey, who “loved being part of a team”. He died of the rare blood cancer myeloma in 2021.

His brother Jonathan, who described him as “my hero”, said with “so many people mucking in to make it happen… it’s a touching way of remembering him”.

The team set off on Friday from Barton Turf cricket ground and hoped to reach Lord’s on the third day of the England and Sri Lanka test match.

Jonathan said: “George was a strong believer that any batsman that scored 10,000 international runs was world-class, in doing this challenge we are going to make George world-class.”

Between 50 and 60 people are taking part, from his 80-year-old father to Jonathan’s three-year-old son.

“It’s all abilities, all people, very inclusive and all about the team – my brother loved being part of a team,” he said.

The initial plan was to burn the bat to create their own “Ashes” for an annual tournament to keep his memory alive. However as all the relay participants were set to sign it, Jonathan said he might frame it instead.

Teenage Cancer Trust was chosen as the beneficiary because George had previously fundraised for the charity after he survived testicular cancer in his 20s.

“He travelled to New York in 2011 to take part in the Tunnel to Towers run in honour of the late firefighter Stephen Siller,” Jonathan said.

“Siller died trying to save people in the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and George ran in full firefighting kit to raise money for Teenage Cancer Trust.

“George always felt that he had experienced life, but he could never accept that children had to go through the same battles he faced.”

Seven young people aged 13 to 24 are told they have cancer every day and the charity said it wanted to make sure no young person faced cancer alone.

The team has already smashed their £10,000 target to raise more than £17,000 so far.