Sevenoaks Hockey Club holds breast cancer fundraiser

On the last weekend of October Michele Harvey and Pia Tucker, lovingly known as Pecka and Pia by everyone at Sevenoaks Hockey Club, galvanised many of the club’s members to raise funds and awareness at their Pink Weekend. The money raised, now confirmed to be £1,228, will go to Charity Angels UK, a fundraising group who support the breast cancer charity Against Breast Cancer. This is the second year that they have supported this group, who are working with Against Breast Cancer to fund the work being undertaken by Senior Research Fellow, Dr Simon Lord, whose research focuses on the development of new drugs to treat breast cancer.

Dr Simon Lord

The weekend started with a match against Herne Bay HC where the team wore pink to raise awareness, and Pecka and Pia, after playing a hard-fought match, then held an amazing raffle with donations from several Sevenoaks businesses, including Knole Park Golf Course, Up & Running, Bat & Ball Sports, Nizels and The Anchor. The ladies also drove miles to get ex-players, including ex England internationals to sign books and a shirt. Alongside this was a cake stall, with all the cakes being donated by COOK in Sevenoaks, as well as a cake stall, held independently by the U14 Girls Development Squad who raised a fantastic £77.

Pecka said: “Six years ago, after my own diagnosis of stage 3 breast cancer I met with Steph, a longtime breast cancer fundraiser and a committee member of Charity Angels UK, and together, with my wonderful hockey club and best friend Pia we decided to help the charity by holding a pink weekend every October. Every year it gets better and better and that wouldn’t happen without the support of Sevenoaks HC and the generosity of all those who donated raffle prizes.”

Seeing so much support for those suffering from breast cancer was truly uplifting.

The ladies in pink

Christine Sturgess, Chair of Charity Angels said: “I am really grateful to Sevenoaks Hockey Club and all of it’s members for the wonderful support they have shown us again this year. I would especially like to thank Pia and Pecka for their hard work and enthusiasm. The amazing amount raised will do so much to help those suffering from secondary breast cancer.”