Silver Stumps - the Over 60s/70s Cricket Podcast · Grant Timms and Trevor Lee

Ron Hedley - Vatican Tour and Prostate Cancer Awareness and Fundraising Update

·36 min·2 clips

Father Eamon O'Higgins invites the touring party to a private Holy Mass under St Peter's Basilica.

1. Silver Stumps episode 87 centres on Ron Headley’s Vatican tour and prostate cancer fundraising update. 2. Trev, Grant Timms, and Ron Headley speak as hosts and guest, with Ron central because of his awareness campaign and touring cricket role. 3. The episode asks what has happened since Ron’s March 15, 2024 update and how the campaign has kept expanding. 4. Ron says the campaign had raised £32,000 on March 15, 2024 and now stands at £78,600. 5. He names Sussex, Essex, Middlesex, Surrey, Edgbaston, and Warwickshire Cricket Club as counties or clubs that have added multiple walks. 6. He also mentions Dave Farragher’s London Marathon run, which raised £3,500 for the cause. 7. Ron explains that a Bob Willis luncheon auction led him to bid for a two-night stay in Rome and unexpectedly win it. 8. Paul Bradley then invited him to Wormsley the next day to speak while England over-60s played the St Peter's Faculty of Cricket team. 9. Father Eamon O'Higgins later invited Ron and Pat to lunch in Vatican Square and then to bring a team to the Vatican. 10. Ron says an email sent 48 hours later produced 19 players and a touring party of 37 people. 11. The party played three matches, lost all three, and still treated the trip as a success because of the setting and the message. 12. Ron says they were invited to a private Holy Mass in the crypt under the main altar of St Peter's Basilica, next to the tomb of St Peter. 13. He describes a scheduling error when Father Eamon first said the Mass date was wrong, then corrected it to the following day. 14. Ron says Katie Reeves, Bob’s daughter, arrived on the Saturday, did the toss, and spent time with the group. 15. He notes that Father Eamon gave him and Pat a rosary blessed by Pope Leo and an icon. 16. Ron also describes a train carriage conversation where young men discussed the prostate after seeing the campaign shirts. 17. The discussion is informal and conversational, with Grant and Trevor adding their own PSA testing experiences and interruptions. 18. Ron’s tone mixes humour, gratitude, and plain speaking, while the hosts keep the pace light and supportive. 19. Listeners interested in seniors cricket and prostate cancer awareness. 20. Listeners who want a tightly edited match report only.

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