Bowlers, pool players and darters go the extra mile for youngster
Members of a Staffordshire bowls club have completed a marathon session to help raise funds for a youngster suffering from a rare heart condition.
The members of Bridgtown Social Bowls Club took to the green, the baize and the oche for 24 hours of bowls, pool and darts in aid of Merlin Crockett, a youngster suffering from Tricuspid Atresia, Hypoplastic right heart syndrome with transposed great vessels and VSD.
The marathon started at 6pm on Saturday and ran throughout the night and next day, before finishing at 6pm on Sunday, with each participant paying £5 per person to take part and all funds going to Birmingham Children's Hospital.
Bowls club secretary Dean Neville said that even a spell of wet weather on the Saturday night hadn't dampened the spirits of those taking part.
He said: "It went really well and all those taking part had a great time, even with the rain on Saturday night.
"We had one of our bowls teams playing all night, with different games of 21-up throughout the night and a sweepstake to work out however many points were scored, plus the pool team and both our male and female darts teams.
"It was all a big of friendly competition amongst us all and was very much focussed on raising money and helping Merlin."
Mr Neville said the bowls club members had made the decision to do something for Merlin after meeting him and his parents Shell Steventon and Russ Crockett at the club at Christmas time and hearing about his plight.
He said: "We met him and his family at Boxing day and it evolved from me talking to his dad and him asking if there was anything we could do to raise some money.
"I came up with the idea of the bowling marathon, then put it to the stewardess of the club who then decided that it was a thing that the other clubs could get into.
"It was worth going through 24-hours of the marathon for him though, as he has such a rare condition and she just seems like such a lovely little lad and we were very happy to do something for him and his family.
"On our WhatsApp group last night, there was a lot of messages pinging around about how proud and elated we all were, although it only last an hour or so as I think everyone went to sleep after then."
Mr Neville said he didn't know how much had been raised to date, but said he wanted to raise around £2,000 for the charity and was already looking at future events to raised funds for Merlin and other charities.
