Thousands of pounds have been raised for a Letchworth-based charity in the inaugural Hospice Cup.

On Sunday, July 11, eight teams made up of various clubs and people from the community descended on Lucas Lane Sports Club in Hitchin for the six-a-side knock-out cricket tournament in aid of Garden House Hospice.

%image(15618638, type="article-full", alt="The charity cricket match at Lucas Lane raised almost £2,000 for Letchworth-based Garden House Hospice")

The hospice fielded two teams, led by Jake Amos from the fundraising department and Steve Mellish, chairman of trustees respectively.

The six Hospiteers, captained by Jake, made it to the semi finals where they finally fell to the tournament winners, the Six Offenders. Led by Sanjay Chandarana, the all-conquering team took the Hospice Cup and honours.

%image(15618640, type="article-full", alt="Jake Amos from Garden House Hospice's fundraising team dubbed the inaugural Hospice Cup "top class with runs and wickets a plenty"")

The tournament was greatly supported by Lucas Lane and the community, raising nearly £2,000 for the hospice.

Dubbing the action "top class with runs and wickets a plenty", Jake said: "I want to say a huge thank you to all of the teams that took part, to the sports club for hosting the event and to the wider community for coming to support us. I can't wait for it to happen again next year.

%image(15618641, type="article-full", alt="Eight teams made up of various clubs and people from the community transcended on Lucas Lane Sports Club in Hitchin for the six-a-side knock-out cricket tournament in aid of Garden House Hospice")

"It was so much fun! I have not played for many years and I now ache all over, but it was so worth it!"