This year, in addition to the school’s annual ‘Turn Cricket Red’ sporting fixtures, The Oratory hosted its inaugural shopping and summer lunch fundraiser for 120 people, located in a marquee on the Head’s lawn. Once shopping with local stallholders had finished and lunch had been served, Angus Fraser MBE gave his talk on the highlights of his cricketing career and his involvement with The Ruth Strauss Foundation, which supports families facing the death of a parent to cancer and aims to fund more research into non-smoking lung cancers.

Angus’ talk was witty and personable as he discussed his cricket highs and lows, his friendship with the Strauss family and about Ruth Strauss herself, a vibrant personality and a mentor to so many cricket families due to her positive and supportive nature. He described how the news of Ruth’s illness with non-smoking lung cancer, in someone so young and healthy, had such an impact on those around her, and how pre-bereavement counselling had benefitted them all and is now at the heart of what The Ruth Strauss Foundation aims to provide for children dealing with a parent’s illness. In particular, this is why the foundation is so keen to work with schools, so that we can all learn to manage and help prepare children for premature bereavement together, as well as helping to raise funds to invest in finding a cure for non-smoking lung cancers. Fraser finished his talk by thanking The Oratory for being one of the first schools to support the charity when the foundation was started in 2019.

Throughout the day, the charity shopping and lunch event’s backdrop was all things cricket for the charity’s ‘Turn Cricket Red’ theme. Steve Tomlinson, Director of Sport, organised cricket matches on every Oratory pitch, with the highlight being the Oratory Cricket 1st XI v The Marylebone Cricket Club. The cricket pavilion was decorated with red balloons and bunting, cricket players were given red baseball caps and the crease and stumps were turned red. Meanwhile, spectators were invited to a boundary rope competition to help with the day’s fundraising. Accompanied by spectacular sunshine, the cricket provided a fitting finish to the whole day.

Nicky Moran, The Oratory Head’s PA and Event Organiser, says “This was our very first charity shopping lunch and we are proud to be supporting such an amazing charity. I’d like to thank all the guests who supported this event by making purchases and enjoying lunch, the lovely local businesses that provided stalls, our wonderful Oratory staff and catering team and in particular our L6th Form students who got involved and helped serve lunch. It was a truly special Oratory Family occasion. We have had such positive feedback from all involved and would love to host this event again next year!”

Ines Thiru, CEO of The Ruth Strauss Foundation, says “On behalf of everyone at The Ruth Strauss Foundation, I would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to The Oratory School for their ongoing support and generous donations. The awareness and funds raised allow us to provide much needed support to families preparing for the death of a parent, and to continue our advocacy for increased research into non-smoking lung cancers.”

To find out more about The Ruth Strauss Foundation or to donate, please click here: http://bit.ly/OSRS24