The Paul Beard Sports Fund

Yesterday, 200 Johnians gathered in Twickenham for our third and now traditional lunch at the NomuraVarsity Match, kindly hosted by Francis Baron and Rob Andrew.. In the afternoon, three Johnians, Sandy Reid (sub fly half), Alex Cheetham (sub prop) and Fred Burdon (inside centre) helped to take Cambridge to a thrilling 31-27 victory: the sixty-first win for the light blues.

The lunch kicked off with a speech from the Master who announced the official launch date of the Field Sports Fund on 28 April 2010 at One Great George Street, London.

The Master also paid tribute to Paul Beard who passed away tragically at the age of 43 in January this year. The 2008 Varsity Match was the last occasion at which many of Paul’s friends and contemporaries saw him. We were honoured to be joined by Paul’s family for the occasion. The Master commented:

‘I am honoured that Paul’s wife, Carolyn, son, Ben and parents, Dennis and Mary, in addition to a large group of his friends are here with us today. It is with great pleasure that I welcome some of Paul’s friends, Rob Andrew and Nigel Topping, to speak to you about the launch of the Paul Beard Sports Fund. We are extremely grateful to Paul’s closest friend and best man, Chris Moore, who has been instrumental in driving this initiative but is sadly unable to join us, as he is based in Singapore.’

Rob Andrew (Geography and Land Economy, 1982), and Nigel Topping (Mathematics, 1985) spoke very movingly about Paul’s legacy and the collective inspiration to contribute to a fund in his memory. The Paul Beard Sports Fund has been set up to contribute towards expenses of Johnians playing University or College sport with a preference for rugby, cricket, hockey, football, racquet sports, swimming and waterpolo. The fund has now raised over £45,000.