MINEHEAD turned out in force to support the David Lethaby Celebration Day which took place at the local cricket club.

The event, which was organised by Minehead Cricket Club and their committee, was dedicated to the memory of David Lethaby who died at the age of 62 last September. He was a major figure, both within the club and across the local community.

The day was organised to celebrate David’s life and to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation as well as providing a bench dedicated to his memory.

The day started at 7am with a 12 hour spin marathon and included a coffee morning, followed by a Somerset League Premier Division match between Minehead and Taunton Deane, after which there was live music from local band Evolution and an auction.

The 12 hour spin was organised by Suzanne Richards who secured sponsors for each of the hours she was in the saddle and by the end of the endurance event she had clocked up just shy of 200 miles, and raised £2,000.

Among those who rode alongside Suzanne during the 12 hours were members of David’s family including his two children, his brothers and father John, while for the last hour the organiser was joined by his widow Jayne during which they played music from his favourite playlist including ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone”.

The whole event is expected to have raised more than £10,400, far in excess of what the organisers had ever imagined.

Suzanne Richards said: “ It was absolutely incredible. I think half of Minehead turned out and came along to the cricket club, many of who had never been there before, which made it even more special because the whole day was about David and it shows just what everyone across the community thought about him.

“The coffee morning was really well attended and spin went well and I finished the 12 hours which was good - all the sponsors turned up and did their spin.

“In the evening we had the auction which John Addicott, who worked with David for many years, ran and that raised £,000k. It was such a wonderful sight when you looked out and saw how many people were there.”

Minehead CC stalwart Stuart Tudball said: “It was an amazing day with so many different people attending. A lot of people worked very hard to make this event happen and it all just seemed to come together as we’d planned- it couldn’t have gone any better.”

He added: “The only slight hiccup was the weather which delayed the start of the match against Taunton Deane, but in the end it was Minehead who won thanks to Gary Bennett who claimed five wickets- the perfect result! I think David would have loved it all if he had been there with us.”

Talking earlier this week David’s widow Jayne said: “ I'm just so overwhelmed with the support from yesterday and don’t quite know where to start with saying thank you.

“I am not going to try to list everyone as I’m bound to miss someone out but it takes a huge amount of work from so many different people to organise an event like this, so thank you to Minehead Cricket Club and the committee members for getting behind it and making it happen.”

" Thank you to everyone who came along and to everyone who donated and supported it in anyway. I shall never forget this very special day for many reasons.”