Pete and Izzy - We'll Get Them To The Ground On Time!
- Graham Webb
- Aug 23
- 4 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
“I’m playing cricket in the morning,
Ding dong, Lord’s Bell is going to chime.
Pull out the stopper, let’s get a chopper,
But get me to the ground on time!”
(with apologies to Lerner and Loewe, composers of My Fair Lady)
UPDATE
What started almost as a joke, then became an appeal for funds within Blackheath Cricket Club, has ended up as a nationwide news story, covered by the BBC, The Times, the Sunday Telegraph, Test Match Special and other radio stations. Donations have been flooding into our Crowdfunder site from friends, family, other cricket clubs, our friends in the I'Anson Cricket League, our sponsors Seymours Estate Agents, and many kind and generous strangers who just wish Pete and Izzy well, in particular an unexpected and generous gift from cricket lover Piers Morgan!
The great news is that we have now raised the money that they need for their helicopter dash from the wedding in North Wales to Lord's for the big match on Sunday 6th September. They will get to the ground on time!
However donations are still coming in, and if you'd still like to give them a wedding present it's not too late because all the spare cash will go to Kids for Kids (https://kidsforkids.org.uk), which is a charity based here in the UK that's been transforming the lives of the forgotten children of Darfur in Ethiopia since 2001. It's a cause that was dear to the heart of Pete's Mum and he's raising the money in memory of her.
Here's a sample of the media coverage this story has been receiving over the past few days and hours...
BBC South News
BBC National News
The Times
The Sunday Telegraph
BBC Test Match Special - Text
BBC Test Match Special - Live Commentary with Alison Mitchell and Vic Marks
n.b. The section about Blackheath starts at 04:52:45
And finally, here's our original website article where the whole thing started, which explains what all the fuss is really about...
For many a young cricketer there are two great dreams in his life, the one where he marries the beautiful girl in the idyllic hills of North Wales, and the one where he plays cricket for his boyhood team at Lord’s. Very few people are lucky enough ever to achieve both of those dreams, but vanishingly few are UNlucky enough to have them both happen within 24 hours of each other!
Meet Pete Melhuish. He has been playing for Blackheath Cricket Club in Surrey since he was 6 years old along with his brothers Tom and Will. Blackheath has many cricketing families at its heart, but the Melhuishes are at the centre of it all. He’s one of the club’s most successful captains, having skippered them to several league titles, but he has always held one particular dream… to take his team to the Cawston Press National Village Cup Final at Lord’s, the home of world cricket. Despite entering the competition year after year and often getting through several of the knockout rounds, that dream has never come true… until now.
Meet Izzy, Pete’s beautiful wife-to-be. The two of them finally decided to get married this summer, and when they chose their wedding date they sensibly made sure it didn’t clash with the all-important league cricket season, which runs throughout the summer up to the last weekend of August.
Perfect. Sorted. Wedding booked for the first weekend of September then. After all, when they were making these plans in the depths of last winter the dates for the National Village Cup weren’t even known, and even if they had been the chances of Blackheath being one of the two villages from nearly 400 entries to make it all the way to Lord’s seemed, frankly, rather remote. There was absolutely no reason to worry about it… was there?
So Izzy is marrying her man in North Wales on Saturday 5th September and the festivities will continue late into the night. Meanwhile, the Blackheath skipper will have named his final XI and called heads or tails at Lord’s, more than a 5 hour drive away, by 10.30am the following morning.
How on earth can Pete be both of those people? What is he to do?
Unless Ivor the Engine suddenly sprouts wings it seems that there is only one vaguely workable solution. A helicopter can get the happy couple from Groesffordd Marli to a landing site in North London in about 90 minutes. It’s hugely expensive, and it’s still tight on time, but that way they could make it.
- Will they somehow manage to afford, and arrange, a helicopter?
- Will it get them to Lord’s on time?
- Will Blackheath go on to win the Cawston National Village Cup?
- Will Pete be the man who lifts the trophy
...or will Will do it? (his brother Will is also in the team)
If you want to find out… why not come to Lord’s and support us on the day? All the information you need on travel, tickets, etc can be found here: https://www.blackheathcricket.com/post/arrangements-for-national-village-cup-final
Meanwhile, if you’d like to help them make the helicopter idea a reality, any monetary contribution you can make towards the flight as a wedding present would be gratefully received by them both. We've already received some generous donations towards this directly to the club bank account (details below), and we've now also set up a crowdfunding page:
If you would like to make a contribution, large or small, you can do in either of these ways. If making a bank transfer, please put “VKO Transport” as the reference.
Blackheath Cricket Club
Lloyds Bank
Acc No: 01754821
Sort Code: 30-94-41
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