Celebrating Rick's Life

In June we were asked to press 22 T-shirts for a very special occasion - the Inaugural Rick McDowell Memorial Day at Crowthorne Cricket Club. When I asked his sister Natasha about the story behind the T-shirts and the day itself, this is what she sent me:

"Rick was my brother, who passed away suddenly aged 42 last September at home, leaving his partner and young daughter Eva who was not quite 3 months old. He was studying to become a mental health nurse. His daughter Eva was diagnosed with CHARGE which came as a shock as not detected in pregnancy. CHARGE affects her heart, lungs, sight, limbs there's so many different things to CHARGE and the severity differs in each person. Eva had open heart surgery in the new year which was successful. Rick was a special person to us as he really went out of his way to help others and did a lot of charity work; some work we never even knew about until he passed and people got in contact. He was very charismatic and made friends easily. It's been a terrible loss but he really did live every second. Rick was very sporty and Hugely into cricket and played often with our Dad. He belonged to Crowthorne, Plymouth and Middlesex university cricket teams. Rick was forever losing his keys ... it's a family trait ... We are all awful with keys. It's become a running joke and that's how we came up with the name of the cricket team. Here are two links regarding Rick & Eva xx http://lunchtimelegend.co.uk/2015/09/goodbye-recardo-rip/ https://gogetfunding.com/baby-eva-needs-your-support/ "

What a tragic event for a family to have to go through!! Rick sounds like someone we would have liked very much and we can understand why his family and friends wanted to honour him with this day, which will become an annual event.

When I said that it must have been so hard for the family to come to terms with, Tasha replied: "Thank you, we are doing okay. Events have brought out the fighting spirit in us. Ricky was a very happy person and genuinely liked helping people. We are glad to have had him in our life." Below is a photo of the two teams - Crowthorne Legends vs Where Are My Keys? :-)

What a lovely way to remember a very special man.