Yesterday I played squash for three hours to gather money for Serious Request. I was asked by Astrid Brantjes, one of the initiators, to participate and of course I said yes! A great initiative from them to set up a deed like this. For two days in a row without a break they keep people playing squash on two courts at Squash Utrecht. The people then pay money to play and the money obviously goes to Serious Request! Serious Request is a cooperation between the Red Cross and a Dutch radio channel 3FM. Since 2004 they collect money for a so called ‘silent disaster’. 3 DJ’s lock themselves voluntarily in a Glass House somewhere in Holland, this year the Glass House is in Leiden, and play songs to gather money. They do this a week before Christmas and on a ‘sober stomach’! At the same time the DJ’s will inform the audience about the necessity of this deed.
My role in this was quite simple. People could offer money to play with me, they did this through a famous Dutch website called marktplaats.nl. Dylan Bennett also volunteered but had to cancel at the last minute due to injury. The plan was that Dylan and I both played a clinic for an hour with the people who offered money to play with us and after we would play a demonstration match. Instead, I took care of the clinic for two hours and played a demonstration with Natalie Grinham, who kindly volunteered!
From what I heard is that they collected at about €2000,- on the first day! Very happy to help, and hopefully next year we can do this again!