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Aug
Harrogate Rugby Club to host Darlington in charity and memorial pre-season match
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Harrogate Rugby Union Club men's first team will be playing against Darlington Mowden Park in a charity pre-season match this Saturday (August 30).
The match will be held in memory of Charley Purkiss-McEndoo, who played for both Harrogate and Darlington.
Charley died in 2019 aged 27, after being injured whilst working as a tree surgeon.
Charley supported the Heart to Heart campaign before his death. The campaign was set up by the NHS to raise awareness about organ donation.
After his death Charley had his liver, two kidneys and heart donated.
Funds will be raised for Heart to Heart on Saturday, as well as for local dementia charity Dementia Forward.
The match will be free to watch and all money raised from a raffle, food sales and donation buckets will go towards to the charities.
Jake Brady, director of rugby at Harrogate RUFC, told the Stray Ferret:
There are two elements to this game. One being remembering Charley, as of course he played for both us and Darlington. So, we all want to remember him as a teammate, the time spent with him playing with him during games, training and outside of the sport as well.
Also, to raise money for charities that Charley supported and help them as much as we can.
We'd like to make this game an annual fixture, so whilst we're not in the same divisions, it will be pre-season. But hopefully it can become an annual event, whether we're in the same division or not.
Harrogate RUFC were relegated from the National League 1 last season and are now playing in the Regional 1 North East League, a step below Darlington Mowden Park.
The match, which will be held at Harrogate RUFC's Apollo Capital Stadium on Rudding Lane, will start at 2pm.
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