Coren and Strauss raise a bat - and funds - for Chai Cancer Care

Journalist Giles Coren and former England cricketer Sir Andrew Strauss discuss sport and loss for charity

Writer and broadcaster Giles Coren, who has a well-known passion for cricket, took to the stage with England cricket legend Sir Andrew Strauss this week, to help raise funds for Chai Cancer Care and the Ruth Strauss Foundation.

The Cricket for Cancer Care breakfast was attended by more than 100 people to hear the two men discuss leadership, the future of women’s cricket and what drove Sir Andrew to set up a foundation in his wife’s memory.

He told Giles Coren: “In 2017, we went through the absolute horror and shock that Ruth had a) cancer; b) non-smoking lung cancer: and c) it was stage four. It was hugely confronting for me and my sons, Sam and Luca. My response was to concentrate on living. Ruth’s was to say, ‘I can’t concentrate on living unless I know you and the boys are taken care of.’” Ruth Strauss died in 2018.

Louise Hager, Chai’s chair, said: “There is significant synergy and many shared aims between Chai Cancer Care and the Ruth Strauss Foundation. Both were established in response to personal painful experience of what it means to live with the impact of a cancer diagnosis, and both were founded to fill an unmet need.”

The breakfast was hosted and sponsored by the law firm, BDB Pitmans.