NOTHING – including snow and a frozen pitch – was going to stop a determined group of rugby players from taking the field in honour of two Billericay residents who lost their lives prematurely to devastating illnesses last year.
Emotions ran high before kick-off on Sunday as around 150 people observed a minute's silence in memory of Daniel Hannaway, 10, and Julie Knapp, 50.
Ian Hannaway, 42, the father of Daniel, from Second Avenue, and David Knapp, 51, the husband of Julie, from Ramsden Heath, were roared on by friends and family as they played the charity tournament, which raised more than £4,000 for Little Haven's and St Luke's Hospice.
Daniel, a pupil at Quilter's Junior School, died at Basildon Hospital a year ago on Saturday after struggling for most of his life with Type Three Gaucher's Disease, a very rare brain condition.
Julie, a mother-of-two, lost her battle with cancer in July.
