FOR most people, raising £1,000 at a Christmas Fair would be achievement enough.

But for two local families it is just a fraction of the money raised since they started their fund-raising over four years ago.

Irene Wickers, from Darwen, and Granville Staff, from Hoddlesdon, set up the Neil Wickers and David Staff memorial fund as a tribute to their Sons who both died from undetected heart conditions.

Their latest fund-raising event in Darwen earlier this month has brought their total raised to a staggering £29.000.

The two families devote their time to raising cash for the memorial fund, which supports the charity CRY, Cardiac Risk in the Young.

They organise screening events in the area in the hope that they can save other young people’s lives.

Neil, 31, died after collapsing in a gym in 1996 and was diag­nosed as having a rare condition called cardiac sarcardosis.

Former Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School pupil David, 17, died after collapsing near the end of a 10km Darwen Dashers race in 1994.

It was later found he had suf­fered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy -. research shows that one in 500 people have this condition, making it five times more common than cystic fibrosis. It is the most common cause of young sudden death in the country.

Irene met Granville when he was running in the London Marathon in aid of CRY and looking for sponsorship, and in 1997 they joined together to form the memorial fund.

Bill Wickers, 66, said: We never dreamed anything would happen to Neil - we were told his death was a one in a million chance but that isn’t much comfort.

“He had been working out at the gym since he was 16 and knew what he was doing. But unbeknown to us, he had had a virus and his heart just stopped.”

Irene said: “When we first started out it was like banging our heads against a brick wall. But more people have heard about CRY now and it seems to have come more to the fore.

“I started fund-raising because I just felt I had to do something. I wouldn’t like anybody to suffer the same agony we did.”

The cash raised by the memo­rial fund so far has paid for screenings for people aged 14 to 35 at Darwen venues such as the ICI Club and Darwen Access Point. And thanks to the memo­rial fund an ECG machine has also been installed at Darwen Health Centre at a cost of £8,000.

Irene said: “Forty people have been screened this year and four of them had a potential on a ‘need-to-know basis’ problem. One was serious enough to have to be taken to St George’s Hospi­tal in London.

“We need to keep fund-raising. We’re hoping to hold another local screening next year and also buy a monitor, which will cost £3,300.