In 1960, Duncan Guthrie enlisted the support of some of the leading sports personalities of the day, including Jimmy Hill and Arsenal and Wales star Wally Barnes; Ryder Cup golf captain Dai Rees;and cricket legend Jim Laker, immortalised by his historic 19-wicket haul in a single Test .
These eminent sportsmen were lucky enough to be making their living by playing the games they loved and were only too pleased to help those children who might never have the opportunity to play sport at all. Jim Laker was the first Chairman of SPARKS and fellow cricket icon Sir Alec Bedser the first President. Sir Alec was succeeded as President by another inspirational British hero, Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader.
It was the birth of a long and illustrious lineage of famous names in SPARKS’s history.
Jimmy Hill is still very actively involved and this year became our Life President. Sir Alec Bedser remains a patron.
Today, that distinguished lineage is continued with the involvement of such household names as Martin Johnson (our President for 2005), Sir Matthew Pinsent, Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Trevor Brooking, Lawrence Dallaglio, Jason Leonard, Colin Montgomerie, Tim Foster, Ray Clemence, Gabby and Kenny Logan and many, many more.
It was that early research by the NFPR that led to the development of a vaccine for polio that has virtually eradicated the disease worldwide. SPARKS contributed to that research.
The NFPR built upon this success, under the names of Action Research for the Crippled Child and SPARKS, to fund research into other diseases. This research played a significant role in the development of the rubella vaccine and the discovery that folic acid can help counter the risk of babies being born with spina bifida.
Since 1991, SPARKS became an independent charity in its own right. It retained close links with Action Research through the research we were supporting. In 1997, SPARKS began administering its own research grants programme and, in 1999, established its own Medical Advisory Committee.
To date, SPARKS has committed well over £11million to fund groundbreaking paediatric medical research projects across a wide range of conditions affecting babies and young children. Childhood cancers, meningitis, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, infant brain damage, club foot and all the dangers associated with premature birth are just a few of the research areas where SPARKS is active.
The pioneering projects we fund are carried out at leading teaching hospitals and universities throughout the UK and have made significant contributions to treatment breakthroughs being used by doctors all over the world.
Today, SPARKS’s aim is the same as it was back in 1960: to try and give all children the chance to be born healthy and stay healthy so that they, too, may share the joy that comes with playing a sport or simply being able to walk or run.
That is why SPARKS continues to benefit from the active support and patronage of today’s sporting heroes and heroines.
