MORE than £1,300 has been raised during a skittle marathon in memory of Colerne man Richard Lilley.

Members of the village’s Constitutional Club began the 24-hour challenge at 9pm on Good Friday before ending on a high on Saturday to raise money for Diabetes UK and the British Stroke Foundation.

Six players from the club, Julie Bright, Bob Atter, Chris Last, Deb Brain, Carman Irving-French and David Smart, played for the full 24 hours against eight other teams who played three hour sessions each.

The club thought it would be a fitting tribute to Mr Lilley, who died last June aged 54, as he started taking part in dart and skittle marathons when he was 19 and then continued to do throughout his life.

The former mid-day supervisor assistant at Colerne CofE Primary School raised money for a brain scanner for the Royal United Hospital in Bath, heating for Colerne Church and a new wheelchair for the Royal British Legion amongst many other charitable causes.

His wife Sandra, who helped organise the event also stayed the full 24 hours to support the players. She said: “It went really really well. So many people were so generous and the event went off like a cracker.

“Everyone supported us throughout Colerne and the outside and on the whole spirits were up throughout the night. I would just like to thank everybody who supported us.”

During the marathon there was a raffle with more than 60 prizes that had been donated and all the players also received a medal from Diabetes UK for their efforts.

President of the Colerne Constitutional Club Mr Atter, added: “We started off well but lost the first two games, but then started playing better through the night ending up winning the overall game by 62 legs to 39 legs from the opposition.

“A total of 3,833 pins were knocked down by our team against 3,656 by our opponents totalling 7,489 pins over the 24 hours.”

Player Ms Brain added: “The cheers from the supporters made it all worthwhile.”

A cheque presentation evening will take place on May 9 at the club.