Shropshire couple holding fundraising concert for late son Matthew's 21st birthday
A teenager who died during a rugby session will be remembered at a concert on what would have been his 21st birthday.
Matthew Dewhirst, 17, of St Martins, near Oswestry, was a rugby-mad music scholar at Ellesmere College when he died from young sudden cardiac death in 2012.
He would have been turning 21 in the new year and his friends and family have decided to remember him with a special concert.
His mum Sue Dewhirst said: "Matthew would have been 21 on January 14 and as he was a music scholar I thought it would be nice to do a birthday concert for him.
"A lot of his friends who were also music scholars are now at university and are coming back to perform, and some that are music scholars there at the moment are going to perform as well.
"We also have a man who was a singer in the Open Mic Competition last year, who is just 16, who is going to sing at it as well."
Mrs Dewhirst and her husband Chris have raised thousands over the last three years after launching a fundraising and health awareness campaign, saying a simple preventative health check could have saved Matthew's life. The condition kills 12 young people every week and there are about 160,000 young people currently in the UK, aged 14 to 25 years that have a life-threatening heart condition and don't realise it.
The campaign has raised more than £30,000 and this money is being put towards a cardiac screening programme in Shropshire and Cheshire.
The concert will be held at the Ellesmere College Arts Centre
on January 16 at 7.30pm.
Tickets will cost £10 and include a welcome drink and nibbles. To book visit ellesmerecollege.tixato.com/buy
Meanwhile, the family will also hold a 21st celebration ball on May 7 at Goldstone Hall Hotel, near Market Drayton.
Mrs Dewhirst is looking for sponsors and anyone who can help should visit www.cry-for-matthew.org.uk or call 07789 415242.
