Tweed Coaster Peter Roughead lost his battle with cancer on May 15 this year, but his friends and family have banded together to ensure he is not forgotten and the war against cancer continues.
This Saturday, months of work finally come to fruition when 16 teams take to the sand at Coolangatta Beach – in front of the Coolangatta Hotel in Marine Parade, for the first annual “Roughy’s Beach Touch Football Fundraiser”.
The event, which starts at 7am (Qld) on Saturday morning and goes through until 2pm, is the brainchild of Peter’s son Nathan, a teaching assistant at Banora Point High School.
Nathan said it was a way to remember his father and help others going through the same fight.
“Ninety per cent of the money will go to the Tweed Hospital Oncology Unit and 10 per cent to the Cancer Council of Queensland,” he said.
“The event itself is to recognise the cancer journey that many people in our local community are dealing with on a daily basis, the same journey my father went through for a two-year period,” Nathan said.
“I wanted to mark this with an event and address the battle cancer brings to both young and old.
“It’s a disease that we see all too often in our lives and we want others to know that it is ok to speak up and talk about what they are experiencing; that it is ok to have a bad day and that, on the good days, we should celebrate!”
The choice of what kind of event and where to have it was easy for the Roughhead family.
“Dad used to play touch and rugby league and he grew up in Coolangatta,” Nathan said.
“We hope to make it an annual event and have it continue to grow.”
While nominations have now closed for the event, donations are still being taken and there will be plenty to see and do on the day.
As well as watching the action, there will be plenty of facepainting and other activities for the kids and a lot of items up for auction.
Nathan said he had received a lot of support from local businesses, including Mass Nutrition, the Coolangatta Hotel, St George Bank at Tweed, Britts Meat and Rory Curtis The Good Guys.
