A CRICKET legend has presented a cheque to a charity appeal, at an event held at Worcester's Sixways Stadium.

An Evening with Sir Ian Botham took place at Worcestershire County Cricket Club with an audience of 360 people in attendance.

The event was organised by Worcestershire Ambassadors to raise money for the Rory the Robot Appeal, which set out to raise £300,000 for a state-of-the-art machine.

The machine can help support patients to suffer less pain, minimal blood loss, quicker recovery and reduced complications.

The Worcestershire Ambassadors had already agreed to match fund the sum raised during the evening, meaning the membership organisation was able to ask the former England cricket captain to present a cheque for £60,000 to ambassador Ian Jukes, chairman and founder of the Rory Appeal.

The event also included a dinner, and a question and answer session hosted by BBC Midlands Today Nick Owen.

Vince Hopkins, chairman of the Worcestershire Ambassadors, said: “These funds have ensured that the NHS Trust will now procure the much needed machine in the coming months.

"The Rory Appeal has raised £320,000 in just three years under the driving leadership of Ian Jukes and the hard work and dedication of the Rory Appeal committee.

"The Ambassadors have now contributed £100,000 to this - my wholehearted thanks to the Ambassadors involved in organising the event, which was one of my proudest moments as chairman.”

Mr Jukes added: “Sir Ian Botham and Nick Owen were both star attractions and very popular with the audience. I can only describe the evening as ‘amazing’ – what a showcase for how dedicated the Worcestershire Ambassadors are to driving this county forward.

"Their commitment to supporting Rory the Robot Appeal is truly phenomenal.”

The event was organised and led by Phil Dutton, Tracey Hopkins, Yvonne Tivey from SME Solicitors with organisational support too from Phil’s Handelsbanken team. Support and sponsorship from Gemini Accident Repairs, Browns at the Quay, DRP and ARMOS Promotions was significant as it meant that all of the ticket money from the 360 attending guests goes direct to the Rory Appeal.

Over the past 12 years, the Worcestershire Ambassadors have raised nearly half a million pounds towards Worcestershire charities.

For more details visit worcestershireambassadors.com and worcestershire.nhs.uk/rorytherobot.