THE old saying ‘Charity begins at home’ resonates well with Pooran Singh, who made monetary donations to city clubs, Everest Cricket Club (ECC) and Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) while he was visiting the country of his birth for the Easter season.

Singh, who represented the Guyana Youth teams in 1968 and 1969 as a wicketkeeper, now resides in the United Kingdom and is aligned to the Savannah Charitable Trust, which is chaired by former English Test player, Phil Edmonds. He made the donations on Wednesday at the respective clubs in the city.

“I told my chairman (Phil Edmonds) that I am going back home for a vacation and immediately he encouraged me to make the donations to the two clubs that I was associated with as a young cricketer in Georgetown,” said Singh.

On behalf of Savannah Charitable Trust, Singh handed over G$100 000 each to Everest CC and Georgetown CC. At Everest, club president Manzoor Nadir was on hand to receive the timely gesture. Nadir who is also the Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly, thanked Singh for the second such contribution and said that the funds will go towards the restoration of the ECC’s physical photography gallery.

“We need to preserve our club’s rich history which is also captured in photographs and as such we will use the Savannah Charitable Trust grant to standardise our frames and to bring the gallery to fruition,” Nadir told Singh at the presentation which took place at the historic club on Camp Road.

Nadir also provided Singh with a report on the outcome of the previous donation which was done in 2019 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The funds on that occasion were used to kick start the extensive maintenance and physical upgrade works for the comfort for everyone here at Everest,” he said.

Singh, who started his youth cricket career at ECC was pleased with the efforts of the president and executives of his foundation club and he also presented two boxes of Grade A cricket balls to be used for matches and practice sessions.

Over at the GCC, the home of the historic Bourda Test ground, the donation was received by president of the club, Timothy Tucker, in the members’ pavilion.

Tucker, who is also the president of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) told the donor that the funds will go towards the extension of the players’ dressing rooms and to the rehabilitation of the upper level of the members’ pavilion.

Both ECC and GCC continue to be used extensively for local matches at all levels. At the start of the year, both venues were used by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the Under-19 Men’s Cricket World Cup.