Stars from sport came together to help support the great work by volunteers to raise millions for Sport Relief on Friday night.

Kent Cricket’s Adam Riley and Assistant Coach, Matt Walker were just a couple of the local sporting stars that came out to support the team at Chaucer Direct in Whitstable as they manned the phones to take donations.

Supported by 2012 wheelchair rugby star Andy Barrow and former Fiji international rugby player Nicky Little, the team took to the phones at 7pm as the charity raised over £51 million for good causes.

With over 110 volunteers having done a full day’s work before taking to the phones, Matt Walker was thrilled to have been given the opportunity to be part of the special event:

“I am very honoured to have been asked and it’s been great to see how it all works.”

“It’s been organised chaos, but all for a really good cause. Sport Relief is a really big thing now and a great fundraiser for great causes, whether it be local or national.”

“For the guys to have given up their time and man the phones, it’s priceless. At Kent we try to get out and support these kinds of things and seeing as it is Sport Relief, it’s important that we play our part.”

As for Riley, he was pleased that he had been asked to cut the ribbon and launch the event in Kent:

“Being local to Whitstable, it was great to get involved and it’s interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes.”

“On Tv you see so much, but you don’t get to see how the money is raised and the work that goes on at the call centres.”

“It just goes to show what sport can do, getting a town or region together to raise money for such a great cause.”

Nicky Little may not have been brought up in Kent, but now working with the likes of Canterbury Rugby Club, the international rugby star realises the importance of events such as Sport Relief:

“I am a bit overwhelmed to have been asked to come in and take part for such a good cause.”

“Being a professional, you don’t always get the time to do so much of this kind of stuff, although we would always like to.”

“Now I am no longer part of the animal, I can’t do enough, helping out and doing whatever I can.”

“Thankfully they haven’t let me loose on the phones, because if anyone was going to do anything wrong, that would be me!”

Andy Barrow was another to have been asked to come along and support the event and having worked closely with Chaucer Direct in the past, he was only too pleased to do his bit:

“It’s fantastic. I have had some involvement with Chaucer for a few years now and it’s been a real privilege to have been asked along to help out at a call centre for Sport Relief.”

“To have 110 people manning 75 phones at any one time is really special and it shows how it can galvanise people for charity.”

“We are still riding the wave from 2012 and people still understand how cool volunteering can be. Sport really does bring us all together.”

There’s still chance for people to make their donations to Sport Relief and all the details can be found at: http://www.sportrelief.com/

For more about the charities that benefit from the work Chaucer Direct do, click here: http://www.chaucerdirect.co.uk/Community/March-2014/Sport-Relief-in-Kent