The Racket Man

Meet Jeff Lill AKA ‘The Racket Man’

I’m delighted to introduce you to my Father-in-law, and our kids Grandad, Jeff Lill. Jeff is a retired PE and IT teacher, and now spends most of his days doing the things he loves best; playing and coaching racket sports, helping out his friends with errands, and relishing in aperitifs in the picturesque town where he lives in the South of France.

My husband and co-founder, Tom has early memories of his Dad watching Wimbledon on the TV whilst re-stringing rackets for friends and colleagues on a Sunday afternoon.

Jeff tells me that he would need his racket to be re-strung every 3 weeks when he was at the peak of his tennis abilities in his younger years. Having a racket re-strung so frequently becomes costly, and so Jeff looked into getting his own machine. From that point onwards he became the man who re-strung all the rackets for friends and fellow members of the local racket club. Jeff has done this reliably for decades, and in many different countries, including France, the UK, the US, Canada, and the Cayman Islands.

You might be wondering why you’re reading about rackets?! The answer is that Jeff makes some money for every racket that he re-strings, and since the EI Cure Project started back in February 2023, he has been steadily donating all of his racket-related earnings to the EI Cure Project. To date, he has gifted us a total sum in the region of £350, and he will continue to donate until we reach our goal.

Obviously, I love this story, because Jeff is part of our family, and our kids are really fond of playing racket sports with their Grandad, and are even more fond of visiting Grandad and the beaches in the South of France. But the main reason I love this story, is that what Jeff is doing is really humble and consistent. He’s showing us that every little counts, and that everyone has something in their lives that they can do to help.

So, if you’re willing, have a think about what you could do to help us? It might be that you set up a standing order for a small amount to be donated each month, or perhaps you ask for donations for the EI Cure Project instead of receiving a birthday gift, or maybe you’re one of those people that has a coin-jar in the hallway into which you dump all of your spare-change. All of these are simple ways to help us to make a difference.

Thank you Jeff, we love you dearly, and appreciate all the things that you’re doing to help us xx