Wife’s charity ball tribute to tragic Tranmere Rovers star

Nov 5 2008 by Matt Hurst, Birkenhead News

THE wife of a former Tranmere Rovers player who collapsed and died on a family holiday two years ago is to host a charity ball in his honour.

John Kerr joined the Prenton Park club as a 16-year-old schoolboy in 1974 and was an important member of the team for a decade before moving on to play for Bristol City, Stockport County and Ostend, among others.

In 2006, aged just 46, John died suddenly while enjoying a family holiday in France with his wife, Joanne, and their two children.

Joanne told the News: “It was completely out of the blue.

“We’d gone on holiday, camping in the Loire Valley in France, like we had done for the last couple of years.

“He was absolutely fine but woke up one day thinking he had indigestion, went for a walk and just collapsed.”

John was working as academy manager at Cardiff City at the time and a post mortem examination later revealed he had suffered a coronary thrombosis, or heart attack.

Joanne said: “He was a lively chap, fit and healthy and led quite an active lifestyle doing his job.”

And now, in honour of her husband, Joanne has started the John Kerr Fund to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

She has organised a charity ball to take place from 7pm at Thornton Hall Hotel on November 22.

Tickets are priced £40, and include a three-course meal accompanied by a live band with a charity raffle to follow.

Joanne said: “I hope to raise as much money as I can, to try and make sense of what happened and try and take some positives out of it.

“I just want to raise awareness and money in his name, and offer that support to a charity that means a lot more than it ever did before.”

l For tickets or more information, please call 07773 586245 or 07900 397125