| The Joey Dunlop Injured Riders Fund (Isle of Man) - Bulletin | ||
Hello supporters, Now the dust has settled after the T.T. fortnight and by the way, that dreadful Van Morrison evening at the Villa (thanks Barbara), I thought I would provide you with our latest up-date so far….. Even though we could not be fully active during what are the busiest weeks of the year for any charity / fund, I am pleased to advise, that we have managed to attract some good donations during this time by opening the Hailwood Centre for the sale of our Joey memorabilia wares and also by attending various events surrounding T.T. week. Personally, I think we have done extremely well under the circumstances, and as I did not get involved in some of the fund raising events (I tend to organise this particular kind of work for the charity), Barbara, our Chairperson, and Kevin Quirk, our Treasurer, have done a fantastic job and worked very hard indeed! I'm sure many of you saw the article in the local newspapers last week where a picture of Barbara was featured and mentioned the struggle she and Kevin experienced when setting up their Joey memorabilia stall at the Villa. This was in itself very unusual, as it was supposed to be a Joey Dunlop Tribute night after all, hence that was why David Cretney gave the passes and mentioned to me personally, that this was supposed to be "our night". Upsetting as this evening turned out to be, we just have to put it behind us and continue stating to the public what we are trying to achieve and what we stand for. Another upsetting comment that has recently been brought to our attention, is that certain members of the public, most of which have been and are very supportive, remain totally confused because of the "Joey Dunlop" wording that our fund soon to be charity stands for. This is totally understandable, and that is why we have all been so active in promoting what we are trying to achieve by continuing from the "Joey Dunlop Memorial Fund" to the "Joey Dunlop Injured Riders Fund". Don't forget, the memorial fund was originally aimed and set up for Linda Dunlop our Patron, to assist her with the building of a museum in the memory of Joey near their home in Ballymoney. As we had no memorial fund continuing on the Isle of Man, we all decided to name the new fund, albeit with the same objective of building something in the memory of Joey, "the Joey Dunlop Injured Riders Fund" so that the public and supporters of Joey could ensure there was something built to last; we also felt that this would be something that would also benefit the Island and disabled / injured riders alike. This is why we initially had two objectives from the inception of the fund last November. The first objective, as many of you are aware, was to assist the Isle of Man Government with the building and funding of a Lift Hoist to be situated if possible, at the Grandstand area to ensure as many disabled people (not just riders), could really enjoy the Islands road races. Because of David Cretney's position in Government and the constant liaison with David and Government members, we asked if David would like to join us as an additional adviser to the fund (we already had John Houghton M.H.K, who has proved to be invaluable) in order for us to work together for the good of the fund. You can imagine how we all felt, (Barbara more so than any of us), when David together with other Government officials, invited us to quite a high profile meeting one day last February at the grandstand, where plans of the Lift Hoist were displayed and provided for all at the meeting to peruse and discuss. We were very happy that this had happened as although Barbara had originally discussed this with David, she was never sure that it was going to be built quite so quickly. At this particular time, we all thought the Lift Hoist had a good chance of being built prior to this years T.T. festival, and I think I am right in saying that it is now complete. Not bad for our first objective. Bear in mind, that no matter what you hear about the people who have been involved in this project, the fund members have been involved from the very beginning with all the motivation for this project; whether this will ever be mentioned, remains to be seen. However, from the JDIRF(IOM) committee members point of view, the most important factor is that the Lift Hoist is in situe and ready for the next road race event. The second and last objective of our fund to make you all fully aware so there is no confusion in what we are trying to achieve, is the building of a disablement travel lodge. This, we all feel is well overdue, and desperately needs to be built. Linda Dunlop is very happy about this lodge as it is something Joey would like to have seen himself. This lodge will take a lot of time, but we are very optimistic that it will be built and will definitely be named in Joey's memory. We are really trying here to do the right thing by not only Joey and his memory but the Island in general. It is intended that the lodge will be comfortable and benefit any disabled person when visiting the Island for 46 weeks of the year with the remaining 6 weeks for injured riders. All involved in our committee are fully committed and are professionals in their own right having strengths in areas that make this fund so special. You, the public can make a difference and help our cause by donating and supporting us as much as possible when we hold any future fund raising days / nights. The fact that so many of you helped Barbara and Kevin during the T.T. fortnight has made these long hard months all worth while. Before I sign off from this rather poignant publication, I would like to state: "that under no circumstances has the fund benefited from monies via ticket sales from the Van Morrison evening. We are truly an independent fund and any cash that has been or will be raised in the future is due to the public and at their own discretion when they chose to divert part of their hard earned cash towards our cause. Not forgetting our supporters who are selling special Joey memorabilia on our behalf or as an independent body, who then donate part of their money to the fund". Thank you for all your hard work. The only assistance we are currently receiving at the moment is from the collection boxes based in all Heron and Brearley's public houses and also people selling certain wares as stated above. These people or supporters as I like to call them, are truly invaluable to our fund and we cannot thank them enough. I shall return after our next meeting (to be held next week) with a further up-date to ensure you are all aware of the Charity's progress; I will also be mentioning certain groups / individuals who have been working very hard towards contributing further donations for our fund during this last month. Thank you for reading this publication. All the best, Angela G. Wood Fund Secretary / organiser PS: If you wish to make a donation towards the proposed disablement lodge or require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact either one of the Charity's Trustees: Barbara Wood - 01624 628089 Kevin Quirk - 01624 677606 Angela Wood - 01624 625941
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