13 May 2010 West Midlands Fundraiser Nets £3000
by Pete Mansell & Weatherbys Chase Staff
A season-long fundraiser in the West Midlands Area resulted in a cheque for £3000 being presented to the local Air Ambulance at last Saturday's Wheatland meeting at Chaddesley Corbett.
Pictured left is Maurice Evans of the County Air Ambulance receiving the cheque from Helen Needham of Area Sponsor Callow Oils, flanked by (L-R) Graham Fisher, Martin Harris (and Yogi!) and Holly Needham.
The majority of the final total was raised at the pre-season Preview Evening in November. Local Point-to-Point owners Helen Needham and Graham Fisher came up with the idea of a West Midland Area Preview Evening at the end of the 2008/9 season but it required a lot of hard work before it finally went ahead at Shires Farm, Hawford, near Worcester.
The organisers managed to recruit a varied cross section of the Point-to-Pointing community with Martin Harris (co-author of the Hunter Chasers & Point-to-Pointers Annual since 2002) acting as Master of Ceremonies.
The panel of experts included Tim Vaughan, who is rapidly making a name for himself under Rules, but prior to that had been a very successful rider between the flags.
Former Ladies Champion Claire Allen was joined by current West Midland Area Champion David Mansell, plus local trainers Dick Baimbridge and Fergal O'Brien, who has been the leading trainer in the Area for the last two seasons. Other members of the panel included Dom Bradshaw, the founder and editor of Jumping for Fun and leading Point-to-Point bookmaker Mark Hill, who marked many people's cards by nominating Tim Sage's William Somers as a horse to follow.
After Tim had provided an insight into his career, there were two question and answer sessions, an auction and a Point-to-Point quiz. The major fund raiser during the evening was the sale of West Midland Calendars and a raffle for a wheelbarrow full of booze.
Organiser Graham Fisher embarrassingly won the wheelbarrow on the night but generously agreed to re-raffle the contents during the Worcestershire meeting at Chaddesley Corbett, with the final total reaching £3000 following a donation by Callow Oils.
