2024 Joey Dunlop Foundation Chairman's Report...

Mon, 15 Jan 2024

Saturday 13th January 2024 saw the annual dinner at the Best Western Palace Hotel and the Foundation wish to thank everyone who were able to attend, especially those of whom travelled overseas. It was a pleasure to have Linda Dunlop (Patron of the Charity) join us once again; Linda and the family held a Black-Tie Dinner in November last year which again raised thousands of pounds for the JDF. These evenings do take a lot of planning and effort to make happen and they simply wouldn’t be successful without our band of loyal supporters so thank you all for your continued support.

The highlight of the night is the draw for the Tombola with this year’s first prize being the stunning Honda Grom in Rothman’s racing colours. Clive’s team at Spray Bay know how to turn out fantastic bikes and I think personally this has to be my favourite. Congratulations to Libby Napier of Lincolnshire who is the lucky winner and Libby will have the machine delivered to her in the next week or two. This year’s bike is another fantastic Honda Grom in Honda RC30 racing colours based on Joey’s RC30, ‘The Old Girl’ as he used to call it. Tickets will be available soon and details posted on the charity’s website and Facebook page.

You may have seen that Saturday 13th January 2024 also saw the official unveiling of the John Harris Suite at Braddan Bridge House. John’s brother, Steve, and sister, Yvonne, did the honours and it was great to see so many close friends join us for the ceremony. John fully supported the Charity from when it was first founded and managed to get the JDF into many lucrative venues, functions and events over the years. John was immensely proud of the achievements he and the Foundation made and when Braddan Bridge House officially opened in 2010 he, as well as the rest of the committee members past & present, knew that this was the perfect legacy in honour of Joey Dunlop.

Braddan Bridge House had another very busy summer throughout 2023. TT and Manx Grand Prix periods are always going to be popular with disabled guests who love to watch the racing. The Foundation could fill the apartments ten times over each year, such is the demand from all the disabled motorcycle road race fans. Bookings have been taken for this year’s events and for those who were unable to secure a booking, please do contact us on the charity’s email address so we can place you onto the cancellation list. Occasionally we do have bookings that get cancelled so we can offer up spaces to those who are next in line.

Some of you will know that the viewing balcony is a large area and as such we can take specially invited guests in to view the races. With the Hospice centre just a couple of minutes up the road we were able to accommodate a wonderful gentleman during TT23. If anyone who has difficulty finding a suitable vantage point due to their disability, please do get in touch to see if we can help for future events.

Each year the Foundation completes certain projects at the apartments and for 2024 we have invested quite a few thousand pounds into refurbishing one of the wet rooms. New non-slip flooring along with bright and easy clean walling has been installed and we are also hoping to replace the old sofa beds with new, superior quality ones as the existing ones have had their day! These don’t come cheap so the Charity is hoping to secure some grant funding as well as our own funds to help cover the cost of these.

As I have mentioned many times before, so many people, businesses and organisations assist the Joey Dunlop Foundation each and every year. Your support is greatly appreciated and we hope that you all continue to do so throughout 2024.

Bruce Baker

Chairman: Joey Dunlop Foundation