I went to Stoke Mandeville today..

[windowrest]

I'm skint, but I am up for a work party... If this is a venue for para olympics there may be a plan in place to make it shiny for 2012, no harm in a tidy up in the mean time though...

[Dinkum dude]

No one has mentioned or has offered to supply the eager beavers anything to work with yet, It wouldn't be good to turn up with nothing for the rebuild

I run a building company and have a fair bit of clout when it comes to purchasing materials, I know that one of my main suppliers does a lot of fundraising events for charity and are very likely to offer some very good help to this very worthy cause if I were to bend the right ears

Let me know if I can help, give me a list of what you guys need and i'll pass it on to the right people. For a start I'm pretty sure I can get my hands on some ex display stuff for free eg. Bathrooms and kitchen for sure, it will just need to be transported.

[lightning22]

I take it Jimmy Saville isn't into shooting then?

Rich

[Nealsey]

No one has mentioned or has offered to supply the eager beavers anything to work with yet, It wouldn't be good to turn up with nothing for the rebuild

I run a building company and have a fair bit of clout when it comes to purchasing materials, I know that one of my main suppliers does a lot of fundraising events for charity and are very likely to offer some very good help to this very worthy cause if I were to bend the right ears

Let me know if I can help, give me a list of what you guys need and i'll pass it on to the right people. For a start I'm pretty sure I can get my hands on some ex display stuff for free eg. Bathrooms and kitchen for sure, it will just need to be transported.

That's good stuff, materials are a good thing and extremely necessary to get any project off the ground. I have spoken to Terry D about getting some requirements and a detailed plan of the existing place to establish just what the scope of the project will be.

It will need help from all quarters though, fund raising, contributions, labour, materials etc. An exact scope needs to be estblished before we can start getting the stuff and workforce together.

Hopefully Terry can liaise with the Stoke Mandeville people to get some
details to work from.

Nealsey

[Troubledshooter]

My father was an inpatient at Stoke Mandeville for quite a few years in the late forties and early fifties, and along with the usual therapeutic activities designated suitable for paraplegics, he became very good at Archery, even though he had never touched a bow in his life before that time, being a University rower and golfer.
I can't remember him saying anything about a shooting club, but even if there were one in existence at the time, he wouldn't have belonged to it as he was extremely anti gun. I was never allowed an air pistol at home, and even toy guns as gifts were discouraged.
I remember he had nothing but praise for the therapists at Stoke, apart from frequent references to their only skill requirement being a degree in Masochism, or words to that effect , who helped him immeasurably, and it is very sad to hear of the decline in the standard of shooting facilities offered.
I wonder if they still practice Archery as well.

[snock]

I wonder if they still practice Archery as well.

I believe they do.

I'm trying to locate the website I found last night which lists some of the activities they do. I'm sure archery was on it.


Edit: it's here.
More.
Yet more.

[Big Mafoota]

Whatever it is that gets arranged, I'm in.

[Smokeless Coal]

Just done a bit of publicising, hope something can be done.

There but for the grace of god.

[JERICO]

If anyone has a spare seat going from Essex I'l lend a hand.

I don't have a specific trade but I'm good at knocking things down, lighting fires, using knifes and hammers as screwdrivers etc

[sparky]

I've spoken to Bill Saunders and John Cooper about this in the past and there is a plan once John gets it all sorted to have a side shoot at the Nationals, and also i think we have just found our annual charity shoot!!!!!

Terry we will also get a bucket out at the booking-in areas at the shoots, starting this coming Sunday at Anston.

Pete

[Born Again]

Put me down for a days work. Ex spark and can bring generator, tools and welding gear.

[Terry D]

If there wasn't a swear-filter on here I'd tell you all how fantastic you are.

I'll be speaking to the people concerned in a few hours time, after which I'll let you all know. I'm fancying this BBS work party idea, though. Perhaps a scouting party will have to go in first to suss it out and sort out materials required, but I'm sure we can arrange that.

I'll be back!

[ikarma70]

Terry i know i'm not in work at mo but count me in for a donation,only too happy to do my bit

pretty disgraceful to think that these disabled shooters have to endure cold draughty and damp facilities when the rest have warm cushy facilities.

[u.k.neil]

Terry

If you can give me a couple of weeks notice when you organise a Fund Raiser, I will donate a box of my bits to be sold or auctioned to raise a few pennies for this admirable cause.

I too felt ashamed and humbled at this sad state of affairs and it has made me realise how lucky we able-bodied shooters are and that we should have nothing to moan or worry about.

All the very best in this venture.

Neil

[Smokeless Coal]

This might be a big job, are we looking at dressing up a rusty old nissan hut of should we be looking more long tern and a complete new building?

A new structure would require some serious money behind it. Perhaps planning permission. A modern prefab building might do it, are we just looking at airguns or is bigger stuff being fired?

I'm thinking it may need help from the media. There could be a good story here. We are talking about disabled at one of the countries top hospitals, a place where paralympians train, a National Sports facilty, another disgrace whilst Labour are in power. So many angles that could be used by the press.

What sort of funding would we be looking at? 20k, 50k, 100k? A trifling ammount when you consider how much is being spent on 2012. Theres plenty of major contractors sitting idle waiting to start on that project, perhaps they should practice on this one first.