They’re hotter than a scooter’s exhaust pipe and they’re selling quicker than umbrellas in a monsoon. The new racy calendar produced by the South Wales-based Valley Dragons Scooter Club is all revved-up to help Healing The Wounds, the Welsh charity which helps victims of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).
And sales of the calendar are moving faster than Lewis Hamilton off the Grand prix grid! “We’ve got a feeling the calendars are turning out to be something of a collectors’ item,” smiled one of the calendar organisers, Wayne Edwards. “The calendars are going like hot-cakes. Everyone likes the theme we have come up with and I think a lot of people are buying them as Christmas presents for friends and colleagues.
“It’s great as 100 per cent of the funds raised by the sale of the calendar go directly to Healing The Wounds, which is a very worthwhile charity which helps our brave servicemen and servicewomen get their lives back on track.”
The calendar features the Valley Dragons Scooter Club’s own humorous take on sex appeal. “It’s all very tongue-in-cheek,” said Mr Edwards. “There may be scantily-clad ladies or gentlemen in each snap. But, you’ll find that in most cases the appeal of the flesh is being ignored as people are more interested in the scooters! “Which is, of course, what you’d expect from scooter enthusiasts!”
“It’s all been done with humour in mind and the end result is very important to us – to raise money for Healing The Wounds.
“Healing The Wounds is a Welsh-based charity seeking to treat people who suffer from PTSD in Wales, which we think is very important. Also, they do not discriminate on the grounds of conflict like other charities, who will only treat people who have been involved in recent conflicts such as Afghanistan and Iraq.”
Mr Edwards added: “We have members of our club who have been involved in conflicts in past years and who now suffer with PTSD. Our members have witnessed at first hand the horrid nature of PTSD and we felt it was our duty to help support our brave men and women who have served to protect our safety with little thought or regards for their own safety.”
Mr Edwards said the original idea for the calendar came from member Paul Hudspeth, but the other club members readily joined in and added their own ideas and contributions. He added: “We all had great fun making the calendar and we hope that people will also have great fun buying it and hanging it on their wall for a bit of amusement which will go a long way to helping a deserving charity.” Healing The Wounds executive director Kevin Richards said he was delighted with the calendar.
“It’s great fun and I hope people support the scooter club by buying plenty of copies,” he said. The Valley Dragons Scooter Club is celebrating its 10th year as a scooter club after deciding to form a splinter club from the Newport Dragons Scooter Club. To mark their anniversary, they have undertaken a number of charity events, including soul nights and an Easter Egg run to Ty Hafan Children’s Hospice and the children`s wards of the two major hospitals based in Newport and Cardiff.
The calendars are on sale, priced at £6 each with postage and packing estimated to be in the region of no more than £2.50. The calendars are A3 size and finished in a glossy nature with a thicker front cover and cardboard rear cover.
Cheques should be made out to the Valley Dragons Scooter Club and should be sent to Mr Wayne Edwards, 27 Albion Terrace, Blackwood, Caerphilly, NP12 1DH.Email: [email protected] or [email protected]
The Healing The Wounds charity was set up in January 2010 to help provide PTSD treatment for members of the armed forces and veterans. It aims to set up a Welsh base for the treatment of PTSD. It is already arranging treatment courses and building a team of counsellors who can treat PTSD.
