The RFU Injured Players Foundation supports people who sustain a catastrophic injury (CI) whilst playing rugby. The charity provides help and support for both players and their families in the early months of these injuries as well as in the long term and incorporates the former SPIRE Rugby Trust charity.

In addition to this support, the charity takes a more active approach to conducting and supporting research and education aimed at preventing injuries; and identifying how injured players can be helped more effectively….

Anyway, I’ve benefited hugely from the work of this unassuming and under-lauded charity (formerly ‘SPIRE’) since my neck injury back in ’86. They have funded mobility aids, minor adaptations to the house, computer equipment and a few other ‘esoteric’ disability related bits and pieces of equipment to boot. However, being fore-runners in providing this level and sort of support in the sports’ world, there has perhaps been a challenge in how to support injured players, without giving the paradoxical message ‘play sport and get injured!’.

So against that background we’d arranged a meeting with Tim Bonnett from the IPF, to see whether there was any mutual cross-over between our Azalai project and the fund. It was a successful discussion and personally I found it very reassuring to see that the charity had a progressive stance and would be interested in a scheme that promoted ability – rather than disability and ‘victim’ (for want of better expression). Tim undertook to see whether any of their expertise and experience in marketing, PR and the like could help with our aspirations. Importantly he and his colleagues recognised the importance of our retaining control and ownership of the venture. I should clarify that we are not asking the IPF to sponsor the trip per sae, although they might consider helping with the disabled adaptations to the vehicle eg hand controls, transmission conversion, cabin access etc. (I limit my applications to expenses incurred by disability, above and beyond those [expenses] that I would ordinarily and commonly incur without the disability.)

I think it is now only fair that we start to think hard and long about what we can give from this trip. There is a paradox in that if we overstretch our personal funding, that in the future we might render ourselves unduly dependent upon charities ourselves where we might have been more (economically) sufficient! It’s not our intent to be reckless of course – but it’s an interesting point for one to consider and properly balance.

Clearly anything I can do for this charity would be a given, in addition it is quite simply crass to ‘use Africa’ and not look to give something to the host continent too. I am open to ideas, but I feel there’s a natural alliance with charities that look to promote disability in remote areas – charities that design and supply wheelchairs for use in rural and third world areas are something that have always inspired me – although rather shamefully I have done nothing active to date in this regard. (I recall that the OT Technician John Aves, who was incumbent at the Duke of Cornwall Spinal Injuries Centre, Salisbury, when I was an acute patient, was himself involved in one such charity and that stuck in my mind – not that will mean much to you if you didnt meet John – but it’s certainly stuck in my mind as something worthwhile subsequently.) Another area we’d love to support is sustainable conservation. Successful projects should conserve the fantastic and important African wildlife (as it surely must be one of the world’s most precious products) but equally balance this with benefits to the local communities. If this isn’t realized projects are rarely successful or viable in the long run.

I seem to be going off at a bit of a tangent, and clearly whether our trip could be of interest to anyone wishing to sponsor us, or in turn organisations that we might sponsor, is something that needs to evolve (and soon!)

It was a good meeting though, and hopefully we can be of benefit to each other. If nothing else, it was just nice to catch up and hear where things were going with the Injured Players Fund.

I’d like to repeat my note of thanks to Tim and his colleagues here – just for the record and to give them due credit:

Tim,

Anyway, thanks for all of your help and consideration to date. It is appreciated.

Tags: Charity, disability, Ethics, funding, RFU, Sponsorship

Well the next build slot is Feb-April 2010. We’re sweating on holding on the deposit to secure it until we get confirmation of the loan from the bank – a few weeks off yet. OEC report that there is some customer competition too, with someone waiting for a property sale to go through to fund their deposit.  It’s tempting to take the £2k non-refundable gamble as we run the real risk of paying for the loan but not having the vehicle for nearly a year . As the saying goes, ‘you pays yer money and you takes yer chance’ – or not as the case may be.

So this ‘cooling off’ period gives us some time to consider the maths….

We will be paying nearly £8k a year for the next 14 years just to obtain the vehicle. We are budgeting that we’ll need to raise up to £20k for the big trip itself (and we’re ignoring the loss of earnings during the sabbatical!) We are hoping to mitigate some of this financial pressure by overpaying as much as we can early on, and by tapping into any fundraising ventures that we can for the trip itself.

Easily this would be enough money for us both to go to Africa for months each year during the loan period. Sobering.

Cold feet? Not really as the sums add up still – and I still hold firm to the belief that one must underwrite projects such as this before looking to seek funding from other sources. It proves intent and realises the possibility of making the venture happen in the first place.

I’m sure that this will come back to haunt me when the wolf is at the door, and our holiday is a weekend in damp Cornish November. On the plus side a little austerity (we were there before the recession bound politicians) is actually quite a refreshing life change. Less takeaways, less beer equals less waist and a more active lifestyle – an unplanned benefit even at this early stage. It will be interesting to see whether my fortitude holds.

I’m hoping the next entry will be when we secure the slot by deposit.

Tags: finance, funding, money

I’ve asked Rachel to follow-up with OEC regarding the deposit and build time slot. It may be prudent given the declining GBP vs the Euro and the fact that VAT reverts to 17.5% – but it’s a £2k gamble given that the loan is not yet approved. not the best timing, but in the scheme of things these sorts of decisions are exactly the tests that one wants from a project such as this. Certainly it’s a bigger buzz if it’s your own money (as contrasted with working in the public sector).

Tags: deposit, finance, funding, loan, money, OEC

Had our final meeting with the bank and things seem OK. I guess we can do no more than wait for the wheels to turn now. A scary amount of money, but we are confident that the sums add up and it’s ‘affordable’ – in the loosest of terms!

As an aside, but related to the objectives of our project, I had a discussion at work yesterday relating to the blast injuries being taken by servicemen in Afghanistan. The gist of it was that we’d at least have a great Paralympic team come the 2012 Olympiad. Partly this view was driven by the recent BBC documentary ‘Wounded’ featuring a couple of soldiers, now finding themselves in recovery after multiple amputations.

No doubt that a fighting spirit correlates with positive outcomes in adverse and novel situations, but it did get me thinking what did our discussion say about our views on those of us that have never had the experience of being fully able?

Maybe I’m being oversensitive or perhaps PC – but was there an inference that such fighting spirit is only evident following trauma? [Traumatic disability in this case] Do people only achieve if they have lost something?

It doesn’t fit does it? Dame Tanni Grey-Thomson anyone? She seems to have managed to achieve sporting success without the benefit of an insight into abled body-ness (if there is such a word). For that matter and rather obviously, Joe and Joanna Public also are known to do well on occasions too – with no disability whatsoever!

So what does motivate us? Is it what we have lost or is it what we might gain? The truth is both do. We fear and move away from loss and aspire and move towards the rewarding. But I suspect it is easier to attribute success to a discernable event (and there can’t be too many things more ‘obvious’ than having your legs blown off by an improvised explosive device). Aty the other end of the scale we atribute success to people ‘landing a plum job’ or maybe ‘winning the lottery’. This is a shame as it suggests that we might have a behaviour tendency to sit idly by and wait for our own crisis or random good fortune before looking to do something ‘exceptional’.

Think what our potential could be if we avoid this trap.

The difference between people that ‘do’ and people that ‘do not’ bears a sharp correlation with people that succeed and people that ‘just’ live. (At the risk of sounding like an awful self help book – we make our own luck.)

Maybe it’s just that I need to justify to myself, that we are borrowing more than our first house cost us in order to realise our ambition…. Still it’s a point worth pondering n’est pas?

OEC have also emailed to say they are expecting a full order book. We’ll need to move pretty fast if we are to avoid a greatly extended lead time (backed with a £2k deposit), but we are hostage to getting approval from the bank. We can wait for sure as the trip is still years off, but VAT returns to 17.5% in Jan 2010.

Here’s hoping the next posts include firm progress once funding is tangibly in our hands!
Hopefully within the next month or so….

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Tags: biography, deposit, disability, funding, motivation, OEC, philosophy