2009 Overall Champion Paul Moss the Annual General Meeting of The

The Club News Magazine Of The Darlington & District Motor Club The Annual General Meeting of the Darlington & District Motor Club Will Be Held at The Copper Beach Nesham Road Darlington 8pm Wednesday 31st March 2010 Calling Notice & Nomination Form Enclosed 2009 Overall Champion Paul Moss ADD Photos We are the Champions Pictures from the recent D&DMC Awards Night held at Scotch Corner Hotel Pictures courtesy of Tony Todd More on back pages Chairman's Chat We are of to a flying start in 2010 we have already run our first event the “Cartersport Jack Frost Stages, and what a cracker it turned out to be. With the weather being slightly arctic with 2 weeks to go was it to be a rally or a sledge race, the Christmas Stages run slightly later than originally planned was, despite the efforts of the organisers a bit on the sledging side. They had cleared several inches of snow and ice off the circuit before the event and we were poised to do the same however the snow turned to slush and then to water and flooded several parts of the circuit just 24 hours before the event was it now to be a rally or a powerboat race? The day of the event came and just like the snow and ice most of the water had gone as well and despite being cold the track stated to dry in places. A special thank you to the “set up team” who worked in some really horrible weather the week before. Only to turn up the day before the event and have to move a lot of what we had laid out when it became apparent that the bales and tyres marking the route were not exactly where we planned them to be as it was the first time we could see the difference between Grass and Tarmac. The competitors seemed to enjoy the event and a big thanks to all the radio crews and marshals who turned up with out them it could not happen. We will also have had the Annual Dinner & Prize Presentation which will no doubt be mentioned elsewhere. Up coming is the AGM which gives you the members a chance to have your say in how the club is run you also to have the opportunity to put your name in the hat at the election of officials and committee members and help to run “Your” Club. It would be good to see some new blood in the ranks and especially find some willing volunteers to fill the motorcycle committee positions that still remain vacant. You don’t need to sell your soul just help out at events and attend half a dozen meetings every year. Enough for now Steve NSSCC We start the season with the sad news that former coordinator David Dalton has died. As many of you know David has been ill for some considerable time, but he has still managed to come along and support the championship at Croft. He will be sadly missed by the many friends he made during his time as coordinator of the championship and the Sports Racing series. I have on behalf of the championship passed on our condolences to his wife Sue, son Alistair, and daughter Hillary. Sue has asked me to thank everyone who sent messages to the family over the last week; they have greatly appreciated the support shown to them. 2010 will see a change in the format of the events for NSSCC, we have opted for double header rounds this year. Having consulted with many of the competitors it was felt that this was a more cost effective way of going motor racing. The dates for the diary are 17/18th April Croft BARC 8/9th May Croft DDMC 3/4th July Croft BARC 25th July Knockhill SMRC 1st August Mallory Park BARC 22/2nd August Cadwell Park MSVR 25/26th September Croft DDMC Entry forms are not yet available but watch the website for updates. I will post them out as soon as I receive them. Registrations so far are moving quite quickly, remember that we are running combined grids this year so it will be important to get entries in quickly to secure a grid slot. I have received registrations from competitors new to the championship, regular competitors and even a couple of people who have taken time out to do other things are coming back. Everyone is welcome and this will add to the already varied mix of vehicles taking to the circuit. As ever if you wish to contact me please email me either via the club site or [email protected] regards Lesley NSSCC This week sees the end of an era for Martin, Debbie and Tom Neale, they have decided that it is the time to close the Katie Trust. They have over the last 11 years worked tirelessly to raise money for research into the causes and detection of childhood Medulloblastoma, brain tumours. I have attached an email Martin sent to me this week to show the appreciation of they have for the club and championships support. They have achieved the staggering amount of £320,000. It has been a privilege for me to get to know them, through working at the same newspaper as Martin. We only met because I was trying to drum up a bit of free publicity for the motor club and the events. We became firm friends and the motor club and championship adopted the charity, initially for a year, but 10 years later we have still been happy to help. The club would like to thank everyone who has given so generously to events and raffles we have held. Please read the information from Martin, I am sure that you will find it extremely interesting and that like so many of us are amazed at how they have found the strength to do the work after loosing such a precious daughter as Katie. Martin Neal on behalf of the Katie Trust Thanks again for the tremendous support we have received from DDMC over the past 10 years. I think I'm right in saying that you have contributed around £10,000 to The Katie Trust in that time, which is an incredible amount. We really can't express our thanks enough to everyone who has played a part. The support hasn't been just financial either - the stickers on cars in the NSSCC has helped to raise awareness, and on every visit to Croft I'm always asked how the charity is progressing and what we have been up to. It means a lot to know that so many people are taking an interest. We're going to miss it, there's no doubt about that. But the time is right we no longer have the time or resources to devote to it and, after 11 years, we think it's time to close The Katie Trust. Our intention was always to honour the memory of our precious daughter and the last thing we would want is to do it half-baked so we've decided to quit while we're on top. We fully believe we have fulfilled our aim of doing something worthwhile in Katie's name. Since launching in 1999, more than £320,000 has been raised by The Katie Trust and its supporters. When we first started I thought we'd do well if we raised £50,000! We've used that money to fund research into medulloblastoma brain tumours from a point where very little was known about them to the stage where clinical trials are being planned to target this type of tumour because so much more has been learned about their make-up and their reaction to varying degrees of treatment. In short, this means that the lives of little children like Katie will be saved as a result of money provided by The Katie Trust. We've also provided specialist equipment, helped the parents of children with cancer and put a well-deserved smile on many, many faces by organising annual summer parties for children in the North-east who are suffering from the disease and its effects. We now have around £2,000 to raise in order to pay the final instalment on our fourth research post at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research in Newcastle, and we expect to conclude that shortly. We've already started handing over some of our assets to a new charity called Victoria's Wish which was founded by the family of a school friend of Tom's who died suddenly at the age of 19 just over a year ago. Victoria and her family were big Katie Trust supporters so we are pleased that, although indirectly, we can still play a small part in brightening the lives of kids who deserve it by helping them in their efforts. We have already donated our collecting buckets and some stationary and we'll be handing over more in the next couple of months. Once again, we really can't thank you enough for everything you have done for us - for helping to make the Katie Trust the success it has been. MARTIN Quiz Nights The Tees Group of Clubs, of which DDMC is a member, host a number of Inter Club quiz nights through the year and back in December we took a turn. With the questions set by Paul & Julie, 8 teams settled down to a night of brain churning questions and picture rounds with a break half way through for supper.

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