Friends of De Wildt
From DirtyTorque
From bad incidents often comes a lot of good. Following an incident a few weeks ago in which a rider, Nick Swan, was shot in the leg at de Wildt and robbed of his Bum bag and hydration pack, the riders have been spurred into action to ensure this area remains available to us for many years to come.
Firstly a fund was organised so that a reward could be offered for the capture and prosecution of the culprits. We are pleased to report that Nick Swan is doing well after successful surgery to repair his shattered femur, and that the reward worked and the shooter has been positively identified and is in custody awaiting trial.
Secondly, we have just formed a “De Wildt Committee” which will be called “Friends of De Wildt” to arrange projects to create and maintain harmony between locals there and the riders. We have a total of 12 excellent guys on the committee and held our first, very successful meeting on the 11th Nov. A Section 21 company is being registered and projects to be undertaken have been discussed.
Our first project is a Toy Run on the 5th and 6th December, which will also be promoted to the quad community via the “Quad Torque” website.
We ask all dirt bikers to donate new or good used toys to the Toy Run and then to come out and support the Toy Run on either the 5th or 6th of December at De Wildt (Bikers are aiming for the 5th and quads for the 6th, but if you can make either that’s great). Collection points for toys at this stage are: Pro Action in Paulshof, World of Accessories in Strydom Park or Centurion, and Offroad Racing Concepts – so please drop off toys there before the 2nd of December or bring them along to the Toy Run. Anybody attending the Dirt Biker’s Year End Dinner Dance on the evening of the 5th can also drop toys off at the dance (contact Steve Lauter for more info).
We would like to have riders parking at and starting off from 3 different parts of De Wildt to be able to take Christmas into several different communities there –
- The popular old police station at De Wildt
- Morula Sun
- “Salome’s” - the shop at the end of “3 Fences”
“Friends of de Wildt” committee members will get the toys to these points and will coordinate groups of riders to fill their backpacks (which riders should bring along) with toys and head off to various communities to hand out to the children.
We encourage all dirt bikers who ride at De Wildt to subscribe to the “Friends of De Wildt” initiative to help the committee organise projects which will benefit all of us. Supporters will receive a bike sticker showing that they are a contributing “Friend of De Wildt”. Similar but cheaper stickers will also be attached to all toys and any other contributions given so that, through the association, the riders are recognised as .... Friends of De Wildt!
We would like dirt bikers to contribute ideally by way of a monthly debit order, although annual contributions will also be welcomed. More information on this will be available shortly.
A website is being built for Friends of De Wildt (http://www.friendsofdewildt.co.za) but in the meantime, for more information on the initiative, or to offer suggestions, comments, contributions etc you can contact:
- Quinton Ralph, quinton@resolutewealth.co.za, +27 83 308 5135
- Angus Young (Treasurer), Angus.Young@ActLtd.co.za, +27 83 327 0195
- Gary Franks (Publicity), gary@enduroworld.co.za, +27 83 283 1869
- Peter Nieman, Amx1@webmail.co.za, +27 82 376 2657
- Steve Lauter, Steve.lauter@iafrica.com, +27 83 615 8776
- Rich Burnett, rburnett@mweb.co.za, +27 83 443 4444
- Niven Thornhill, nivent@stairs.co.za, +27 82 803 2752
- Gregory Kendall, gmkendall@za.go2uti.com, +27 83 564 9575
- Tom Monahan (Chairman), tom@roxsol.co.za, +27 72 427 0280
- Clint Ralph, clint@smartwaste.co.za, +27 82 331 7200
- Darryl Potgieter (Designer/ Webdude), Darryl.Potgieter@sappi.com, +27 82 969 1956
- Russell Ferreira (Quad Rep), russ@quadtorque.co.za, +27 83 775 9075
