On 12th March, ten prisoners and four staff at Altcourse prison, Liverpool, took part in a 20m Triathlon to raise money for RoadPeace, the national charity for road crash victims.
As well as some of the inmates, Phil Nolan, the assistant prison director, Martin Earl, the chaplain, (who lost his brother in a car crash) and staff member Colin Smith, also took part. Martin ended up doing an extra three and a half miles because he thought his bike was set to kilometres and it was actually miles! He was still smiling in the afternoon. Robbi Biddulph, a driving instructor at Insight 2 Drive, who is also the fitness instructor at the prison, organised the event (and was up until midnight the night before printing and ironing T-shirts).
The lads split between the various machines in the gym; running, cycling and rowing and their times were logged to see who was fastest. A huge ghetto blaster was pumping out some deafening, heavy bass, dance music to psych them up and keep them going. They put themselves through a lot of physical effort and pain having already endured a long period of training. All of this despite several of them still suffering serious injuries from their collisions.
David Midmer of RoadPeace witnessed the event and had the opportunity to talk individually to some of the guys. He said “It's great to meet people who are so intense about what they are doing and determined to work hard for a good cause. It’s also very interesting to discover the backgrounds to their stories.” The original idea sprang from inmate Robert who lost a family member in a road crash. He wanted to raise some money for a charity as part of his redemption. He got talking with Daniel who is suffering terrible remorse after killing someone very close to him in a collision. They decided it should be a charity associated with road crash victims.
David, sole proprietor of GOLD STAR professional driving instruction and co founder of Wirral’s newly formed ATLAS driving group works with Kathy Higgins, the founder of Insight 2 Drive, Merseyside. Both are involved in running speed awareness courses for Merseyside police. David said “Kathy knew that my twenty-two year old son, Nathan, had been run over and killed at Christmas 2000 and that I worked as a volunteer with RoadPeace, the national charity for road crash victims.”. Kathy introduced David to Robbi and on 25th February, David visited the prison to talk to the inmates about the work of RoadPeace. This was followed by a very frank interactive session of questions and answers.
RoadPeace was founded in 1992 and receives no statutory or government support. This means it can remain independent when advising on matters of road safety. RoadPeace, therefore, relies totally on the generosity of, mainly, the very people who have suffered road trauma to support its work, so any opportunity such as this is of immense value.
Although RoadPeace welcomes the money (around £1,500 so far (but don't let that stop you donating!), for David the most important things are; firstly, the way these men are putting something positive back into society by their actions but secondly and, overwhelmingly, they are sending out a powerful message to the general public to see what are the consequences of their actions and not to emulate them.
“When someone dies in a road traffic crash everybody loses. The victims obviously, who lose their lives and what was ahead of them, or are seriously injured so that their lives will never be as full and happy as they should be. The victims' families who suffer as they lose a loved one, and the financial burdens which restrict what they can do, emotional problems and so on. Some families have to cope with caring for relatives with terrible physical or brain injuries. Then, of course, the prisoners and their families also miss out on what they should be doing.”
David is looking forward to going back into the prison to meet the lads again and to present them with certificates in recognition of their achievements. RoadPeace wish to thank everyone involved greatly for their dedication, effort and pain. Robbi has worked tirelessly to organise, train, motivate and inspire everyone concerned. Robert has some very intelligent and creative ideas to put out these messages and Daniel desperately wants to tell his story to stop others making the same mistakes. David will do his best to help them achieve their vision.
To everyone who has already made donations, RoadPeace are extremely grateful for your generosity. To those who are about to do so, an equally big thank you. If you’re not sure why you should support RoadPeace, bear in mind that we all have a 1 in 75 chance of losing someone close to us in a road collision. If you experience that tragedy, RoadPeace will be here to support you emotionally and practically. Remember, RoadPeace receives no statutory government funding. Please help if you are able and pass this information to as many people, firms and companies, etc, as you can. We are always looking for sponsorship.
To make your pledge go towww.justgiving.com/RoadPeace-Altcourse-Triathlon Please remember, if you are a UK tax payer use gift aid. This turns every £10 you give into nearly £12 for RoadPeace.If you prefer to pay by cheque please make it payable to RoadPeace, mark it on the back “for Altcourse Triathlon” and send it to RoadPeace, Shakespeare Business Centre, 245a Cold Harbour Lane, Brixton, London, SW9 8RR, United Kingdom Or telephone 020 7733 1603 for other payment options.Please check out the new RoadPeace website www.roadpeace.org and find out more.
