THE Mourne Motorcycle Club will hold their thirteenth annual off-road charity event in Ballynahinch on Wednesday, June 19th.
The event started in 2007 and at this time the Mourne club has raised more than £80,000 for 24 different charitable causes. This year the event is being held to raise monies for The Jenny Foundation and The Ballynahinch Lions.
Speaking at the launch, Mourne Motorcycle Club Chairman, Billy McLarnin said: “The Mourne club’s charity work started in 2006 and we held our first event for the Children’s Hospice in 2007, which raised £7,500.
“We always try to support something local and when we received Alana’s letter, we knew that then Jenny Foundation was the right choice.
“We also chose the Ballynahinch Lions as they have helped us every year and it is nice for us to help them in return,” he said.
The Jenny Foundation was chosen as one of two recipients this year, due to its close connection to the motocross fraternity, but more importantly, the fantastic work that it has been created to carry out.
The Jenny Foundation was set up in memory of the late Jennifer Newell, by her family, to support children from Northern Ireland who are living with cancer. The foundation’s work will predominantly be carried out through the Cancer Fund for Children, but when a child needs specialised treatment outside of the NHS, the foundation aims to focus support towards them.
Explaining the aim of the Jenny Foundation, Alana Newell said: “All of the money that we raise is to help people in the Province, specifically with the Daisy Lodge.
“Our first event was a charity walk in Annalong on April 13, which raised £1,620, in memory of my mum Jennifer Newell.
“Since then a group of friends raised more money running in relay at the Belfast Marathon,” she said.
The Ballynahinch Lions will receive half of the money raised from this year’s event to help their ongoing charitable work.
Ballynahinch Lions club President Jimmy Green said: “I am a lifelong Mourne club member and it’s great that the club has chosen the Lions this year. Hopefully we will have a great night.”
The event will be held at Millbridge, Ballynahinch, with bikes on the track from 6pm, when there will be solo, quads and sidecars all taking part on the night. Once again, the Mourne club will be helped by The Ballynahinch Lions, Cafe Rossi, Keith Cullen from Herrons Country Fried Chicken and Watsons Flowers on the night.
Admission to the event will cost £5 for adults, while children go free and car parking is also free.
Rider entries for this event are open online and via post… click here
Picture caption: Front row (L-R) – Cecil Newell, Billy McLarnin (Mourne Motorcycle Club Chairman), Alana Newell & Lindsay Newell.
Back row (L-R) – Junior Burrows (Mourne Motorcycle Club), Robert Hamilton (Ballynahinch Lions), Wayne Gibson, John Murphy (Ballynahinch Lions), Mike Richer (Ballynahinch Lions), Francie Casement (Ballynahinch Lions) & Nathan Green (Mourne Motorcycle Club).
