Hobbies with Charitable Benefits

I’ve followed and held an interest in motorcycles and motorcycling since an early age, but not until just before turning 40 a few years ago, did I take up an interest in photography, and snapping the riders at the various meetings I attended.

So eight years or so ago, and with my son Matty at the ripe old age of 12, I decided to go back to riding bikes, and headed off with Matty to KC Superbikes in Carlisle where I bought myself a nice Triumph Sprint RS 955 and all the gear to kit myself and Matty out. My Current Bike (above) is a Special Edition GSXR750K5

Various trips followed including the Isle of Man TT and various meetings in Ireland - the home of Real Road Racing.

As time went on, I developed a bigger interest in photography, and got more and more into taking action shots at the meetings we were attending.

I’ve developed the photography further into the co ownership of a Road Racing website www.roadracingsupporters.com and the involvement in other sites where together with other photographers we post up pictures from the meetings we have attended.

My interest in photography is more of a hobby, but recently a few of us got together, and with their help I produced a calendar which when it sold out within 2 months, raised £1300. We donated this money to two Manx based charities who cover the medical support for the TT and the Manx Grand Prix.

On the 19th April, I attended the Spring National at Oliver’s Mount in Scarborough, and one of my pictures (left) is now to be published in an Irish magazine specialising in Real Road Racing. The small fee that I received for this picture is going as a donation to one of the Manx charities. This was the only photograph of the incident and both riders were out again in the following races!
Kevin Collier

Beating Dyslexia

When Kath Smart rang me up and said she wanted to do a feature about me for the Carlisle Living Magazine, I thought, what could anyone find interesting about me. But we got chatting and when I started telling her about my days at school, she was really keen that people should know about the problems I had with Dyslexia.

Of course, at the time no one recognised I suffered from this learning disability and because the teachers at that time didn’t pick up on it, my days at school were the worst time of my life.

I hated school. I thought I was just stupid and I couldn’t understand why I found it really hard to read yet I excelled in other subjects like Maths. I used to dread English classes where we had to read out loud.

I still wouldn’t have realised that Dyslexia was the root of the problem until my son and one of my daughters were having similar problems a year ago.

What do I think of Dyslexia now? Well it certainly made me stronger and more determined to succeed. It is fascinating to discover more about the condition for instance it is well known that Dyslexics tend to be highly creative people who can look at things from lots of different angles. They tend to be creative, inspirational and passionate.

I have had lots of good feedback, which is a credit to Kath. Many, people, having read the article in the Carlisle Living Magazine have told me about famous films stars and business entrepreneurs that are Dyslexic like Albert Einstein, Richard Branson and Tom Cruise.

To be likened to amazing people like this is great. I just wish I had the looks of Tom Cruise also!

David Allen