The MSA British Rally Championship is delighted to announce that the Gareth Roberts Fund will be its official charity partner.
The Gareth Roberts Fund is in memory of a young Welsh rally co-driving star, known to all by his enduring nickname Jaffa, who was tragically killed in a freak accident on the Targa Florio Rally in Sicily in June 2012. He was just 24-years old.
Since then, the Fund has financially helped a number of drivers and co-driver who have been hospitalised and forced to miss work because of injuries they’ve sustained following an accident on a rally.
And with the help of the BRC teams, events and supporters, the Gareth Roberts Fund has set itself a new goal – to fund a fully-equipped Rescue Unit for stage rallying.
The Fund also wants to encourage competitors to take out personal accident insurance – and Jelf (an award-winning independent insurance broker and financial consultancy, which is part of Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC), one of the world’s largest global brokers) has very kindly offered to donate 20% of its commission from any BRC competitor that takes out a Jelf insurance policy directly into the Gareth Roberts Fund.
It’s appropriate that the partnership between the BRC and the Gareth Roberts Fund is to be launched at the Mid Wales Stages – for despite a large number of rallies taking place in Jaffa’s home country, there is currently no Rescue Unit dedicated to rallying based in Wales.
Dai Roberts, Jaffa’s brother and co-founder of the Gareth Robert Fund said: “I am extremely proud that the MSA British Rally Championship has chosen the Gareth Roberts Fund to be its official charity partner, as both are very close to my heart. Since the Fund was established in 2012, we have been able to help a number of injured drivers and co-drivers, and our ultimate goal is to fund a Safety Unit that can be used on stage rallies. But the biggest thing I would encourage anyone in our sport to do is take out personal accident insurance – from personal experience following a rally accident I had, my family and I would have found it extremely difficult to continue normal everyday life without an income. As competitors we all know the risks and we should protect ourselves.”
Iain Campbell, MSA British Rally Championship Manager, said: “I was shocked when Dai told me that there isn’t a rally dedicated Rescue Unit available in Wales for all the events that happen in the country. If the BRC can help the Gareth Roberts Memorial Fund in achieving its goal in funding a unit, then that has to be a good thing. The BRC is where Gareth cut his teeth on rallying and hopefully we can raise the awareness of the fund, the importance of competitors to have proper insurance in place and to remember a really ambitious, successful and popular competitor who was taken from us too soon.”
BRC registered crews will have the opportunity to carry Gareth Roberts Fund stickers on their cars, and there will be collection points at each round of the BRC. People wishing to do so can also donate on-line, using the secure PayPal system on the Fund’s website: garethrobertsfund.com
