Not only is it a warm welcome back to Dens for our first SPL home game in seven years but we also welcome the return of local charities and health initiatives after the success of last season. The feedback was fantastic and thanks to those wonderful people we met last season, word spread and many people got in touch, including our fans looking to highlight a cause that meant something very special to them. To kick off the season we have Hedzup Racing and Hedzup leader Ian Pert told us how his charity came about and the importance it holds in helping young, and sometimes troubled young people to be part of a team. Please take a moment to talk to Ian and his team in the Bobby Cox and South Enclosure.
Ian told us a bit about the Charity, "It's all youth development stuff that we do but the main product that we run at the moment is a race team called Hedzup Racing, a motorbike racing team. We race all over Scotland and the Isle of Man on bikes built by school kids. It's running at 5 schools in Angus at the moment with more wanting to be involved as well as other secondary schools in Scotland, so it's getting bigger and bigger."
Hedzup is very different to any charity we've hosted at Dens and equally as interesting. The kids involved learn a whole host of things about life, work and social interaction.
"It's all about their personal development, their confidence to be part of something if the kids maybe aren't responding to normal educational routes. We set boundaries. They've got to stick in at school or stay out of trouble with the police, so it's also about their behaviour. The schools sometimes pinpoint kids to get involved but there's also Forfar Academy for instance where it is open to all kids."
The kids are heavily involved in the making of the final product which Ian then races, from buying the parts to perfecting the final product, a feat which they can be proud of.
"They do everything - they prepare it for the race meetings. The bike that we're racing at the Isle of Man this year, the kids bought it on eBay for £300 and they will spend £200 doing it up and I'll be racing it at the Isle of Man. Myself and two of the kids go over for practice week and then another 8 come over for race week. There's too many kids involved for all of them to go to all of the races. We've got 3 riders for the team at the moment racing at the races in Scotland and we've got 30 or 40 kids involved across Angus so we couldn't have them all coming but they all get a chance to put in an application form and then they have to sit an interview.
"It's just like real life and they'll sit an interview with someone from the police and the school. There's only so much we can do at the Isle of Man for instance and all the kids need to have something to aim for. Not only are we racing in Scotland, but we're now looking at also racing in Ireland so all the kids get the chance to go, with the Isle of Man still being the main thing. There's road racing in Ireland and if we can get a bike capable of that we'll take it in turns for each team or school to get a chance to go to Ireland and do some of the roads there. That is what it's about."
When asked what the kids get out of being involved with him and the team at Hedzup the outcomes can be very positive considering some may have had some difficulties in the past.
"We've got quite a number of kids who are now going onto employment and to further education. I'm not saying that it's because of us but it's certainly because of us that they realise the benefit of being part of something, the benefit of keeping their head down and working away on something. It's manners and things that rub off from us, when things are appropriate and when they're not. It could even be about swearing which we take for granted."
"Paul told us about it because I'm in mountain rescue, and have been 12 years now. To be honest, any possibility of us raising our profile is a good thing because we rely on funding from outside. We're not a business as such. We've now set it up as a not for profit company with charity status, so any money that's made goes straight back into the business. We rely on corporate sponsorship, donations from the public as well as applying for funding to run these projects which are getting more and more recognised. It closely involves the police and Tayside Police are heavily involved, have been from the start, and it's because it fosters a much better relationship between the kids and the police because the kids see the police in a totally different light. The police often come along and help us work on the bikes. Policemen and women turning up in their jeans and t-shirt instead of uniform, which the kids are instantly wary of, but they are starting to realise that they're there to help, not to give th
em a hard time."
As always the charities that we host at Dens are invited very much to promote and highlight the hard work that they put in to help those who need it most and Ian talked about what he wants from their visit on Saturday.
"We just want to raise the profile. We're very much a charity or a project that is set up in the Angus and Tayside areas that heavily involves Tayside Police. It's important to get more recognition about what we're doing and what these kids are doing. The more people that see what we are doing, the more chance there is of getting funding. The more funding that we can encourage whether it's corporate, donations, or the funds that are available then the more kids that we can get involved. It's not about turning kids into bikers or motorbike mechanics - there are so many other things involved in it. On the IT side we need kids to look after the website. Next year we are looking to get our hands on a caravan for a hospitality set-up so that anyone who comes along to visit us can get stovies or a bite to eat. We were lucky enough to be guests of Swan Yamaha, one of last year's British Champions of British Superbikes a few weeks ago and when we saw the hospitality side of things, we thought that we could be doing this. We need to get our hands on a caravan and an awning and have some tables set up for anyone coming along to see us."
Highlighting Hedzup in Dundee is particularly important as the charity will be looking to expand into Dundee schools and work is already underway to see this happen.
"We've had several meetings with schools in the Dundee area so we are hoping it will be coming to Dundee in the not so distant future. I would certainly like to see it in Dundee before the end of this year with a view to Dundee kids being involved at the start of next season so we would be at the first races next year with Dundee kids as well."