Movie on racer Roy hits £5k target for charity

Movie on racer Roy hits £5k target for charity

6 October 2021

A FILM on the life of one of Northern Ireland’s most popular road racers has hit its £5,000 target for the Children’s Kidney Fund.

Produced by Colin James and Rowland White, the DVD film entitled ‘Ray McCullough — Held in Admiration’ was hugely well received, with all those associated with the project delighted that the fundraising target has been surpassed.

McCullough — who was one of the best and most modest road racers of all time — said he was “overwhelmed” that the film about his career in racing had contributed towards making life much better for so many children.

A member of the famous Dromara Destroyers, the mercurial McCullough famously defeated the late Barry Sheene when he was in is pomp on the world stage when the pair raced at the Bishopscourt circuit.

He was also awarded a BEM in the Queen’s Birthday Honours and was the guest of honour at a special celebration day held at Queen’s University to recognise his incredible achievements.

Queen’s was where McCullough helped design and build the ground breaking road racing machines he rode to many victories across the province during a glittering career.

McCullough was also a valuable member of the highly skilled team in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Queen’s for 38 years where, as chief technician, he worked on cutting edge engine development with academics and alongside high profile manufacturers such as Yamaha. 

News that the film about his life passed the fundraising target has been welcomed by the patron of the Northern Ireland Children’s Kidney Fund, Stephen Watson, who was recently presented with a cheque.

“I am thrilled to receive this contribution on behalf of the charity,” he said.

“Many thanks to everybody involved especially, Ray, Colin and Rowland for their generosity in giving the profits from the DVD sales to the charity. 

This donation will make a massive difference to so many young people and their families across Northern Ireland.”

The film’s producers have been working on films about road racers for some time and associate this with two other major productions — ‘Tom and Andrea – The Racing Years’ which raised in the region of £5,000 for two charities,Two Wheels for Life and Air Ambulance.

The duo’s production of ‘Brian Steenson — the last lap’ also raised in excess of £4,000 for Air Ambulance NI.

Unfortunately, unlike the films about Tom Herron and Brian Steenson, Colin and Rowland were not able to hold a launch night for Ray McCullough’s film due to the prolonged Covid restrictions.

But they added: “It is great though to be able to help such charities at a time when Covid has curtailed many forms of fundraising.”

Copies of ‘Ray McCullough – Held in Admiration’ are available from roadracingmemorabilia.co.uk.