North of England Branch Donate £1,000 to Beattie Statue Appeal Friday, 10th May 2019 11:00 The North of England Branch of the ITFC Supporters Club have donated £1,000 to The Beat Goes On, the campaign raising funds for a statue of their life president Kevin Beattie, while another individual supporter has also sent a cheque for £1,000. Carlisle-born Beattie joined the North of England Branch for their AGMs, which are held around Town away games in their region. “He hosted a couple of our AGMs, including our last one in Leeds. It’s a pleasure to put this money forward for him,” Branch chair Pat McAdam told Mark Murphy's breakfast show on BBC Radio Suffolk. “He’d come from the start of the AGMs and stay right until the end of the night. He always had time for everyone, quite often pre-match as well, we usually had a chat with him earlier on before the match.” McAdam says there are no plans for anyone else to take on Beattie’s role: “He was life president and there’s no doubting that the presidency will be retired.” The Beat Goes On is chaired by Brad Jones, editor of the EADT and Ipswich Star, who welcomed the donation. “It is very, very generous of them, a really great gesture and a massive help for the campaign as well,” he said. Jones has also been sent another donation of the same size this week: “A couple of days ago I received a cheque in the post for £1,000 from an individual who wants to remain anonymous, which we’ll 100 per cent respect. “He wrote a really nice letter to me saying what a fantastic player Beat was and he just really wanted to support the campaign. Thank you very much to that person, we’re really, really grateful.” Led by the EADT and Ipswich Star in conjunction with BBC Radio Suffolk and TWTD, The Beat Goes On was launched on December 18th last year on what would have been Beattie’s 65th birthday. The current target is £110,000, although it is hoped that figure will be reduced as the campaign progresses. “I would say, including the plinth donation, we’re at about £53,000 or £54,000 now,” Jones added. “We’ve got a big event next week, there’s obviously the big event at the Gainsborough Labour Club tonight.” Tickets are still available for next week’s big event, the black-tie gala evening at Greshams on Friday where a number of Beattie’s team-mates will be present. A small number of tickets are also still available for this evening’s event at Gainsborough Labour Club which George Burley will be attending to reminisce about his time playing with Beattie. Other events coming up over the summer include screenings of Escape to Victory at Greshams on June 12th and 13th where Russell Osman, Laurie Sivell and Kevin O’Callaghan will be telling stories from the film in which Beattie was Michael Caine’s body double. There is also the night of Proper Comedy at Portman Road on Friday 31st May.  Blues season ticket holder Sean Hedges-Quinn, known as Coach, will sculp the statue of Beattie having been the man responsible for the Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson statues at Portman Road. You can make a donation online via the Go Fund Me page or send a cheque made payable to ‘The Beat Goes On’ to Kevin Beattie Statue Appeal, EADT, Portman House, 120 Princes Street, Ipswich, IP1 1RS. There are also collection buckets at reception at the EADT’s offices and at BBC Radio Suffolk.
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