Welcome to the February newsletter.

Visit to Brockhall
Four members won our recent draw and enjoyed their visit to the Senior Training Centre at Brockhall on January 28 - they were Eleanor Halloren, Philip O'Brien, Robert Haworth and David Sheridan. We would like to thank Mark Hughes and staff at the Training Centre for giving our winners a great day out.

Changes to the Committee
Duncan Gardiner has become the new Chairman of BRDSC and Lisa Farrell has taken over the role of Secretary which Duncan held for 8 years. At the same time we welcome Simon Leigh co-opted onto the Committee who is our new Communications Co-ordinator. Simon will take responsibilities held by Christine Peacock who will soon be leaving us after ten and a half years so she can focus on her role as Disability Liaison Officer for Blackburn Rovers. The new structure will not include a Vice Chairman.

Player of the Year Evening
We are planning to hold this on Tuesday 29 April - BUT PLEASE NOTE THIS IS SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION. Tickets for the event will be £7.50. There is an increase, but the price of £5 has been held until recently since 1993! As we now have almost 150 members (the highest ever!), tickets will be restricted to two per member on a first come first served basis and will be on sale to members only from March 1st to March 22nd and on open sale thereafter. Pease contact Committee members for further details.

Don't forget to vote for your Player of the Year. You can post it to Lisa Farrell, 64, Kirby Road, Blackburn or hand it to any Committee member. You can also vote over the telephone or by email to Curlytops20@hotmail.com. Please make sure you have voted by April 5th.

Away Travel
If you are interested in travelling to any of the following away matches by the BRDSC minibus please contact Julie Wilkinson Tel. 01254 883125 or e-mail barbieisarover@hotmail.com for details.

- Newcastle 1st March
- West Ham 15th March
- Reading 29th March

Anniversary Scarves
We hope you all received your scarf at Christmas (those of you who were members on December 1st). This was specially designed to commemorate the 15th Anniversary of BRDSC. There are some now available to buy from Committee members for £5 each, so snap one up for family or friends. We still have a few beanie hats too embroidered with 'BRDSC' - they are available for £4. All monies will go into the BRDSC fund to help meet costs of the Player of the Year party and the running of the minibus.

Level Playing Field Campaign
This is an annual campaign by the National Association of Disabled Supporters (NADS) to raise awareness of disability, facilities for disabled supporters at your club and how your disabled supporters club links with the football club. Blackburn Rovers chose yesterday's match with Bolton to highlight the campaign. Our facilities, our Supporters' Club and supporters were included in a short film at half time, the match Programme and on the Internet. Our Team escorts also included some disabled children. In conjunction with this and as part of Blackburn Rovers aim of access and inclusion for all, Christine as DLO will be reviewing facilities and services for our visually impaired supporters on at Ewood. If you are a Braille reader or know any of our supporters who are please contact Christine.

For more information on this, see the story on the website.

BRDSC contact details

Duncan Gardiner - Chairman
01254 693793
namudpg@hotmail.com

Christine Peacock - Vice Chairman and DLO
07717 724646
Disability@rover-mail.co.uk

Lisa Farrell - Secretary
01254 264765
curlytops20@hotmail.com

Terry Kennedy - Treasurer
01254 209791
kennedyt@btinternet.com

Julie Wilkinson - Away Travel Co-ordinator
01254 883125
barbieisarover@hotmail.com

Simon Leigh - Communications Co-ordinator
Simonjleigh@ntlworld.com

Mustak Patel- Committee Member
01254 696216

Until next time then, thank you,
The editor.