Get involved A postponed charity event which was due to celebrate the life of Jamaican cricket legend George Headley left a florist &pound2,000 out
of pocket and compere Ed Doolan kicking his heels. The gala dinner, as reported in yesterday’s Post, was due to take place in aid of three charities at the city’s International Convention Centre on Saturday night. Sporting stars and dignitaries had been invited to the black-tie event to celebrate the life of the first black West Indies cricket captain, who died in 1983. But a spokesman for the city centre venue said a decision was taken to postpone, following discussions with organisers and ‘‘operational issues’’. Mystery still surrounds the exact circumstances of the decision. The organiser and promoter, Mark Dwayne, could not be contacted directly for comment but a statement from his company on the George Headley Foundation website said he was ‘totally numb from shock’. Charities Acorns, Professional Cricketers’ Association Benevolent Fund and Birmingham’s Afro-Caribbean Millennium Centre were listed as beneficiaries. If all 1,500 tickets had been sold at &pound75 each, as displayed on the ticket, the event could have generated &pound100,000-plus.
Dressed in black tie, BBC WM presenter Ed Doolan, arrived before 6pm with script in hand only to be told by a security guard at the venue that the event was not going ahead. He said: “In my 34 years in Birmingham, it’s the first time I have known an event to be cancelled without the compere being told.