Bryan's Blog

Who Are Ya?

Well I thought moving back into the world of football in the 2011/12 season was going to be my main priority this summer but it seems that I have been also caught up in the world of music more recently, what with Britain's Got Talent 's runner–up, Ronan Parke (more about him later) and now "the-colour" and their new release – "Who Are Ya?"

The band members, James Poole (songwriter/lead vocals), Scott Field (drums), Adam North (lead guitar), Rob Forder (bass guitar) and Jennifer Greenwold (backing vocals) formed in 2010, whilst writing the debut EP, they were discussing themes for songs and James and Scott felt it would be nice to write something which celebrated Norfolk, they wanted to put Norfolk on the map in terms of music and show their pride in the area they live. The 'Pride of East Anglia' is of course their local football club, who were doing well under Paul Lambert following their promotion to the Championship. The skeleton of the song took shape in December 2010, James wanted to mix a popular football chant and turn it into a rock ballad. The stamp stamp stamp "Who Are Ya?" chorus was to be the songs signature. By the time the song was finished they felt it deserved a good cause, which was when they turned their attention to the Bryan Gunn Appeal. James had fond memories of me as a footballer and in the band's eyes - "Bryan epitomised these key sentiments of pride and community bearing in mind his contribution not only to the sporting world but in terms of his contribution to society". To then see Norwich City FC promoted to the top flight was a mark of how the song communicated what many of us in the Norfolk community were feeling, a great sense of pride and positivity in what can be achieved.

This is also why they set up their fans video competition, they felt the song was a community project, so they wanted to give City Fans the chance to get involved and star in the video alongside myself. They had entries from fans young and old, Fiat Pandas, Big Issue sellers, fireman, schools, sports commentators, newspaper editors and they have tried to feature as many as possible in the official music video.

In terms of the making of the video, Richard McGonagle and his 3rd Media company have been instrumental in what they have achieved, his passion and commitment to the cause is evident in his final product and they hope you enjoy his work on the DVD as much as they have. Barnham Broom Hotel & Country Club allowed us the use of their squash court to shoot the music video. Thanks to Ed Pearce, Brewers kindly donated the yellow and green paint. The Norfolk media, notably Radio Norfolk, the EDP and Future Radio have been fantastic in their coverage of the story. With what we hear about the modern Press, the Norfolk media is a shining example of how all is not lost and journalism is fundamentally about supporting and reporting on the positive as well as informing about the negative. Stuart Jarrold came down for Sky Sports News to broadcast a live rendition of "Who Are Ya?" and talked with the band about the cause - they ran it as a repeated story throughout the afternoon.

The Forum are providing the stage for the official launch of the DVD/CD package. On the Saturday 20th August, "the-colour" will be performing there live, an open-air concert from 2-4pm in the afternoon. Entry is free and copies of the DVD/CD package will be available for a minimum £5 donation. All profits on sales and general donations will go to the Bryan Gunn Appeal. Scott, the drummer, will be getting out the yellow and green paint to cover them all in the finale. They'll also be in The Castle Mall on the morning of the 20th and they will be raffling off prizes, signed by me, including the very football that features in the DVD as well as my boiler suit and other memorabilia.

From then on the DVD will be available to purchase on the Bryan Gunn Appeal Shop on Charity Giving - and from local stores including TESCO EXTRA in Dereham and (Morrisons in Norwich *hopefully TBC) or you can order a copy on www.the-colour.com.

Finally I would like to thank Scott, James, Adam, Rob and Jennifer for the effort, commitment and passion that they have put into this project, if anyone deserves a hit record this summer it is – "the-colour."

Good luck.

Bryan Gunn's Appeal Update

It only seems like weeks ago that we were celebrating the Bryan Gunn Appeal reaching that fabulous milestone of £1,000,000 and here we are now in March already!!!

Appeal activity has been fairly quiet for me during that time but there have been a few notable events to mention.

In September the annual Insight Financial Services golf day was held at the Marriott Sprowston Manor Hotel & Country Club. As well as taking part in the golf competition I also conducted the auction and the generosity of the guests and staff was fantastic which was shared between the Bryan Gunn Appeal and the Big C charity. Thank you to Jason Howard, his fellow directors, Sharon Hollinger and Natasha Howard for organising a great day.

In October it was golf again at Barnham Broom Golf & Country Club, this time playing with Jon Bingham, Peter Roy and Geoff Curran. Thanks to the generosity of Barnham Broom I am able to donate “A round with Gunny” to local charity events which includes breakfast, golf and lunch after the round of golf with me. Jon is the proprietor of the Rivergarden on Yarmouth Road and he bought the voucher at his own event for Geoff to enjoy a round with me. We had a lovely day and thank you once again to Barnham Broom for their continued support.

In November I attended Langley School’s House Music day. I was asked to be one of the judges (I was a bit like Simon Cowell) to choose the winning house. I felt the pressure when my fellow judges and I came to the final result but the Appeal was the real winner because the school have chosen to support the Appeal throughout 2011. We already have a cheque for £500 from me attending the Thorpe House Langley Preparatory School opening in January and there are a number of events planned for 2011, thank you to Langley and Thorpe House School’s for their support.

December seemed very quiet but January certainly got 2011 off to a great start. As well as the Thorpe House opening, I attended a Burns Night at the Rivergarden which was also attended by Dr Ian Gibson who performed the Address to the haggis. It was great to see “Gibbo” who has been a great supporter and benefactor of the Appeal over the years. It was another great night.

More recently in February I was invited to speak at two great local organisations dinners, The Centenary Rotary Club of Norwich and the Harleston Round Table. Hopefully the guests on both nights had great fun and learned everything about the Appeal and the good work that we do.

Thank you to everybody for the fantastic support you have already shown us in 2011 and we look forward supporting our chosen projects to make sure we continue to make a difference for those who need our help.

£1,000,000 raised by Bryan Gunn's Appeal, and new project announced

In the autumn of 1992, Bryan and Susan Gunn’s two-year-old daughter Francesca died from childhood leukaemia, after having bravely battled against the disease for over fifteen months.

At the time of Francesca's death Bryan Gunn was goalkeeper in Norwich City's Premiership and UEFA Cup team, and was capped for Scotland. Today Bryan is an executive with OneStream, based in Great Yarmouth, and Susan is a major contemporary artist.

With support from the whole of the sporting world and the people of Norfolk, Bryan Gunn's Appeal was set up in Francesca’s memory in April 1993. The appeal was launched in the Evening News, in Norwich, as "Gunn's Golden Goals" and the £10,000 target was quickly reached.

Now, seventeen years on, Bryan Gunn’s Appeal has hit £1,000,000.

Chairman Keith Colman said "This is a truly amazing achievement, which represents the efforts of many thousands of people, who through a multiplicity of events and endeavours, have made this happen."

A celebration to mark the milestone for the charity, held at the Appeal’s HQ - :the park charity cafe, in Bawdeswell, on Tuesday 3rd August saw cutting of a celebration cake by Bryan and Susan.

The cake has been specially designed by Masterchef finalist Tim Kinnaird, and made by Tim, and Candi Robertson, chef at :the park café.

Many people who have been involved in the Appeal over the last seventeen years, came to share in the celebration.

Bryan Gunn said

"We, the Gunn family, are absolutely delighted to have reached such a milestone in our fund raising efforts.

Special thanks must go to our Appeal Chairman, Keith Colman, who without his endeavours and advice 17 years ago this may never have started.

Also a special mention for Gill Perks who was part of our original administration team and to Becky Colman who worked very hard behind the scenes in recent years.

Also thanks to everyone over the years who have supported the Appeal in different ways - there are too many individuals and organisations to mention and without the support of the Evening News and Archant we would never been able to get the publicity that the Appeal has received.

And finally, we are very proud that our little girl Francesca has helped so many people in our region with the fight against leukaemia and cancer and we very much hope we are getting much closer to finding a cure to eradicate this horrible disease."

The activities carried out by Bryan Gunn’s Appeal have included many ground-breaking projects to date, such as the gaps:line telephone support helpline, and another major new project was announced by Bryan Gunn as the charity reached £1million.