THE Poole Pirates mascot and his sister showed off speedway rider, Darcy Ward's bike at their school for a fundraiser on Friday.
Chad Wirtzfeld, 12, and sister, Brooke, 16, who go to The Blanford School were joined by dad, Dave, and Poole Pirates team boss, Neil Middleditch, for a fundraiser in Darcy's name featuring his bike, pictures and a video of Darcy in action.
All 1,100 of their fellow pupils were allowed to wear their own clothes for the day in return for a donation to help Darcy's rehabilitation following an accident in Poland earlier this year which has left him unable to ride.
Chad and Brooke's proud father, Dave, said: "My wife, Sharna, contacted Darcy to ask if there was anything we could use at the fundraiser and he said that we could use his number one bike, which he is planning to keep.
"It's all for a good cause and I think it helped Chad as well as he doesn't really speak about it as a lot of people don't event know that he does speedway.
"My daughter was in touch with Darcy on Thursday night, as I think he has gone back over to Australia now, and sent him the pictures of the set up at the school with his bike and he was very impressed."
Dave said that Neil Middleditch of the Poole Pirates was 'over the moon' that the school was doing something to support Darcy.
He added that son, Chad, has been racing speedway bikes since he was five and one day dreams of becoming a member of the Poole Pirates team.
Sally Wilson, head teacher at The Blandford School, said: "Brooke made a presentation to our student parliament and they voted for Darcy Ward to be the cause for the non-uniform day.
"She and her family brought in Darcy's bike for the other children to see and I think that we have raised at least £735 from the day."
She added that she was proud of the students for being very caring and wanting to do something to help others.
Neil Middleditch said: "I was overwhelmed by the support we had for the fundraising event. I think, perhaps, there were a lot of children who didn't know who Darcy is before the day, so it was a chance to tell them about him and speedway in general.
"Hopefully they will come down to Poole at some point to watch."
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