Jimmy Savile

I had a page here with pictures of Jimmy Savile taking delivery of a new Viking Severn Valley in the early 1960s and several pictures of him in Viking cycling kit with that bicycle.

My first response to the recent and highly credible reports of his sexual abuse of under-age girls, and boys, was to take the page and all reference to Savile off this website because I was so sickened by what I heard, not least by the story of a girl who was punished for saying what he did to her.

But then I thought that we could make something good out of this by giving people an opportunity to contribute to a charity that aims to combat and eliminate sexual abuse of children.  One such organisation is the Lucy Faithful Foundation and you can make an online donation through their website.  If you do not want to donate to this charity at this time, there are other charities with the same aims that you can support, and there may be other things that you can do to help prevent children having their childhood stolen by these despicable people.

It is very sad when people abuse their position to take advantage of vulnerable people.  I was never partial to Savile as an entertainer, but I used to think his charitable work was commendable, but any good he did is totally outweighed by the harm.