Most of Derby Merlin 998’s archive material has been destroyed, but unfortunately some items remain and can illustrate to us how things were done properly in the past

Below is the transcript of letters relating to Derby Merlin’s fund raising activities during the Table year 1979 to 1980.

UK Director - Amnesty International UK

The Human Rights Action Centre

17-25 New Inn Yard

London, EC2A 3EA

Dear Madam

We at Derby Merlin Round Table like what you do. Writing letters to complain about human rights violations is like a political version of “Points of View”. The BBC, or fascist regime, may not change what they do as a result, but you’ll slow down their day as they wade through the post bag. We’d be surprised if they got around to torturing anyone before 11:30, the number of letters you send.

Lots of people do nothing because they know they cannot change the world, but you good people are not deterred from making futile gestures on the behalf of human rights and we at Derby Merlin applaud you.

Inspired by your unilateral approach we decided to host a fund-raising dinner on your behalf. We charged guests £8 each to enjoy a meal and drinks, with all the profits to be donated to Amnesty.

Although a success creatively, (we went for a South American theme), unfortunately the groceries were expensive, as was the booze, and we made a loss.

You now owe us £47.38.

Yours faithfully

Tim Carey

Chairman 1979-80

Within a week Derby Merlin received the following reply

Dear Tim

I was delighted to receive your letter, but I am concerned that your organisation does seem confused about what we do, and I have enclosed a leaflet, entitled “What We Do”.

With regard to your recent fund-raising Dinner, I am sorry to hear that all the energy and creativity that you put into this event did not result in you making your planned donation. We usually advise our supporters to start small and gradually build with their fund raising activities.

It is usually an excellent idea to work out a simple budget beforehand and have a think about how many people you can attract as guests to your event. This helps immeasurably with planning your expenditure and setting your ticket price. Hopefully you will enjoy a different outcome at your next event.

In terms of your request that Amnesty reimburse you for your loss I’m afraid I will have to say no.