JDRF benefits from giant dinosaur sale

Proceeds from the sale of a 30ft-long plastic dinosaur have been donated to type 1 diabetes charity JDRF, with the model now entertaining passers-by on a Welsh street.
The Allosaurus was put on eBay by the National Showcaves Centre for Wales, which is renowned for its display of dinosaurs, to make room for a new set of models with sensors.
The cave system has 250 dinosaur models and is called Dan-yr-Ogof. They donated the £1,600 generated from the sale to the type 1 diabetes charity as both the son and grandson of the attraction’s chairman Ashford Price have the condition.
Dan Owe, a manager at Dan-yr-Ogof, where the model stood for 20 years, said: “We’ve ordered some new animatronic dinosaurs with sensors that move when someone walks past and we’re running out of room. We do a lot with JDRF and thought it would be a good idea to put the dinosaur on eBay.”
JDRF’s regional fundraiser for Wales Miranda Burdett has actually worked at the centre in the dinosaur souvenir shop. She said: “I knew this was going to be a unique fundraiser. When I went to see the dinosaur, I realised just how big it is and I just knew it would raise a lot of awareness. It’s going to improve lives and it’s a really good fit for us working with the showcaves.”
The model’s new home is in the garden of the Cwmbran property of Jerry Adams, who bought the dinosaur as he wanted it to entertain his 12 grandchildren.
The 58-year-old gardener strapped the dinosaur, which is 30ft-long and is between 8-9ft wide, onto his van for the journey homen, which involved driving on the M4 for over an hour.
He said: “I saw it was for sale on the news and I thought that it would be a fantastic garden ornament. We just try to make the garden a nice place as we have a lot of passing traffic.”
Christened Alan by the grandchildren, the dinosaur has had to be repositioned to enable the postman to get to the front door.
Speaking about the reaction of his neighbours, Jerry said: “They know I’m eccentric, I’ve had a vintage tractor in the garde, but so far no one has complained about it. When it arrived, hundreds of cars parked up to come and take a look at it.”
The park has since been contacted by more than a hundred people enquiring whether any other dinosaurs are up for sale.
Picture: Jerry Adams/PA