
Tony McInally
Tony became a part of The Malcolm Whales Foundation before it technically even existed! In 2009 I decided to run a school trip, a 40 mile walk down in Dorset. My dad had recently passed away in 2008 and I felt doing something in his memory was the right thing to do.

I launched the event at Ely College with a parents meeting for those families that were interested in signing up for the first ever Dorset Walk. At this point Tony sat in the audience with his son Matt, I explained the plan which I felt confident I had under control; I had a lot to learn.
Post meeting there was real excitement and a sense of optimism. Tony instantly spoiled that with a, “How are you going to feed that number of people?” I honestly cannot remember how I tried to answer this! I think the silence was broken with, “I am the chef at Kings Ely, would you like me to join you and cook for everyone?” The legend was born!

The walk took place that year and was an incredible success. It has grown and grown, to become the event that spawned a charity.
I said that I had a lot to learn, I learnt that the walk and the charity would never have got off the ground without Tony. His skills and commitment to the camp and participants meant that I could focus on the walk. As the saying goes, ‘An army marches on its stomach’, the teenagers in Dorset certainly do and having Tony beside me meant that we could grow the walk year on year.

I wish more people were able to see the changes in the Walk setup! Now we have a fully functioning camp kitchen. In 2009 we had Tony and a garden gazebo! We have experienced all sorts of difficulties with the weather – a highlight was definitely watching him trying to cook in the back of a transit as it was the only place that was close to dry!

In 2012 we formally became a ‘charity’ The Malcolm Whales Foundation launched. There was Tony, a founding Trustee and perhaps one of our proudest champions!
Tony has committed so much time, effort and energy into the charity. He has driven minibuses around Dorset to support us whilst we were walking, whilst he was cooking! He has even managed to get to the wrong part of Dorset, leaving us stranded at the end of day – I won’t mention that. He has driven to Dorset from Ely to prepare our food and then driven back to Ely in the early hours due to work commitments – because he didn’t want to let us down. He continues to support our events including the 15th year ball and the annual Richard Marley Netball tournament in Ely.

The timing of his decision to step back coincided with the opening of the Lakeside Retreat. This enabled him to see what he has managed to create in the 16 years he has been with TMWF. It was also a very good time for us to thank him publicly for such a huge impact.
He tells me that he needs to take a step back from all the pressures and commitments due to some health issues. I remain unconvinced! I personally think it has more to do with our meetings moving online and the stress and difficulties he has had with mastering the technology/getting Carol, his wife, to sort it for him!

In his 16 years of commitment he has played a huge part in making TMWF what it is today. I honestly mean it when I say that without Tony the Dorset Walk would not have worked and TMWF would not have become what it is today!
Tony, my friend, thank you so much!
Damien and everyone at TMWF

It was very special to be able to say thank you in person to Tony at the launch of our biggest project to date – Malcolm’s Retreat. Here’s a short video of Tony himself reminiscing about his time with TMWF.