Still part of the team - Remembering Lynwood Newman
Lifetime member and great friend of DRWF remembered one year on.
This month we will be thinking about our lovely supporter Lynwood Newman, aka Captain Insulin, who sadly passed away on 16th March 2021.
Over the previous 17 years, Lynwood, who had type 2 diabetes, was a huge presence at DRWF.
Lynwood volunteered a lot of his spare time to promoting the work and activities of the charity and was always willing to lend a hand to anything that was required.
Lynwood always undertook all of his charitable tasks with his characteristic big smile accompanied by his infectious booming laugh.
It was always a pleasure to have him visit the office and the DRWF staff always looked forward to him joining us. Lynwood was a lifetime member of the charity and also served as a member of the DRWF Editorial Advisory Board, helping in the review process of our monthly Diabetes Wellness News with regular, invaluable feedback and input.
Lynwood was also seen on occasion in the guise of his alter ego at events – donning a red cape to become Captain Insulin – a diabetes superhero of his own creation. Lynwood was a prolific fundraiser who raised many thousands of pounds for DRWF over the years.
He also represented the charity by giving talks about diabetes to groups of people, for donations to DRWF.
This included members of the police force, fire brigade and he even went to give talks inside prisons for the prisoners. He also gave many talks about American history topics to raise funds for the charity.
As a homeopathic practitioner, Lynwood would donate 100% of the treatment fees to DRWF.
Lynwood took part in a DRWF skydive which he said afterwards was one of the highlights in his life. Lynwood actively took part in many fundraising events whilst dressed as his alter ego Captain Insulin and he even held a Zumba class dressed as “The Captain”.
Lee Calladine, DRWF event co-ordinator, said: “I have so many memories of Lynwood since our first meeting way back in 2006, probably too many to recount here, but suffice to say they are all ones I hold dear of happy times. The DRWF Wellness Event Programme over those years has been varied and exciting and taken us all over the country raising awareness of diabetes and providing much-needed educational support. Lynwood accompanied me to most of them as our super volunteer, aka Captain Insulin, and my invaluable wingman.
“From residential Diabetes Wellness Weekends in Blackpool, Leeds and Oxford to our Active with Diabetes walking holidays in Lancashire, St Ives and the Lake District, Diabetes Wellness Days in Warwickshire and Hampshire and healthy cooking days in Colchester, not to mention many other adventures. Things will never be the same without him, but even though he left us a year ago, he is still very much a part of our team.
“We speak about him daily and do our best to honour his legacy, and he will always be part of the wellness events in one way or another.”
DRWF has launched an online MuchLoved memorial tribute for Lynwood.
This is a place for his friends, family and colleagues to share their personal memories of him. They can visit the page to light a candle, post a photo, video or a fond memory they have of Lynwood that they would like to share.
DRWF has recently partnered with MuchLoved, which means that any of our supporters can now make their own online tribute page in memory of a loved one or to support DRWF. It is simple, quick and free to set-up.
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