Small models of Lord of the Rings characters have made it to an Alpine mountain top, a palm tree in Singapore, a ferry in the Lake District and even a New Zealand glacier in tribute to Jacques ‘Jacka’ and Torin Lakeman.
The brothers, who were from Port St Mary, tragically died in early December at the ages of 20 and 19 respectively.
As a tribute to his sons, their father, Ray, launched a ‘Jactor project’ in which people would take Games Workshop figures (preferably from Lord of the Rings, which the boys loved and Torin collected) to a special place somewhere in the world.
‘The boys were very bright and adventurous and they could have gone anywhere and done anything,’ said Ray last month. ‘These “Jactoributes” will take the boys to places they could have gone, should have gone, would have gone.’
He set up a Facebook page (Jactor project) to record where the figures travelled and the posts reveal the idea has taken hold, with people posting photographs of the figures in some very remote and beautiful spots. The comments also illustrate the boys were very much in the courier’s mind as they were placed in these special spots.
One comment was from Dosch MacLeod’s father, Rod. Dosch, 17, died in a car accident last May. Rod wrote he thought the idea of hiding the figures around the world was ‘great’. He said: ‘Dosch was the most keen to travel in our family, and I know he would have enjoyed exploring the world with Jacques and Torin. I travel a lot, usually to the Americas, and will be taking them with me along with thoughts of you and our sons. Each will be left in a special place somewhere around the world, and I will send you a picture to reassure you that our sons are remembered– “travellers over the High Sea who have passed on into the West”.’
The next Jactor Project – celebrating what should have been Jacka’s 21st birthday – will be held on Friday in Port St Mary Town Hall. The event is open to everyone who wants to enjoy a night of great music.
Everyone involved in the night has waived any usual fee for appearing and they include Ballagroove DJs, Birds and the Beards, Fletcher Christian Mutiny, Dave Kinley (the Tholtan Builders), Carlos Simmons (Space Monkey) and Rob Walster. Also, the local authority will not charge for use of the building.
The party is from 7.30pm to midnight – there is no entrance fee but in lieu a donation will go to a new local skatepark project being driven by pupils from Scoill Phurt le Moirrey.
The school plans to meet the local authority soon to discuss the skatepark idea further.
Ray said: ‘I hope the donation will kickstart things. The idea of a skatepark has been knocking around for a long time. I think they [Jacka and Torin] would have been pleased – they would have liked that as well.’