Lesley Pilling, de oprichter van de organisatie Circle G Foundation, die alles deed om toch maar tot een akkoord met de eigenaars van de Circle G Ranch in Horn Lake te komen, heeft besloten de organisatie op te doeken. Ook de Facebook-pagina van de organisatie zal binnen één week off-line zijn. Na jaren van excuses, plannen, enz. komt er helaas een einde aan de organisatie. Circle G Ranch was een van Elvis’ favoriete plekken toen hij een ranch op een klein half uur van Memphis kocht. De brief die Lesley schreef kan je hieronder lezen.

Dear friends

At the end of January 2015 The Circle G Foundation made the decision to step back and sever our involvement with Buddy Runnels and REI, the owners of the Circle G ranch. As we explained in our closing statement (still available to read here on our Facebook page) our relationship with them had broken down through no fault of ours.

We wished them well.

Over the next three years we watched and waited; sincerely hoping that they would make good their promised plans for the ranch.

Fans from all over the world continued to contact us and ask questions, mainly when work would start on the ranch and why nothing had been done. We felt it our duty to pass on those questions and post the answers given by the owners, which we did.

The owners continued to stall, making all kinds of excuses, still no work was done on the ranch and we all became increasingly aware that if preservation works weren’t carried out soon then the future of the Elvis related structures were in jeopardy. They remain untouched.

It is now 4 years since they bought the ranch and nothing has changed.

In January 2018 we here at The Circle G Foundation suggested it would be a nice idea if the cross on the ranch was floodlit to celebrate Elvis birthday. To our delight the owners arranged this.

They allowed us to post an announcement on our page and to use our contacts in the international Elvis community to publicise it – wasn’t that generous of them!

At no time did they acknowledge that it was OUR idea. Just like they have never acknowledged that the majority of those plans they spoke of were in fact OUR ideas that we had (foolishly) generously shared with them.

It is now July 2018, 4 years since they bought the ranch and 5 years since they first made contact with me. In that first year as they negotiated the purchase of the Circle G I agreed to keep the matter totally confidential, which I did and during that time I helped them navigate the Elvis world, provided invaluable information and shared numerous ideas for the ranch with them.

They are now apparently planning ‘something’ for Elvis Week 2018; it is only 5 weeks away and they are still dithering about with a Press Release. Over the last few weeks they have approached me through an intermediary with questions relating to the Elvis world, which I have once again helped them with and once again they have used us and given nothing in return.

Still they doubt my integrity, they insist that any correspondence sent to me by this third party is censored by them. I find this completely insulting on behalf of the CGF and a slight to myself.

We have always acted with complete honesty and integrity- they have not.

This is the end of the line.

The decision has been made to completely wind up the Circle G Foundation. I have no hesitation in naming and shaming Mr Buddy Runnels and his assistant Lisa Rudd for the poor treatment we have received. They have used, abused and lied to us.

They continue to risk the future of the ranch and the Elvis related elements through their utter neglect.

No doubt they will have excuses, we are no longer interested.

It goes without saying that all of us who have been a part of The Circle G Foundation wish to see the ranch’s future secured, the Elvis related structures preserved, Elvis’ time there commemorated and his humanitarian legacy continued. It is sad that so many fans around the world have been let down by Mr Runnels and co. It is up to him and his associates to right that wrong.

In closing we would like to thank all of you who have supported The Circle G Foundation over the years and in doing so played a part in recognising the importance of the Circle G in Elvis’ story. We are sorry we couldn’t make all our dreams come true.

In Elvis’ own words, Thank you, and may God Bless you, adios.

Lesley Pilling

The proud Founder & Director of The Circle G Foundation