Bollington recently reported that we are taking part in a road rally to raise money for The Donna Louise Children's Hospice, a charity supporting children affected by life-limiting illnesses and their families.
Today (11th April) marks the start of ‘Ready for the Scrapheap Challenge’, which sees teams negotiating the journey from Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire to Monaco in the south of France and making the return journey – all within 4 days. Bollington’s Group Managing Director, Chris Patterson, is joined by co-driver Steve Crowther in the rally, forming the team ‘Bollington Bangers’.
The journey is likely to throw up some challenges along the way. All participants in the rally had to purchase a road legal car for £500 or less to take part, and will perform any maintenance on their chosen vehicle. With Bollington choosing a vintage year 2000, W-registration Rover 75 for the event, there could be a few issues with reliability along the way!
In addition, drivers have no recourse to satellite navigation, turning what The AA Route Planner determines to be a 2,110 mile round trip into something potentially much longer.
The staff at Bollington have made sure that the ‘Bollington Bangers’ have all the essential comforts that they need for the long journey with a range of driving aids including a beaded seat cover, fluffy dice, a nodding dog, driving gloves, window stickers and leopard print steering wheel cover.
As a result of our participation, we are delighted to announce that we have so far raised the significant sum of over £8,800 (including Gift Aid) to help provide the charity – which receives no government finance – with much needed money to provide nursing at the hospice.
Chris Patterson, Group Managing Director, commented, “While this event is sure to be fun for those of us taking part, we are all very aware that this is a serious fundraising mission for a very worthwhile cause. The Donna Louise will make use of every penny we can raise, as they rely on donations from members of the public to keep going.
“We are all very grateful for the money raised so far, and the tremendous support we have received. It would be fantastic to raise as much money as we possibly can to help provide for the children and families who use this wonderful hospice.”
Social media updates on The Donna Louise Facebook and Twitter page @TheDLCHospice will show the whereabouts of the participants under the hashtag #anyoldbanger. Bollington wishes everybody taking part the best of luck both on their journey, and with their fundraising activities.
If anybody wishes to donate to the cause, they can do so via Bollington’s Virgin Money Giving Page at https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/bollington-bangers.
