Martin & Sophie's Charity Blat page
Martin & Sophie Barratt is raising money for Blood Cancer UK
Participants: Martin & Sophie Barratt
Story
Raise money and help Neuk the Leuk....now blat sounds like a good idea !
Hello !
Those of you familiar with my full blown midlife crisis will be aware that last September I fulfilled the dream of a lunchtime and finally got my hands on a Caterham 7 ...in true 'James May' stylee I duly joined the Lotus 7 Club (L7C) and have been known to attend the odd gentle meandering drive/screaming blat through the leafy lanes of Southern England with 100+ other loud and garish compatriots.
Late last year Graham Nearn, the man who founded Caterham Cars and who later bought the rights to the Lotus 7 from founder Colin Chapman, sadly died and on September 5th this year an event is being arranged to celebrate the great man's life and also to raise funds for the Club charity – Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research. The event will culminate in a mass rally to a special event location in Essex involving dozens (hopefully hundreds!) of Lotus 7's and Caterham 7s cars from all parts of the UK, with official start/rallying points in the Midlands, Kent, Gloucestershire and Norfolk.
The route involves a roughly 200 mile drive (100 there, 100 back) through the more obscure roads of Surrey, Kent and Essex , armed with nothing but a full tank of fuel and a couple of bars of chocolate. My long-term navigator (Sophie, 12) and I have decided to enter our car (Red 7) into the event and we also decided that we would like to raise some extra money for the charity. I lost my dad to Lymphoma in my early 20s and because of that Soph lost a chance of seeing her grandad - so we're both up for giving the disease a right good kicking.
The Lotus 7 Club has been a long term supporter and fund-raiser for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research and since 1991 to the present date the club has raised £366,424 on it’s behalf...
Over to you Sophie....
I'm navigating for Dad on the trip (Phil at his work says I’d better otherwise Dad will just end up driving round the carpark all day) .It will be my job to get me ,Dad and the car in one piece to the event at Stow Maries Airfield in Essex and them home again for tea and medals. In all it will be a round trip of about 200 miles through the Hants, Surrey, Kent and Essex countryside armed with just a map and a bag sweets. Being out in the car is great and Dad says he won't be able to hear my incessant jabbering over the noise of the exhaust , but we'd like to help raise some money so we were wondering if you might like to sponsor ‘Red Seven’ for the day ? ..it's not a race (that would be naughty) but it is a load of fun mixed with the lottery of a temperamental forty-something bloke driving a temperamental 21 year old classic car along a couple of hundred miles of obscure A and B roads with a 12 year old reading from a sheet of 'directions' (ahem). These are challenging times for all but if you can spare a few quid to help us raise some cash for the best of causes that would be very cool.. anything you feel that you can give would be much appreciated Thank you ! Martin & Soph ps: pictures/video of start and finish will be available and posted online to prove we did it ! pps: all who sponsor will go into a hat and the person drawn by Soph will get a ride in the Cat next time out (promise not to go tooooooo fast if it's you Phil). Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page. Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - We raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.