Final Update from 2009. As you can see, with all your help, we have smashed out target so a HUGE thank you. We plan to do something again in 2010, but have quite a bit of work to do on the car first to make this happen. If anyone has a gearbox and or clutch knocking around for our old volvo 740 estate, please feel free to drop us a line ! Until next year - thank you.

Message from Joan, Nicks Mum.

"I would like to say a personal thank you to everyone who has given so generously to such a worthy cause and most of all to Pete and Adam for taking on this hair-raising rally.    They kept me in touch daily with what was happening (or some of it!!) and I felt as though I was with them all the way.   Nick would have been honoured to think they undertook the Czech Wrecks Rally in his memory and at the same time raising money for St. Richard’s Hospice."

 

ANOTHER UPDATE

First off thanks to the Telegraph for writing us up on Sat 3rd October and for pluggin this site. Thanks to a £250 donation today from my work, we have now sailed past our target and the £350 prize money is still to come !! Thanks to you all. If you want to check out the Telegraph article (minus the photos) goto www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motorsport/6251703/Calais-to-Prague-in-a-150-banger.html

UPDATE

The great news is that we are back and that we made it. Not only that we came second and will receive £350 prize money to add to this total so thanks to you all !!

We would also like to thank Joan for all her encouragement, Green Flag European Break Down Cover (the best in our opinion!), Kwik Fit Surbiton, Volvo Servicing at Hersham, Teamworks Karting in Reading, a bloke with a spanner we didn't have in Metz, France and, of course, all of you for your continued support. We are going to keep this site going until all the funds promised are in and then we will send out an email with some photos etc.

Keep it coming and Thanks Again

Pete and Adam

 

Thanks for taking the time to visit + hopefully donate ! Please read this as this is not the usual round-robin request for sponsorship, but something very special and important and 100% of what you give goes to St.Richards Hospice - not funding the event costs etc !.

Let me give you a bit of background so you know why we are supporting St. Richards Hospice on behalf of our friend Nick, why out of all the ways to raise funds we are entering the Street Safari "Czech Wrecks" rally to do it and most importantly why St. Richards is worthy of your (and anyone else you can think of's) generous support.

Joan, Nicks mother, writes .......

"Nick was diagnosed with Malignant Melanoma on 5^th January 2006.   He underwent 12 operations at various hospitals during the period of the next 3 years, as the cancer spread and became metastasis.   He finally became a patient at St. Richard’s Hospice in in November 2008, where he eventually passed away on 5^th January 2009.

Nick never gave up hope of a recovery and underwent clinical trials at in Spring 2008.  Although unable to drive because of a brain tumour operation, he took part in the Street Safari Valhalla Run around last August. Despite being far from well, he and his team raised a significant amount for Macmillan Cancer Support.   He planned to be able to join the Street Safari team again this year and wanted to raise sponsorship for St. Richard’s in appreciation of the dedication and kindness shown to him and his family during the seven weeks he was there.

 

Nick had a double reason for wanting to thank everyone at St. Richard’s because his Father had also passed away there, only five months before he himself was admitted.

 

The Hospice is funded almost entirely by donations and the fantastic team of Staff and volunteers work tirelessly to ensure the needs of their patients are met.   Their help is  invaluable, as they not only care for the patient, but the patient’s family too"

Last year a group of us who all knew Nick entered the run with him. The rules of Street Safari are simple. Find a car for no more than £100 (£150 this year!) and then rally it across the continent of your choice. This year we start in on the evening of August 27th and finish in on August 31st - via , and to name but a few countries. If you would like to see more details, check out their site at http://www.streetsafari.com/.

On that rally Nick knew that there was a chance that he might not make it this year to raise the money he wanted to for St. Richards and after his funeral we decided that we would do it for him - either by taking part or sponsoring the same car he was in last year (see photos).

Nicks mums comments show just how important a charity St. Richards was for her and Nick and below you can see why.

"The hospice provides free of charge care to patients living with a life threatening illness in Worcestershire and supporting their families.  The specialist care which the hospice offers provides dignity and compassion to patients and their families when they are going through a very difficult time in their lives. The hospice, at , contains an In-patient Unit, Day Hospice, Home Care Team, Counselling and Bereavement support, Social Work, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Complementary Therapies, Hospice at Home, Snowdrop Group, Chaplaincy, 24 hour telephone support helpline, and the Education & Resource Centre. Each year St Richard’s cares for in the region of 1,800 patients and families.   This year St Richard’s needs to raise £4.8m to provide all the services"

 

 

So you can see that our target of £2000 is only a drop in the ocean compared to what they need - SO PLEASE HELP US SMASH IT !!

Every pound your can give us REALLY COUNTS. Not 1p of anything you give goes to the costs of doing this rally. And after you have donated please ask whoever you work for if you know that they sometimes support worthy causes. What ever you do THANK YOU, and we will set up some kind of photo montage of the event online on our return - so give us your email address if you want to see !

Finally, if you want an additional return for your donation, we will happily write anything you like on the car, or stick on a sticker of your company's logo if its a corporate donation. The bigger it is the more we want from you ! We are re-decorating the car for this years contest and it would be fantastic if all of you could come with us in this way ! Any bits for old Volvos welcome as well !

 

Thanks, Pete, Neil ,Gareth and Adam.

 

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 taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate -  We raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.