8:53 pm, November 3, 2009
THE kindness of strangers in this game never ceases to amaze me – especially when it comes to Bangers4BEN.
Earlier this year, when we made our trip around the country people fell over themselves to help us out of a spot of bother.
And now, come Bangers4BEN MkII, it’s no different.
Firstly there’s the 26 teams that have signed up to take time off work, find a car, drive a stupid distance up and down the country and then wave farewell to their ride at auction – all in the name of charity.
BEN and I can’t thank these guys enough – and hope we raise a huge amount of money for the cause to make all that effort seem worthwhile.
But it’s not just those on the event that have taken the time out to help. I’ve got to say a huge thank you to two companies that have helped us make the trophies we’ll be handing out for the event possible.
We wanted to say thanks to the teams taking part with a special token of our appreciation – a simple trophy that could sit on their desks and remind them of the three days spent in clapped out bangers for BEN.
Our idea was to set valves from broken cars into Perspex with some simple engraving. Nothing too flash, just a nice-to-have after the event.
But we had major problems finding 30 valves of the same size. That was until a call went out on Twitter for help.
HUGE THANKS
In steps PR firm Blackbird Comms and its client Bluecycle – who actually have a team on Bangers4BEN – who got together with one of their dismantling partners Charles Trent Ltd to help out.
If you haven’t heard of Bluecycle, it brands itself as the ‘UK’s salvage community’s first stop to buy and sell salvage online’.
Bluecycle specialises in automotive, motorcycle, plant, marine, equipment and commercial salvage and has created markets for non-automotive and non-salvage related items, including end of fleet vehicles and equipment, repossessions and part exchange.
Charles Trent Ltd specialises in damaged vehicles, supplying parts to the trade and the public from its huge stock of cars.
Which helped when tasked with finding the right sized valves – in the end they came from a few irreparable Vauxhall Astras.
They arrived just a few days after our original request had gone out – and are currently being set into the Perspex as planned.
As with all things on Bangers4BEN this has been left somewhat to the last minute and (I think) they’re arriving on Friday. Which means I can’t post a picture of them now – but then that would spoil the surprise…
So a huge thanks to the guys at Bluecycle and Charles Trent – our B4B teams thank you in advance!
More on the battle to get our car ready in time, the tax woe, the MOT woe and the transportation woe, not to mention the design woe, in the next few days…
You can follow the rally’s developments in our dedicated Bangers4BEN section on this website or follow the Twitter feed from all the participants here.
James
