Rally team rev up police car for charity challenge
A team from Newark will be hitting the roads of Europe in a mocked-up LA police car to raise money for a charity that supports people with memory-loss conditions.
Ben Kettleborough will tackle the Barmy To Barcelona Wacky Rally with his brother, Adam, and friends Sophie Webb and Bill Briggs-Price, to raise money for Newark Dementia Carers’ Group.
The Newark team will drive 1,500 miles over four days through Europe, from Lille in France, to Barcelona, Spain. They will complete a series of challenges en route.
Last year, Ben raised about £800 for Beaumond House Community Hospice and Newark Patriotic Fund by taking part in the rally with a car painted to look like the General Lee, the Dodge Charger from the US television series The Dukes Of Hazzard.
“We did it last year and raised quite a bit of money and I just thought we would do it again one more time,” Ben said.
His grandmother, Mrs Jean Pulford, who has dementia, and her husband, Mr Doug Pulford, are supported by Newark Dementia Carers’ Group.
Ben, a personal trainer at Physical Training Team (PTT) Fernwood, said the charity made a massive difference to their lives and the fundraising was his way of giving something back.
Ben spent £300 on a 17-year-old Vauxhall Omega and had it painted to look like a car from the Los Angeles Police Department.
Food challenge
His team’s European road trip, which sets off on July 6, will take in the Swiss Alps, the hills of Italy, the French Riviera and Monte Carlo before reaching the Catalan capital, Barcelona.
The route will include the Great St Bernard Pass — made famous as the location of the final cliffhanger scene in The Italian Job.
Challenges the team must complete along the way include sampling rare food in Luxembourg and Germany.
Newark firm Paw Prints designed the graphics for the car and printed the names of the sponsors on it.
Ben and his team have been backed by M. A. Brown Steel Services, Smallwood Tree Houses, J. N. Key Logistics, DJB Haulage, Paw Prints, Tyre Doctor, Briggs Metals, Crawford’s Accident Repair, Taylor Motor Group and SMC Motorhomes.
Donations can be made at www.gofundme.com/wacky-rally-for-newark-dementia
