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Dartington Crystal Mini Show PDF Print E-mail

 Hi Terry,

Sorry this has taken a while.  Here's a few words from the company...



Dartington Crystal are delighted to be part of the Small Cars Big Hearts mini rally.

Dartington was set up to help and support the local community in the area and today we continue to champion local businesses and support local charities when ever we can.  It is a privilege to be involved in the wonderful work done for the Children’s Hospice by Small Cars Big Hearts and we sincerely hope that the day is enjoyed by all.

The site here at Torrington has a lot to offer, something for everyone to enjoy we hope!

Is that OK?

Cheers,
Mike.

I think it is fantastic but what do you lot think. 

Dartington Crystal Mini Show

Formerly the sw mini meet

SUNDAY 27th JULY

Dartington Crystal

Great Torrington

North Devon.

In aid of the Messy Play Room 3 appeal for the new Children’s Hospice being built in Cornwall.

With the loss of Atlantic Village due to building work we were looking forward to a quiet July but we have been made an offer that we cannot refuse.

As well as their car park, which has a nice grass area if you want to bring a picnic, they are going to donate 10 fantastic glass iceberg trophies engraved with the event for the winners of the show and shine.

There is a restaurant on site and they will be doing cream teas at a special price for the mini owners. There is also a big conservatory on the side that we can use if the weather turns wet for the prize giving.  

The event will start (not too early) say 10-00, and like Atlantic Village just turn up and park. No club stands as such.  Every mini that turns up automatically gets entered in the show & shine and every mini owner attending gets a booklet of voting slips and becomes a judge. There will be a prize for “This mini will not win anything today”, so everyone gets a chance to win one of the fantastic trophies. We hope to do the prize giving about 3-00pm, so it won’t be a long day.

We will charge you £3-00 to get in and we will try to take another couple of pounds off you somehow but every penny we get on the day will go straight to CHSW and our messy play room appeal.

As you can see, it is an offer that we could not refuse and I hope we will see you there.

Keep watching this page as we will be updating it as we go along.

 SMALL CARS BIG HEARTS

Together we can make a difference

Together we  have  already made a difference

So far we have given the CHSW £190,000

 

 
Mini Wing Appeal 3 PDF Print E-mail

So just how big is this appeal, well it is alot bigger than the North Devon Mini Register and involves clubs accross the country all under on heading SMALLCARS BIGHEARTS.

If you do hold an event for the mini Wing Appeal why not save the money and bring it along to the Grand Tour and have a picture of you or your club handing it over to the CHSW.  

So what's going on.

Are you holding an event for the New Mini Wing Appeal for the new Children's Hospice SW being built in Cornwall let us know and we can help tell the world.

 
This Years Grand Tour & Total So Far PDF Print E-mail

At last everything has been sent to Guinness and we now have a 6-8 weeks wait to see if they accept our world record. We sent them lots of pictures, 3 Videos of the minis in convoy, paper cuttings, both articles from the Mini mags , a letter from Nick Harvey MP for North Devon, a letter from Andrew Eastman Mayor of Westward Ho!, a letter from the Hospice. Lets hope we find out before Christmas.

This years LGT was the biggest and best one yet but we still only took out 300 Minis. The way the cars were decorated and the fancy dress was just incredible. The atmosphere was electrifying right through the weekend. This is what a few people have said.

“The LGT has to be the friendliest, happiest Mini event of the year.”

Kay Drury Mini World
“Legendary is one of those buzz words that get branded about all over the place, But if there’s one event that truly deserves the term it’s the “Legendary” North Devon Grand Tour”.
Jeff Ruggles Mini Mag.
“To be able to combine such a total for charity and to bring such joy to the children was totally remarkable”.

Nick Harvey MP for North Devon.
“The children and Families, who ask to stay at Little Bridge House to coincide with your event, always have a truly special time and talk of nothing else for weeks to come”
Alison Berridge CHSW.

And Thank You to....

The Grand Tour would not be what it is with out the help of so many people and here they are:

A special thanks has to go to the Wood Burning Centre at Winkliegh for answering the appeal at such short notice and supplying 700 cream teas for us on the Sunday. What great people they are and Radio Lantern who put out the appeal. Radio Lantern also made an appeal for the Bike Marshals. This year Black Thunder also lead the convoy and made sure everyone knew where we were and what was happening. Dave Lemon and all his bike marshals who make such a difference. Bideford Youth Piped Band who help create the atmosphere. Mrs Johns from Hartland Quay who allow us to use their car park & arrange the BBQ for us. To Torridge District Council for the use of Bideford Park and Westward Ho! prom and for getting the Road closure at Westward Ho!. To Bideford Police for help getting out of the park. North Devon Highways for the signs at Westward Ho! and Scott who got up early on a bank Holiday to put them up for us. To Bideford Lions and Torrington Cadets who helped marshal at Westward Ho!. To Ilfracombe Lions who always help with the Parking at IIfracombe. To Chris and the team at Lee Abbey who work so hard to make sure the field is clear when we arrive. To Ilfracombe Town Council for the use of IIfracombe. To the Mayors of Ilfracombe, Westward Ho! and Bideford for being there and giving us there support. To Nick Harvey, MP for his help in counting the Minis in at the CHSW. To St Johns Ambulance for being there and helping when needed. To the North Devon Journal, the North Devon Gazette and the Western Morning News for helping us advertise the event. Cannot forget Mini World and Mini Mag for the support they have give us over the year. We also have a special great big thank you to our Small Cars Big Hearts CREW MEMBERS who are from so many different clubs but who make the event possible. There is also someone else that we have to thank and that is you. This year we have raised an incredible....

£41,775

 
World Record News PDF Print E-mail

This evening, 18th December, I received this from Guinness world records.

Dear Mr Baker,
Thank you for sending us the details of your recent record attempt for 'Largest Parade of Mini Cars'. We are afraid to say that we are unable to accept this as a Guinness World Record. Unfortunately, having viewed your video evidence and seen footage at: http://www.smallcarsbighearts.co.uk/content/view/12/29/ we cannot accept your claim as we can see that one of our guidelines has been broken. "The column of cars must be continuous. As a general guide, the cars should not be more than two car-lengths apart during the parade."

While we understand that this may vary on a public road, particularly at the start, we noticed this stipulation being broken on several occasions and sadly have to reject you claim. Furthermore, your witness statements and cover letter have different totals, as does your log book. Without official video or still photo evidence, we cannot determine which of these were late and who else dropped out.

We need to be 100% certain about our records, which is why we require a high standard of evidence and for every guideline to be followed.

Once again thank you for your interest in Guinness World Records.

Yours sincerely,
Scott Christie
Records Management Team

Am I bovered, do I look bovered, does my face look bovered, NO. We do what no one else can, we put out a convoy of over 300 vehicles on the open road and we travel over 60 miles but more important, we take all those minis one after the other into Little Bridge House and we make some very special people smile and that’s worth a lot more than a Guinness record.

I never really expected any more because it’s been quite a year and I do not what want to go through it again. As most of you already know 3 weeks before our LeJog one of our 25 year old twin daughters came home with Breast Cancer. 25 year old women do not get breast cancer. She is not married and does not have any children. How does this happen? A week before our Lejog she had her breast removed and some of her glands, she had stage 3 cancer. A week later she was on her way to John O’Groats with a bunch of mini nuts. We did have to make a few detours to the odd hospital so she could get her wounds seen to.

Three weeks before our Grand Tour our other daughter had to have her breast removed because she had pre cancerous cells. The specialist said we had more chance of winning the lottery twice than this happening. But they had caught it early. Both our girls were at the Grand Tour and the first one helped me with all the paper work and was there booking people in, even though she was half way through her chemo.

Just after the Grand Tour I received this.

Dear Terry
Words can't express how thankful and grateful we are for your extremely kind generosity. Having the portable oxygen machine has made such a difference to Kimberley's life (& ours) and we thank you so very very much.

This year we have raised over £44,000 for Little Bridge House or so I was told by the Children’s Hospice.

Leigh is now on Herceptin and waiting for her hair to start growing. Nicola is waiting for her reconstruction and Bailey, Leigh's new puppy, is keeping them both busy.

Little Bridge House has ordered their very special vehicle and it should be arriving very soon. They have also ordered a very special set of wheels for their smallest of patients. A mobile cot that does everything.

Slowly our family is getting our lives back to some sort of normality, whatever that is. If anyone is in any doubt about what we do and the record that we have, then they should be in North Devon over the August Bank Holiday. Or if they really want to see what our event is about, then they should be at Little Bridge House and see the same smiles that we do.

This year our daughters showed us their strength and our friends gave us all so much support. So I hope you can understand when I tell Guinness to stick their record where the sun does not shine.

Terry

 
LEJOG PDF Print E-mail

Lands End to John O’Groat Mini Run in aid of the Children’s Hospice SW precious lives appeal.


On Monday 23rd Of June at 10-30am 16 intrepid Mini will gather at Dartington Crystal in Torrington to start the first leg of the 10th anniversary Lands End to John O’Groats Mini Run in aid of the CHSW.

Driving between Lands End and John O’Groats has always been a challenge, having to sit next to your Husband, wife partner or friend for 8 hours a day and for so many days, might even be called a nightmare but doing it in a Mini, with 16 others is about as mad as you can get.

The journey will take 5 days as they go the long way round and they hope to be in John O’Groats by lunch time on Friday 27th June.  It is not a race nor is it any type of time trail and the only test is whether the person you started the event with is still sitting next to you at the end.

The trip will cover 1000 miles using mainly A & B roads and most nights will be under canvas.  They will be hoping for better weather than last year when 4 of the tents blew down at Westward Ho on the first night and they all ended up soaking wet.

The flooding along the route also tested the minis as the water lapped at the bottom of the doors but they all made it and then they all made it home another 1000 miles

The minis are very conscious about driving times, and tiredness so they will cover about 250 miles a day with plenty of stops for Breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. They also have plenty of toilet stops on route as well but even after 10 years they will still find themselves lost about 3 times a day.

Lejog is the first of 3 major events that the North Devon Mini Register organises but over the years the small cars with the big hearts have raised over £220,000 of which £190,000 has been raised for the CHSW. About 6 years ago they gave the CHSW £6,000 to help pay for the extension to the Messy Play Room at Little Bridge House. Then 2 years ago they gave the CHSW £130,000 to pay for and equip the messy Play Room at Charlton Farm the new Children’s Hospice near Bristol. Now they are going to try and raise enough money to pay for and equip the new Messy Play Room at the new  Children’s Hospice SW being built in Cornwall.  

For further information please contact T.Baker Organiser North Devon Mini Register

01237 421592 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or check out www.smallcarsbighearts.co.uk
 
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