49 days to go
With less than 50 days to go until the start of the 2023 Veterans Banger Rally, I thought I would drop a few lines to say hello again..
Most of the teams are now chomping at the bit to get started on the rally and a few (myself included) have carried out a few long test runs to test our trusty(rusty) steads.
For all of those that have been following the rally via some of our blogs may well have seen that this will be the last run of the Veterans Banger Rally in its current guise before becoming the "Veterans Honour Rally".
I will be stepping down from the helm of the rally and the last three years of hard work have at times been challenging, but also rewarding.
I will be handing over the reigns to a trio of gentlemen, Stewart Walker, George Coffin and Andy Wild.
Before I hand over the reigns to the new team, I have some news that may just boost the future of the rally in what ever direction it takes via our wonderful friends at the TV show, "Bargain Loving Brits in the sun"
The production team will be filming with some of the teams arriving in Benidorm, during our time in Benidorm for our "Rally Party Night" as well as concentrating on some personal stories of some of the participants of the rally and their unique vehicles.
There will be then some filming from Benidorm to Malaga and also, for our arrival in Gibraltar.
The production company will also be using footage taken by the teams in the early parts of the rally.
As you an imagine, as of yet, we have not even filmed the, so we do not have any ideas of going to air dates, however I believe it may be early 2024.
This year as you know, we are raising funds for so many smaller individual charities as well as our nominated charity Blind Veterans UK www.blindveterans.org.uk and hopefully you will support us in any way you can.
On a personal level, I would like to take the opportunity to thank the community of veterans and friends that have supported the rally so far and that hopefully moving forward, the event can continue, albeit under a different name.
Whilst this is our last rally under the "banger rally" banner, we have decided to do something a bit different, in that we will be taking along a special guest with us that will be travelling with every team on the rally.
May we introduce to the world, Miss Donna Kee-Babb
As you can see, "our Donna" is not the smallest of special guests (She won't mind me saying that)
Donna has INSISTED on travelling with each of the 31 teams taking part in this years rally and not only that, but to make it worth the while of every team that Donna travels with, will receive a bonus 50 points towards their points total.
As Donna moves from one team she likes to travel with gifts................
As she leaves each team, we are asking the team that she is departing to buy her a leaving gift and trust me, Donna, does NOT like small gifts!! and she likes to travel with ALL her gifts.
Imagine, if your team is in a Reliant Robin Pickup! and you get Donna and all her presents towards the end of the rally (Yes we do have a Reliant Robin Pickup on the rally this year!)
This now brings us onto another feature of the rally.
We have teamed up with "Cancer Relief Gibraltar" as part of their 40th anniversary celebrations and will be holding an auction on the arrival day in Gibraltar in Grand Casemates Square.
The Auction will consist of all the wonderful gifts that Donna has amassed during her 1800+ mile journey from the UK to Gibraltar.
Every penny raised by both the rally and also the auction will go to so many worth while charities, both here in the UK an also in Gibraltar.
If yo have been following the progress of the rally via our social media channels, you will know that we are doing everything we possibly can to promote the rally in any way we can.
Even though, I am the main organiser of the Veterans Banger Rally, I am also taking part in the rally.
I will be taking on the challenge with my eldest son, Jorgen and he will not only be experiencing being with his father for around 9 days, but also having to put up with having his birthday whilst on the rally! lol
I am going to be extremely cheeky and some may see it as an abuse of the use of the blog, but charity is charity and sometimes you have to be cheeky and ask of support.
I have been pushing for around 3 months now for our little team and as of now we are still without a single donation to our nominated charity.
This event will cost the pair of us in the region of £2000 by the time you take into consideration the following.
£800 cost of purchasing the vehicle
Repairs to the vehicle to get it 100% road worthy.
MOT
Additional costs, such as equipping the car for the rally
Petrol costs for the journey
Insurance
Accommodation
Flights home (We are scrapping my wonderful car in Gibraltar due to needing to be back for work etc)
Beer tokens
So as you can imagine, this is a costly adventure for us to take part in and we are NOT asking for the money for any of the above, we are asking for a donation to our nominated charity for all the hard work, that not only our team are doing , but also the massive amounts of work being done by all the teams from all over the UK.
The cost of an average coffee is around £2.50, a decent meal deal is around £5.
We are not asking for millions of pounds (Unless you want to!), just a one off donation to give a gentle nod of appreciation for the ladies and gents taking part in the rally in their own time, putting in lots of their own money and holiday entitlement from work etc, to try to raise funds for charity.
This is the link to my own team, Team 001 -The Wigan Kebabs, however 100% of the money raised will go to the nominated charity this year, which is as previously mentioned, Blind Veterans UK.
It would be wonderful, if YOU could be the one to help us to our own personal goal this year and would be a fitting send off to the Veterans Banger Rally in its current guise.
You can follow the work of the rally on our Facebook page Facebook that will be updated frequently by most of the teams on a daily basis. Check out Veterans Banger Rally Page if the link does not work.
Another way to keep in touch with the goings on of the rally will be by my personal YouTube channel by searching @TheGrumpyOldVeteran as I will be uploading lots of shorts and edited videos along the rally.
On a final note, if anyone would like a mention on either the YouTube channel or like to see your name and/or business on any of our vehicles, simply make a donation and let us know what area you are from and we will put you in touch with your local team, or failing that, you can see your details on our own little Citroen C2, drop us a message at veteransbangerrally@gmail.com
As a rally on the whole, we would like to thank all our supporters, teams, mechanics and followers for their continued support.
A big shout out to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jd6I9Jcmfs Team HomeBuilt from just outside of Glasgow that will be not only taking part, but will also be offering mechanical support along the rally too.
Follow for more content on all our socials as well as on YouTube/TheGrumpyOldVeteran
Cheers for now and lookout for more frequent updates and new about the rally and the switch in 2024 to the new version of the rally.