Alan,I did some charity work in Romania in the early 90s, working in orphanages. Essentially, I collected cash and building materials for 6 months and then drove to Romania from Germany (approx 2000 miles) with my Troop of Royal Engineer tradesmen to complete the work. It was extremely rewarding. Brilliant drive too (although very long) Vienna, Prague, Budapest and onwards to Romania.
As you know, I built the bridge in workington Cumbria just before Christmas last year. My team won the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Variety Club of great Britain. I will be attending a charity lunch in London to receive the award on 18 May. Variety Club raise money for motorised wheel chairs.
I also ran the London Marathon in 2006 for the Lords Taverners. This was brilliant! They raise money for English school boy cricket and minibuses for disabled children (they are green). I still have links into Lords Taverners, and they always look for volunteers to raise cash for them. We could target London Marathon 2011, as a G4 Challenge sub group for LTs? It is a lifetime achievement and absolutely fantastic!! The advantage is that they send you a fund raising pack.
Lastly, and most obviously from a guy serving with the Army in Afghanistan, Help for Heroes is massively in vogue at the moment, as is the Army Benevolent Fund. It saddens me to infor you all that some of our soldiers are leaving this theatre very seriously injured and some of their lives will be changed forever.
We could do a G4 charity event to support Pudsey? At least we would all be on the TV!!
I have been looking at the MacMillan 4x4 charity event or sometime. Should enter a number of vehicles into that, or deliver an equivalent weekend that would attract attention. I would be very happy to help out with the organisation of a new event with you, if you would like.
I would suggest that we select a charity, and then select the activity to suit. I hope that this helps - look forward to seeing you all at the London Marathon 2011!!!
Rob