Thursday, 01 October 2009

Help 4 Heroes footballing fund-raiser has grounds for success

Mercedes-Benz of Swindon proved to be in a league of its own when it put a footballing tour in aid of Help 4 Heroes on the road to its fund-raising goal.

A trio of RAF personnel from Lyneham is visiting all 20 Premiership clubs in 36 hours to collect memorabilia that will be auctioned for the military charity at a black tie dinner next month.

Corporal Johnny Carberry-Rogers and Corporal Gareth Owens, both from 70 Squadron Operations and Flight Lieutenant Ben Hanson, a Captain on the Hercules C130K, are undertaking their tour in a GL-Class supplied by Mercedes-Benz of Swindon and driven by David Harries, General Sales Manager.

Travelling from Portsmouth’s Fratton Park to the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, the group will cover 1,200 miles - returning to Wiltshire with an array of much sought-after items including autographed shirts, footballs and match tickets.

“Help 4 Heroes is a cause that is close to the hearts of everyone at Lyneham,” explained Liverpool fan Johnny. “We’re all massive football fans and whilst it will be a fantastic experience for all of us to visit all these clubs and their grounds, it is more important that we raise as much as we can for Help 4 Heroes to support the vital work that they do.”

Having devised the fund-raising idea of the Premiership tour, Gareth approached various local motor retailers to see if they would be able to provide them with transport for the trip.

“Mercedes-Benz of Swindon was literally the last one on my list and I nearly fell off my seat when they said it would be no problem letting us have a car,” he explained. “The involvement and enthusiasm of David Harries and all the Swindon team have been tremendous and to end up with such an impressive looking vehicle such as the GL-Class is fantastic.”

All of the memorabilia will be auctioned at a dinner to be held at The Wiltshire Golf Club in Wootton Bassett on Thursday 19th November, when it is hoped to raise £5,000. In addition to the football items, the group has gathered many more exciting lots, including the nose cone of Jenson Button’s Formula One racing car signed by the world championship leader himself, a crash helmet autographed by Button’s motor-racing rival Fernando Alonso, a round of golf at Wentworth and a weekend break for two at the Berkeley Hotel in London.

Guest speakers at the event will include former Army Major David Bradley, who survived after being hit by a rocket propelled grenade in Iraq, and England under 21 manager Stuart Pearce, who is a customer of Mercedes-Benz of Swindon.

David Harries added: “We are lucky that our parent company, the Sytner Group, actively promotes dealership participation in local community initiatives such as this.

“The tour and auction is a great idea and one which our staff, our customers and contacts have been very keen to support. Our suppliers Arval, Michelin and System Signs have provided the fuel, tyres and signwriting respectively free-of-charge, whilst customers who have seen the GL outside the showroom are already asking for tickets to the dinner.”

The team set off 1st October and will complete their epic journey on 2nd October.