Drive For Independence continued....

[Clara]

Just to let you know that anyone who sponsors Ian in his drive / helps out in any way you can has the chance to put stickers of their company logo, their signature, love letters to their wife...

...onto the paint work of my HA (once it is resprayed) which'll stay there for as long as the car stays in one piece.

[pbottomley]

AWWWW not cheesy... if thats the case i am going to register a compnay called "the driver smells" and sponsor the event!

[kellyharding]

Just to let you know that anyone who sponsors Ian in his drive / helps out in any way you can has the chance to put stickers of their company logo, their signature, love letters to their wife...

...onto the paint work of my HA (once it is resprayed) which'll stay there for as long as the car stays in one piece.

I presume your intentions would be to get vinyls made up?

Would look pig ugly though!

Kelly

[AUTOMAN]

Clara, I don't mind if you feel like changing your mind. It looks like you have opened a whole new can of worms here. If you do go ahead, I suggest that you input a clause that states, " The owner of this vehicle reserves the right to withold entries, which may be deamed inappropriat".

I hope this helps and Paul I am ashamed of you, Lol.....

Ian.

[Clara]

AWWWW not cheesy... if thats the case i am going to register a compnay called "the driver smells" and sponsor the event!

That's alright Paul - I was going to give him back to you as a thank you for all the hard work you've done for the club (and I'll have you know that right now I smell of chocolate and apple sauce owing to a minor *ahem* accident in the kitchen)

As for Vinyls - Nope afraid not. Companies can provide their own stickers/ transfers etc and individuals will be given a paint pot!

It'll be fun - the cars are to be enjoyed and if it raises a little more interest than all the better! It'll still be the same car underneath (it's not as if I'm going to do anything silly like put bonnet pins on it ) - it'll just be easier for me to spot in the car park.

Ian - Fear not there will be a warning on the car that anyone who uses foul / sexually explicite (sorry Dann) / racist etc... language on it will have their patch of the car cleaned up with paint stripper.

If anyone else feels like doing something (yes I am willing to wax your legs at camp site if you want Paul - honest I don't mind ) than let me know! I have a half written press release here awaiting pictures of the car before I send it out to the poor chaps and ladies I've been talking to all week.

[pbottomley]

That's alright Paul - I was going to give him back to you as a thank you for all the hard work you've done for the club

Your kidding right???

Not that I would say no. I started to miss Cheesy the day I sold him! My only trouble is how does he fit on the drive?

Red Estate
Silver 2 door
Grey Magnum
Astra

and counting... maybe I should sack off the estate after I swap the axles? anyone intrested in a red estate in about 8 weeks time ?

[AUTOMAN]

Right then,

I have spoken to a representative from Guide Dogs, she has asked that I thank the club and everybody organising or taking part in "A DRIVE FOR INDEPENDENCE". She did leave me with the fact that she said that people did not realise and that is:- It costs over 36 thousand pounds to train and support a guide dog from being a puppy, to retireing at the age of about 10 years old. This is because not only do they pay for all of the Vet's fees, supply the food and equiptment and training for the owner of the dog, but they even pay for mobility officers, residential centres etc to fully support the dog as well as its owner.

The quote that was used when we were given permission to support this charity was, "Guide dogs are proud to be associated with the VAUXHALL VIVA OWNER'S CLUB".

So now it's all systems go, we are being given children's comics, badges and other things to give to people, to raise the awareness of the cause and hopefully encourage donations from the public when we stop anywhere.

Adrian is having a sign made up for us to place on the car when we stop, with the logo's of the club, guide dogs and vauxhall. We are also being leant the magnetic signs with the club logo on to place on the car, and guide dogs are also providing a banner that will be placed arround the car when showing etc, in order to try to attract attention from passers by.

It was also made clear to me that we do not have to use the full name of "The Guide Dogs For The Blind Association" on any of our publicity or for donations by cheque or postal order, "GUIDE DOGS" will do just fine.

I am hoping to speak with both Paul and Clara by the end of the weekend, to finalise arrangements such as the route and where we will be camping etc. Please Please ask family and friends for donations and to see if they would like to get involved in driving etc as the more help that comes forward, the more we will achieve.

Thank you,

Ian,
Automan.

[hbpeter]

Will people need some sort of sponsership form?
Peter

[AUTOMAN]

I thought that I should post some sort of update regarding what is happening regarding "A DRIVE FOR INDEPENDENCE".

Firstly, Ian Coomber has managed to get Vauxhall to help with the publicity for this event and he is still working on getting what-ever he can out of them. He has also contacted all of the other clubs that make up the VBOA, to ask for their help, support and spondorship, as well as posting a news item on the VBOA website.

A big thank you to him for his efforts.

Clara is working extremely hard organising couverage in Classic Car Weekly, Practical Classics, Classic Car Magazine etc, as well as trying to obtain sponsorship from companies such as Green Flag and Sainsbury's, amongst others, who have expressed interest.

Clara is also up to all sorts of other things, giving her time so selflessly, so a Big thank you to her as well.

Paul and Kelley have been working hard organizing artwork and the event itself, having to stay up way into the early hours trying to find out what progremme I had sent some information in. It was "Staroffice", but I now have another copy of microsoft office for windows xp, so that shouln't happen again paul.

Well done to them for sticking with it, your efforts are appreciated.

Approaches have been made to Evans Halshore in both Coatbridge, where the car is now and in Cardiff, to see if they would allow us to display the car at their showrooms for a few days to publicise the event and also to collect a few pounds on our behalf.

Thank you also to everyone who has come forward with suggestions and offers of support.

I have just been told, that if we are able to raise enough money, then we will be asked to name a guide-dog. The suggested name from the guide-dogs representative, Sian, is to name a girl puppt and call her "Viva".

Viva would then be available for us to use for promotional purposes regarding the club and also to adopt on the website. We would be given regular updates as to how she is etc and to follow her progress through life. I thought that this may be a good way of interesting the kids etc.

Thanks for your time again, we will soon be sending sponsor forms out to people who want them, or you will be able to download them.

Thanks again.

Ian
AUTOMAN.

[Clara]

Update.

An email from the kind people at the AA

free membership is being sorted out via Marketing plus we have managed to source an old metal AA badge for the car

...

Kind regards

Martin Sawkins

HR Director