College and businesses help raise money in memory of son

Students and lecturers from Northampton College on Booth Lane have teamed up with local businesses, donating time and money to get Team Chester's car ready for the annual Rust Bucket Rally in aid of Ailsa's Aim and the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Motor Parts Direct kindly donated a new battery, full service kit and braking system parts for the students to install along with other major component replacements required to get the vehicle roadworthy, this was completed under the supervision of the motor vehicle tutors Simon Cook and Matt Pardon who said "It was a great opportunity for our students to work on a live customer vehicle giving them an insight on real life tasks that would be carried out in the trade. It was a fantastic experience that was rewarding for all the staff involved and something unique for the students to get involved with."

After this, it went to the Skins Vinyl and Project 39 workshop for its makeover. The once battered, black Audi A4 now sports a full vinyl wrap with some custom elements before being treated to a full detail including roof protection by Pete. Speaking with the owner of Skins Vinyl and Wrapping, Turan, "As soon as I knew Karl and Warren were doing the rally again and for who, I had an idea in my head straight away. With an open book and no limits on design, we think it looks better than we had imagined"

Team Chester was formed back in 2019 to take part in the Rust Bucket Rally that year raising money for Children are Butterflies, the same charity that helped team founder Karl and his family when they sadly lost their son Chester.

"Since 2019 we have taken part in 4 rust bucket rally's, every year we reach out to local businesses to help raise money for different charities in his memory. Each year I am blown away by the generosity of people, not just local business' we have sponsors as far as Scotland! This year has been on another level, I would like to thank everyone involved to get us this far, now its over to Warren and I to to get us there and back without breaking down"

The Rust Bucket Rally is the ninth run of this unique event, having previously raised nearly £250,000 for 9 charities, this year the enthusiasts will travel to the south of france on the French Riviera run. Covering 2500 miles in 4 days in 'rust bucket' cars worth less than £1000, it's not for the faint-hearted.

Karl and Warren along with 56 other teams will leave Wellingborough in the early hours of Friday 7th June hopefully returning in a convoy to a welcome home party at the Old Gramarians Rugby Club on Monday 10th June around 7PM.

So far the event has raised over £46,000 for the 2 charities, to donate please visit www.justgiving.com/page/teamchester-rbr24

For more information on the event or to keep up to date with rally please like and follow our facebook pages - /TeamChesterRF - /the-rust-bucket-rally