Press Release from RIBI

ROTARY PRESENTS OVER £250,000 TO CHARITY

December 11th 2001

David Liddiatt, President Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland presented more than £250,000 to charity in a presentation evening held on 10th December at The Holiday Inn, Maidenhead.

The money was raised through a raffle relating to the Team Rotary entry in the World Cup Rally 2001, and is in aid of Motability and Rotary registered Charities. Team Rotary successfully completed the 6000 mile round trip from the Brooklands Motor Museum in Weybridge to the Atlas Mountains taking in the sights of the Sahara Desert, Morocco, France, Spain and Portugal before arriving back at Brooklands 21 days later to tumultuous applause.

Team Rotary’s final result was 30th in their class and 39th overall from a field of more than 70. The Rally is organised by the Classic Rally Association and is specifically for standard showroom production cars up to 1.4 litre petrol or 1.7 litre diesel. The three drivers from the Rotary Club of Maidenhead Thames were, Ian Boddy, Nigel Morris and Peter Miles, who drove a Ford Focus 1.4iCL loaned by Ford MAGIC.

David Liddiatt presented a cheque for £125,000 to Rotary Charities and another, also for £125,000 to Hazel Gotfraind, Fundraising and Marketing Director at Motability.

“On behalf of Motability, I am extremely grateful for the hard work put in by Team Rotary to raise money for us. This tremendous sum will help over 150 people achieve personal mobility”, commented Hazel.

Brendan McGrath, Past President of the Rotary Club of Maidenhead Thames said, “ I am very glad that Rotary President, David Liddiatt agreed to make the World Cup Rally a national Rotary sponsored event. This enabled us to raise as much money as we did, and to adopt Motability as the major charity. A further £45,000 was raised through sponsorship which covered all the costs of the raffle. All the money raised through the raffle has gone directly to the charities”.

Also at the presentation were two of the three drivers, Ian Boddy and Nigel Morris. Ian spoke in some depth about their experiences on the rally, including the dangers and the close shaves! He left the team at Marrakech to assist rally driver Peter Lewis, whose co-driver had to return unexpectedly to England.

‘This was an experience of a lifetime, from breathtaking scenery to breathtaking poverty in Africa, to the splendour and majesty of the mountains of northern Spain, flash floods, roads disappearing, wonderful sunsets - we saw it all. The Rally is an amazing event and was much harder and tougher than any of us were expecting. It is heartening to know that the Rally helped Rotary raise so much for charity’, commented Ian.

Also present to collect his prize, was raffle winner Eric Cowcill from the Rotary Club of Sandbach in Cheshire. Eric won the first prize of a luxury cruise for 2 in the Carribean, sponsored by P&O Cruises.

Further Details

For further details about this press release, please contact Judith Diment, HBL Media on: 01628 418133 or 07860 162313.

Photographs available

Editors Notes

1. Rotary is an organisation of businesses and professional persons united world-wide, who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help to build goodwill and peace in the world. Their motto is: Service above Self.

2. For general information on Rotary in your area, contact the local Rotary Club President. Details from Robin Freeman: 01789 765411

3. Motability is a national UK charity, which helps disabled people and their families to become mobile, by enabling them to use their Government funded disability allowances, to lease or buy a car, powered wheelchair, or scooter.

4. For more information on the Rally see www.teamrotary.co.uk

5. The full list of prize winners is as follows:

Team Rotary World Cup Rally Draw 2001

1st Prize Winner: Mr Eric Cowcill 4 Cedar Close, Sandback, Cheshire
2nd Prize Winner: VJ Maxwell 11a Stafford Road, Warrington
3rd Prize Winner: P Kessler Stevenikessler House, Goodwin Road, London N9 0BG
4th Prize Winner: M Limon 10 Mardle Close, Caddington
5th Prize Winner: Dave Hall 20 Eldon Road, The Villas, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK1E 3SA
6th Prize Winner: S Dunbar 17 Tummel Crescent, Pitlochry, Perthshire
7th Prize Winner: W Smith 50 Tennyson Road, Stoke, Coventry, CV2 5JA