<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>WHAT IS THIS ALL ABOUT ? you are asking</strong></span></p> <p>Well I will try to explain</p> <p>The Weardale Car Club last year decided to have a car run with a difference, a blend of Fun and Endurance the empasis was on the fact that it was never to be a race of any kind, whilst raising funds for Charity.&nbsp;Last year almost &pound;3000 was raised for the Great North Air Ambulance, a fantastic effort.</p> <p>About the vehicles, the rules are quite clear, each vehicle must have cost no more that &pound;500, it must be Taxed, Tested, Insured and Roadworthy, all documentation&nbsp;and the vehicle are inspected by an independent adjudicator on the morning of the run, any&nbsp;vehicles not meeting the criteria will not be allowed to start.</p> <p>Now the fun each vehicle/team must have theme which is limited only by the team's imagination, the&nbsp;wackier the better.</p> <p>Each team must fund there own vehicle and meet all the associated costs themselves.</p> <p>Last years event was great fun and the 11 entrant vehicles were amazing to say the least ranging from the&nbsp;Royal Wedding Car, Ghost Busters, Miami Vice, Blues Brothers to my own Burke and Hare entry&nbsp;which was a Vauxhall Eagle Quest Hearse, complete with coffin (don't ask).&nbsp;</p> <p>Of couse to add a little bit of competition to the event there has to be a winner, this works on a very complex points system which involves the price paid for the vehicle, age, no of former owners, best theme, no breakdowns etc etc. At this point I am very proud to say that last year&nbsp;myself and Alan Bainbridge (Aka&nbsp;Hare&nbsp;or Cardinal)&nbsp; WON THE EVENT, and a magificent &pound;4 Trophy stands in pride of place in the Roddam household.</p> <p>This years event&nbsp;takes place on Saturday and Sunday 14th &amp; 15th April. The vehicles will be on show on the Saturday morning from 08:30 at Unthank Park (showfield) Stanhope, arrive early to avoid congestion.</p> <p>I am currently preparing this years vehicle&nbsp;and can not say too much about it at this stage for fear that ideas may be stolen!!! all I can say is it&nbsp;dates from 1988 and was once owned by the famous footballer&nbsp; Mr Jimmy Greaves.&nbsp; (yes its really true)</p> <p>This year we have decided to raise funds for a local charity, Tabithas Toys, please read below the words of Tabithas parents and I am sure that it will encourage you to dig deep and support the amazing work carried out by these special people.</p> <p>Many Thanks and Thank You</p> <h2><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Tabitha&rsquo;s Story </strong></span><strong></strong><strong>(the words of her parents).</strong></h2> <div class="entry"> <p>Tabitha&rsquo;s Legacy &ndash; Our beautiful daughter Tabitha was born with Edwards Syndrome. Her life expectancy was extremely short, maybe minutes or hours, but never years. Tabitha however, was so much stronger than anyone expected, and even though at times she was very poorly she grew into a beautiful little girl. Having this Syndrome meant that she had severe physical and learning difficulties to such an extent that she was not able to sit, stand, walk or talk.</p> <p>When Tabitha was a year old we borrowed a set of fibre optic lights. Tabitha was so excited and stimulated by these that she made an attempt to get hold of the lights and to push the mirror ball round, we were overjoyed at her reaction and this was just the start of the progress she made.</p> <p>Our very kind friends&rsquo;, colleagues and neighbours raised enough money to make a sensory room for Tabitha, which became an invaluable resource. At first, Tabitha could only look at the pretty lights, but over the next year she would hold and play with the fibre optic strands, use a touch screen computer, and then she amazed everyone by standing up, laughing, clapping and singing with joy.</p> </div> <p>Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.</p> <p>Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving &ndash; they&rsquo;ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they&rsquo;ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it&rsquo;s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.</p> <p>So please dig deep and donate now.</p>