Veyron Hospital Visit (cont'd from Sobering Moments thread)

[Jaykaybi]

At the request of a few people from the Sobering Moments thread, here's there story behind this picture.





For those that don't already know, I am the organiser behind Supercars at Wilton House, which I co-founded with the Earl of Pembroke. Lord Pembroke, or 'Will' as I know him (and 'team will' as PH knows him) is the President of the Stars Appeal, a children's hospital charity concern whose campaign 'Caring 4 Kids' is raising money for new facilities at Salisbury Hospital. Proceeds from the event go to the Stars Appeal.

Instead of coming home after Supercars at Wilton, I decided to stay the night and - since I hadn't yet actually seen the facilities for myself - I asked Dave Cates (the Stars Appeal's chief fundraiser) if I could pay a visit the next day, and that I'd also be more than happy for the kids to come see the car (I had a Lamborghini Gallardo LP560/4 for the weekend). Happily, Dave loved the idea and when I put it to Will he agreed to come too.

It's fair to say that I was genuinely shocked... the staff there do a fantastic job, I can't stress that enough and they do everything they can to ensure that the children are happy and comfortable, but if I can summarise it would be by saying that these kids inhabit genuine WW2 buildings. In particular, there's a long, dark, concrete, grey corridor with no windows that they have to use to get between vital areas. Horrid, air-raid shelter type stuff.

I've asked Dave from the Stars Appeal to contribute to this thread - he's having trouble logging on to PH due to various web filters at work, and has asked me to post on his behalf -

Dave Cates from the Stars Appeal said:

We sent the picture in Jaykaybi’s post to him as a thank you for arranging an awesome private Supercar show for a group of children, who because of illness or disability, have to spend a great deal of time at Salisbury District Hospital. We felt the picture summed up the difference such experiences can make to these children. We are hugely grateful to Jay, not just for this, but also for his huge input into the mammoth Supercars at Wilton House event which this year raised over £15,000 for the Stars Appeal. This will help massively improve facilities for the thousands of children, like the young chap in the picture, who are treated at Salisbury Hospital each year.

All the best,

Dave

Unfortunately Dave and I can’t go into to much detail about the chap in the picture for obvious reasons, but the smile on his face says it all. As I said in the sobering moments thread, organising this visit, seeing this little chap grinning like a clown while revving up a Veyron in front of his mates, and then receiving Dave's letter - that hit me hard. I am immensely privileged to have been able to do this.

I hope it's not against forum rules to ask that, if anyone else 'gets' what I'm feeling while reading this, they click this link - http://www.starsappeal.org/donate.html


JKB

[killsta]

Well done chap

[FHCNICK]

Cracking work Jay

[ZOLLAR]

Well done to all involved

[madala]

....kudos to you sir and all others that do so much sterling work for sick children.....

[bigTee]

[Chilli]

Got something in my bloody eye again.

Very good work sir.

[monthefish]

Chilli said:

Got something in my bloody eye again.

Very good work sir.

Me too. Must be the pollen or something.

[ellroy]

Massive respect.

Bloody contact lenses seem to be playing up this morning.

[cal72]

Just ecohing above.

[Andy OH]

I doff my cap to you sir, well done

[y2blade]

Great work guys

such a good cause

[monthefish]

...another reason I'd really like to own a very special car.

[Cas_P]

That's amazing. It's lovely when such things are done for children that have a lot of their childhood taken away from horrible illnesses.

If you ever need any help with anything give me a shout, I'm always more than happy to help in raising funds to make childrens lives better.

Well done

Edited by Cas_P on Friday 24th September 13:13

[Jaykaybi]

Thanks everyone, for your comments and for your support with the event as well

JKB

[4988cc]

Sterling effort the lot of you

[Original Poster]

Top work

[43034]

Silly cold air making my eyes water.

Top work there. Be proud of yourself

[Pesty]

[Coco H]

I think it's great thing to do. It's the sort of thing we would like to do with our humble Jag. But we are in East Anglia.
We are involved in fundraising for a childrens hospice in Oxford. Something that started when I was 7 years old as it was just around the corner. Sobering doesn't go anywhere near... can't think of the words right now. I have had three prems and spent a lot of time in intensive care/hdu and scbu and childrens wards. I have met a lot of people with sick children over the years so I thought I could cope with a children's hospice. It humbles me everytime I think about it.

Good work
x

(sorry for the ramble I am year older today and evidently in reflective mood)