Supporting charities via the Pavestone Rally
On September 6, four YBS colleagues travelled to Ghent, Belgium, to participate in the third edition of the Pavestone Rally. The team’s four-day drive through Europe to Monte Carlo (and the numerous fun challenges along the way) helped raise money for Rainy Day Trust, Crash, the British Heart Foundation and Variety, the Children’s Charity.
Proud to have been on the team is our Managing Director Daniel McKane: “These four charities are close to our hearts. We’ve all experienced challenging times ourselves, or at least we know someone who has.” Having completed the rally, the YBS team managed to raise £6340.00.
Fried egg, bacon, pineapple and banana
The rules of the Rally were clear. First: find a car as cheap as possible – ideally costing less than £500. Daniel spent weeks trying to score a “banger”, via social media, friends, online and even by browsing newspapers. He eventually found a car, got the wheels and bearing fixed and then had it spray painted YBS orange. Bayliss Print was kind enough to do all the stickers free of charge.
Second: follow the daily dress code. The YBS team members went all out, for instance matching Saturday’s “food and drinks” theme by dressing as a fried egg, a pineapple, a rasher of bacon and a banana.
And third, Pavestone Rally is a tour, not a race. This year’s route to Monte Carlo went via Ghent, Strasbourg, Innsbruck and Milan. Along the way, the teams scored points by taking part in selfie contests and other challenges.
During the Race
The journey to Dover went well and the team arrived alongside other competitors ready to get going.
On arrival in Ghent for the first leg to Strasbourg, Team YBS dressed as doctors. They were given their list of challenges, which included building a tower of food products from a local shop, to meet the height of the tallest team member.
Day three saw Barbara (they named the car!), experience issues with the suspension and the aircon failed, just as they were about to embark on the journey across the alps.
At Innsbruck, the team fancy dress was food! Onwards to Milan!
Unfortunately, after 3 breakdowns, the car was struggling, but team YBS were not out of the race. They were 2 miles from Stelvio Pass but were advised by the Police to turn back and take another route as the car was continually overheating and the air was too thin at the top of the pass which would have killed the car!
But the car kept going and on the final day, the challenge was to travel with an open can of Fermented Fish (Surströmming) with the windows closed and the fancy dress was something beginning with P – so Prisoners was the choice. Travelling from Milan to Nice via Monaco, the team set off with their Fish! And they made it!
Thank you, Pavestone Rally sponsors
“The money we raised for Rainy Day Trust, Crash, the British Heart Foundation and Variety, the Children’s Charity is in large part thanks to our generous sponsors”, says Daniel. “So, we’d like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Jewson, Wickes, Ecohome-insulation.com and Thermal Packaging Solutions, as well as our individual contributors.”
We believe the total amount raised by all participants was £212,000 – a great amount of money.
To be continued …
The YBS team had a great time navigating the rally route, meeting fellow participants and contributing to important causes. We are already looking forward to the next Pavestone Rally adventure, and the positive differences it will help us make.
