140 teams to make charity dash for France in £500 cars

FOCUS Oxford Risk Management Ltd is one of over 100 teams taking part in the 2018 Twin Town Challenge, a charity car rally to Le Touquet.

On Friday May 25 2018, one hundred cars, each costing less than £500, will leave from Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire and head to Le Touquet in northern France on the Twin Town Challenge 2018. Over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend, the teams will complete a number of fun points based challenges to raise money for Charlbury-based charity SpecialEffect.

Nick Jones, Focus Oxford Risk Management Managing Director, said: “We are delighted to be taking part and sponsoring this event again; this is a fantastic opportunity to raise a huge amount of money for such a hardworking and worthy charity. We have been working hard raising funds and engaging with our contacts to offer some great prizes for the auction.

"Our team – “Fast and FOCUS’D” will be travelling in style – rather than speed – in a 1999 4.0 S-Type Jaguar. Team members myself, Roz Wright, Lindsey Stribling & Caroline Walker will be adopting an urban-style team look, with just a hint of the Fast & Furious movie franchise.  We are aiming to raise £1500 through a combination of donations and raffle ticket sales. FOCUS took part in Twin Town Challenge 2016 and we simply had to be back as a main sponsor and on the start line for 2018. Twin Town Challenge is quite simply a fantastic way of raising funds for an amazing charity. “

The Twin Town Challenge is organised by Brendon Cross, who is MD of STL Communications and a SpecialEffect Vice President.

Brendon said: “The sight of 100 cars, 400 people in movie-themed fancy dress, not to mention over 50 volunteers, as they head off to France will be quite a sight to behold. We have a fabulous programme of events in and around Le Touquet including a day at Abbeville circuit and a street party with live bands in the middle of Le Touquet.”

All the costs of the event have been covered by sponsorship, which means that every pound paid in entry fees as well as the fundraising by the teams goes straight to the charity.  The Twin Town Challenge has been a real game changer for SpecialEffect. Most importantly, the charity has already benefitted from the £500,000 raised by the Twin Town Challenges in 2014 and 2016 but this support escalated as the contacts made on the Twin Town Challenge brought wider gains, as Dr Mick Donegan, founder and CEO of SpecialEffect, explains,

“The legacy of each Twin Town Challenge always continues to blossom long after the event itself. We are entirely dependent on donations to carry on our work, so events like this are our lifeblood. We cannot thank the organisers and the Twin Town community enough for their passion and generosity.”

Funds from the Twin Town events have been crucial in enabling SpecialEffect to establish a games room for people with disabilities to visit, to buy new vehicles and to take on more specialist staff to meet the rapidly growing demand for their support and services.

The Twin Town Challenge is taking place from 25-28 May 2018. Find out more at www.twintown.org.uk