Banjul Challenge 2008/9 - Banger & Smash

Comedy Seat Covers

Only 4 days to go now. Just had Christmas. 10 of the family over for the week-end. Lots of wine and food and a great time had by all, judging by the special trip I made to the bottle bank this morning! Also, got lots of presents, including the comedy wooden bead car seat covers now adorning our stylish set of wheels.
What about our new tool kits. Matching Swiss Army knives. There's nothing we can't tackle with these. Judging by the photo rather too much alcohol had already been consumed. I'm getting in some serious training for the trip this week, partying Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. That should get me in the right mood for Sotogrande.
Bye for now...John

Spenborough Guardian

Intrepid duo off to Africa in old banger

Father and daughter adventurers, John and Rachael Calvert, are getting ready to hit to road on the 4,000 mile Banger Rally from Yorkshire to Gambia

Published Date: 11 December 2008
By Ben Morgan

AN INTREPID father and daughter team are preparing to drive 4,000 miles in an 'old banger' to distribute toothbrushes donated by a Cleckheaton dentist.

John Calvert, 61, and his daughter Rachael, 30, will be competing in the Plymouth-Dakar Benjul Challenge by covering the huge distance in a beaten up, 21 year-old Renault 5 that cost them just £400.

The pair have already raised £1,500 for the Cure Parkinson's in the UK charity and hope to reach their target of £4,000 by the time they set off on December 19.

They have been assisted by Greenside Dental Practice, based in Cleckheaton, who have donated toothbrushes to be handed out to children once they reach the Gambia, in a bid to raise the standard of dental hygiene in the African country.

John Calvert said: "This is something I've been talking about for nearly six years and I can't wait to get started. There are going to be about 30 other cars from all over the world taking part. The distance isn't too much of a problem because we can break the journey up – we have three weeks to get there.

"The hardest part was finding a car to fit the bill. The idea is to buy a car for under £400 that can make the journey and it must be left-hand drive. When we arrive in The Gambia we'll be giving the car to local people as well has handing out dental supplies to the children."

Rachael thinks that the only foreseeable problems maybe be reliability of the car on some of the smaller roads.

"The Renault is 21-years-old, it's done less than 70,000km and has an automatic transmission. It was originally owned by a French couple who emigrated to England a couple of years ago. We decided that rather than driving on main roads for most of the journey, we'll try and see the sights so we're travelling the Atlantic Route through Africa to see what it's like. Any problems we find will be self-inflicted but my dad has planned everything," she said.

The drive will take them from from Saltaire to Portsmouth where they will cross the channel and drive the length of France and Spain, before crossing to Morocco and driving through Mauritania and Senegal. They aim to arrive in Gambia on January 7 after completing the gruelling trek. They will then meet up with the other participants and donate their cars and equipment to worthy causes in the country.

Paul Brown, of Greenside Dental Care in Cleckheaton, said: "When we heard about the challenge, we wanted to add our support. Oral health in The Gambia – as in many parts of Africa – is extremely poor. Dental hygiene aids such as imported toothbrushes are scarce – the majority of rural living children chew sticks or do nothing at all."

The daring duo will be chronicaling their adventures on their blog at http://bangerandsmash.typepad.com and donations to The Cure Parkinsons Trust can be made at www.cureparkingsons.org.uk.

The Moment Of Tooth

Only a week to go and we are doing our last round of promotion, hoping to raise more cash for The Cure parkinson's Trust.

Just got another mention in the Yorkshire Evening Post

Father and daughter in toothbrush trek to provide dental care in Africa

Published Date:
13 December 2008
By Aisha Iqbal

THE moment of tooth is near for father and daughter John and Rachael Calvert.
The duo are in final preparations to drive 4,000 miles to The Gambia in Africa to bring better dental care to families there and at the same time raise cash for the Cure Parkinson's Trust charity.

The Calverts, from Otley, will deliver hundreds of toothbrushes, mouthwash and other dental supplies to poor people living in villages.

The items have been donated by Muirhead dental practice in Shipley and the Greenhead surgery in Cleckheaton.

The team's eye-catching painted 21-year-old Renault 5 automatic – bought on eBay for £300 especially for the adventure – will be packed full of dental products, alongside essential equipment such as three spare wheels, jerry cans and camping gear.

Rachael, 30, said: "We have been really pleased with the goodwill we have received from friends and family, and from local businesses .

"The dental health link-up is a great example of how businesses can get involved by donating products that will make a real difference to people's lives in The Gambia."

The duo – who have dubbed their family team Banger and Smash – aim to raise £4,000 for the Cure Parkinson's Trust, in memory of their mum and grandmother Peggy, who died in 2002 and had suffered from the disease for 20 years.

To make their 4,000-mile journey, they will travel the length of France and Spain, before crossing to Morocco and driving through Mauritania and Senegal.

They will spend Christmas in Marrakech, Morocco.

Rob Muirhead, of Muirhead Dental Practice, said: "When we heard about the challenge, we wanted to add our support.

"Oral health in The Gambia – as in many parts of Africa – is extremely poor.

"The majority of the population are not aware of the importance of oral health and most have never seen a dentist.

"Toothbrushes are scarce – the majority of rural living children chew sticks or do nothing at all."

Banjul Challenge

The Calverts' journey will be part of the Plymouth-Dakar-Banjul Challenge, in which hundreds of teams from around the world try to get their cars – all worth less than £400 – to the African country early in the New Year.

The Leeds duo have already raised more than £1,500 for the Cure Parkinson's Trust.

They begin their mammoth drive on Friday and are due to arrive in Marrakech on Christmas Eve.

They aim to reach their final destination of Banjul in The Gambia on January 9.

Visit www.justgiving.com/ bangerandsmash to sponsor them.

aisha.iqbal@ypn.co.uk

Nine Days To Go

Only 9 days to go so beginning to wonder what we've forgotten. Did a few last minute repairs to the old car, so at least it will be running ok when we leave. One of the brake lights didn't work and replacing the bulb didn't cure the problem, so in typical Plymouth-Dakar style I took the light fitting apart and found the fitting to have broken. A bit of drilling, screwing and glueing had it sorted and now we are legal again.

Today I've had a trial run fitting everything in. The jerry cans, spare wheels (we're carrying 3 of them), and all the car bits and pieces have been fitted in the bottom. Note the kettle....Can't go without a brew. I've then thrown a ground sheet over the top to hide everything, then there are just our personal bags, tents and sleeping bags to throw on top. I've also tried out the power inverter and I'm pleased to say it works. This gives us 240v power, same as at home, off the car's battery. There will be enough power to charge all our batteries, so avoiding having to take adapters for everything.
I also sorted out our desert sat nav. There are no maps for Tom Tom or Garmin once we hit Africa, so we navigate by waypoints. Simply enter the Latitude and Longitude of the place we wish to get to, and this will tell us which direction to travel and how far away we are. Simple but effective.

Not long now

It's December 2nd and we have only 17 days before we leave. The ferry from Portsmouth to Caen is booked for 10.30pm on Friday 19th December. Rachael finishes work on Thursday evening so we'll have Friday morning to pack everything before leaving just after lunch......loads of time!! We'll arrive in France at 7.00am on Saturday morning, then have three relatively easy days driving down to Sotogrande to get us into the swing of things, and that is where we will meet the other teams.
We've got all the documents, had all the jabs and got the medicines. We've collected all the equipment we think we'll need and just hope it will fit in the car. We aren't taking a roof rack because it will (a) slow us down and (b) fall off in the desert.
The only problem we've had is the old man damaging his shoulder whilst out cycling (now we know where the name Banger came from). He's now having intensive and expensive physiotherapy, including a cortisone injection to get him fit for the desert. It has to work or he won't be doing any pushing.
The only other things we have to do is sort out our walkie talkies, as the pair we ordered were faulty and we're waiting replacements. We also had a scare with personal travel insurance. The FCO slapped an "Essential travel only" recommendation on Mauritania because of the coup there in August and the possible terrorist threat, which spooked our insurance company. We are currently waiting on son in law Tim, who is a Director of an insurance broker, finding an alternative. No pressure Tim!!
Our Christmas party is booked for December 13th then it's off we go.
What can possibly go wrong?