Instrumentation Monthly Test | Measurement | Control
On Friday 25 May 2018, one hundred cars costing less than £500 each 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. As well as participating, Shawcity is also the Safety, Health and Environmental sponsor for this year’s event.
Neil O’Regan, managing director at Shawcity and SpecialEffect ambassador, commented: ‘This is a unique event. We have entered a team and sponsored the two previous challenges in 2016 and 2014, which have raised over £500,000 for SpecialEffect. It became clear the Safety, Health and Environmental aspects needed specific support to ensure the event remains safe and fun for everyone involved while freeing up more of the running costs to go directly to the charity.
‘Health, safety and environmental issues are at the very core of our business, so it is the perfect fit for Shawcity. Our sponsorship will allow the Twin Town team to continue with their first class organisation of the event and keep everyone safe and well. When the organisers discussed the opportunity with us, we didn’t hesitate to say yes.’
‘The theme for this year’s event is the movies and the Shawcity Team are going as The B Team, a homage to the 1980s classic The A Team. Our team includes Cannibal Smith, B.A. Baggage Claim, the SpaceMan and Dandelion and Burdock as a nod to the original characters.
‘We’re hoping to raise at least £2,000 for SpecialEffect on top of our sponsorship. The charity achieves such life-changing results for disabled young people and adults to be able to access technology and their dedication and enthusiasm in helping everyone they can really is inspiring.’
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 fancy dress, not to mention over 50 volunteers, as they head off to France is quite a sight. 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 the town.’
All the costs of the event are covered by sponsorship, which means 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 has 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 takes place from 25-28 May 2018. Find out more at www.twintown.org.uk.
If you would like to donate to the Twin Town Challenge to help SpecialEffect continue with their amazing work supporting individuals with disabilities to access technology and gaming, just click here.
