City driving instructors to raise charity cash with learner relay

A TEAM of city driving instructors and their pupils are getting into gear for a charity relay.
Instructors from left, Nick Pink, Jane Holt, Peter Russell, Toby Scott, Jamie Gerathy, Jenny Bonner, James Early and Adrian Wilkinson show off their spotted cars at Portsdown Hill ahead of tomorrow's relay. Picture: Jane HoltInstructors from left, Nick Pink, Jane Holt, Peter Russell, Toby Scott, Jamie Gerathy, Jenny Bonner, James Early and Adrian Wilkinson show off their spotted cars at Portsdown Hill ahead of tomorrow's relay. Picture: Jane Holt
Instructors from left, Nick Pink, Jane Holt, Peter Russell, Toby Scott, Jamie Gerathy, Jenny Bonner, James Early and Adrian Wilkinson show off their spotted cars at Portsdown Hill ahead of tomorrow's relay. Picture: Jane Holt

Eight driving instructors from Portsmouth and the surrounding areas will embark on the Big Learner Relay tomorrow in aid of Children in Need.

Each instructor’s car will be decorated with multi-coloured spots and a sticker depicting Pudsey Bear, as a convoy – led by a learner driver taking a lesson – will journey to Chichester, where the next leg will begin.

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Every spot on each car represents a sponsor from the local community, which will become a donation to Children in Need once the relay is completed.

Nick Pink, of Nick Pink’s School of Motoring, Waterlooville, will lead the seven other instructors when the Portsmouth leg of the Big Learner Relay sets off from the Churchillian Pub in Portsdown Hill Road at 9.45am tomorrow.

The team is expecting to raise hundreds of pounds for the casue.

Speaking about the initiative, Mr Pink, 51, said: ‘We’re really looking forward to getting out on the road for the relay. Children in Need is a very worthy cause and the work the charity does to improve the prospects of young people across the globe is amazing.’

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Mr Pink’s car will carry a charity-themed top-box along the way, which will be passed to the lead instructor when the relay continues in Chichester.

When the national relay concludes in Liverpool on Friday November 17 – the official 2017 Children in Need appeal day – the top-box will have travelled more than 3,000 miles around the country.

Since it started in 2014, the money raised for Children in Need by the Big Learner Relay has topped £250,000, with funds coming from sponsored spots and charity buckets at the start of each leg of the journey.