Front of vehicle

With nineteen days before we set off for Cape Town, stress levels are rising! We are still on course to leave on 4th August from Demelza House but we have a daunting task ahead of us. We still have contingency and bribery funds to raise in case of problems and awkward boarder officials. The mountain of red tape Rory has yet to wade through is keeping him awake at night and Mark is charging around organizing the final touches to our Land Rovers. At last they are starting to look like proper expedition vehicles. They are bright yellow, have roof racks, bull bars, winches, spotlights, chunky tyres, new seating, VHF radios and much more besides. In addition to all the minor details we still have to fit our high air intake snorkels, build the storage units in the backs and boxes for the roof racks. A huge amount has been done to the vehicles and, as you can see, they now look the business!

Funds are coming in gradually but we are still short. Charlie recently generated £1,000 from the sale of his late grandmothers wheelchair, the 'Train Day' hosted by Mr and Mrs Judson raised £1,800, Benendon school raised over £300 after the successful talk Rory and I gave in their final assembly. Bytes Technology have provided us with £1,000 in return for the publicity we can offer them and both Rory and Charlie's families have recently held car boot sales on our behalf. We are also selling expedition T-shirts for £10 each; if you would like one then please get in touch. Money for Demelza House is coming in steadily with our raffle tickets selling pleasingly well and individuals giving kindly. We still have over 10,000 raffle tickets to sell so if anyone wants to sell some on our behalf we would be extremely grateful. There are some great prizes to be won and the draw will take place at the end of the month. As I informed Richard Oldfield recently, we are committed to raising what we can for the hospice at this stage but, with so little time before we set off, most of our efforts are currently being channelled into the expedition itself. The most important concern at this stage is that we leave on time. Once we have returned home to the UK we will be in a position to generate further funds from the sale of our Land Rovers and equipment, giving talks and slide shows to schools, selling feature articles and the potential huge profits generated by a documentary. It is also important to remember that the raising of awareness of Demelza House and the children's hospice movement in general is also a priority.

'Train Day' fundraiser

Receiving cheque from patron Commander RMH Bawtree, OBE

A couple of weeks ago our camerawoman, Collette informed us that, with regret, she would no longer be able to take on this role. We advertised the position on the Internet and are currently being inundated with responses from impressive candidates all over the world. It is clearly something that could provide the material for a successful documentary; our task now is to confirm the angle from which we will approach the filming of this. The editing and marketing of the footage will take place with the help of a production company once we are safely back on British soil. A major complication we have recently come across is the potential difficulty of transporting valuable equipment over African borders. In order to avoid the huge deposits that journalists and documentary makers would normally be expected to pay, we must present ourselves to boarder officials as tourists. In order to claim that the equipment is for leisure purposes we may have to abandon one camera, one laptop, one satellite phone etc. We are still hopeful that the documentary will be broadcast though and continue to receive interest from television networks in London, New York and Cape Town.

Rachel in Land Rover

We continue to receive a great deal of media interest. We recently featured on Meridian television and expect to do so again. We are being continuously followed by the Kent Messenger Group, The South African Times, Land Rover Monthly, 4x4 Motorsports, Kent Life and more. We have been in discussions for some months with the Daily Telegraph who have finally given conformation that an article will be appearing in the health section towards the end of this month. This will concentrate on Demelza House and provide them with valuable national exposure. Further publications such as Marie Claire have expressed great interest in covering our story once we have returned to the UK with suitable images to accompany the text. The website has also been proving a great success. The Designation team have worked hard to give it a professional and up to date appearance and with links from major organizations such as 4x4 World Championships and the South African Business Club we have already received a lot of hits.

Filming for Meridian TV

In addition to the major work load facing us over the next few weeks there are numerous 'bits and pieces' that require our attention: having vehicle stickers made for our sponsors, writing press releases, getting vaccinations, organizing the raffle prize draw, obtaining the remaining equipment we require, compiling lists of African contacts, arranging the shipping of our vehicles back to the UK, getting medical supplies etc. Preparing for an expedition of this nature is perhaps more challenging than the journey itself. Kent2CapeTown.com has taken over our lives for the past year and, although proud of our achievements, we are now aching to set off and get our hands dirty. We are all too busy to be truly excited but there has been an increasing sense of urgency recently and we are just starting to realise what lies ahead of us. Goodbyes are underway, personal belongings are going into storage and final preparations are being made. Thank you all so much for the interest you have shown in our endeavour. Do continue to support our cause and to follow our progress as the story unfolds.

Meeting our patron HRH Prince Michael of Kent, KCVO

Jonathan Besley - Project Leader

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