Forces2Canaries Team Raise Over £3k for Blind Veterans UK

We were very pleased to sponsor, Forces2Canaries (F2C), the Norwich City Armed Forces Supporters group, who took part in the 2023 Veterans Banger Rally from Dover to Gibraltar, raising vital funds for the UK Blind Veterans.

Andy Nelson, who used to work at tlmNexus, shares the team's journey:

"The challenge was to purchase a vehicle for less than £1000 and drive it over a 7 day period in set stages from Dover to Gibraltar. The F2C team decided to take the ‘luxury’ route and purchased a 2002 S-Type Jaguar with 98,000 on the clock for £900. After a bit of maintenance, tyres, battery and brakes, we reported to Dover and joined the other 30 odd vehicles and their Veteran occupants who were taking part.

The rally took us to Rouen, Poitiers, Pau, Zaragoza, Benidorm, Malaga and finally Gibraltar, arriving at The Devil’s Tower Barracks on Sunday 1 Oct. We also added a diversion to Dunkirk en-route to Rouen to pay our respects to the fallen, and again to Oradour-sur-Glane, a French ‘Martyr village’, on the way to Pau from Poitiers. In all we travelled 1525 miles. Whilst I can think of no better vehicle than a comfortable Jaguar to cruise across France and Spain in, I should add the heating was stuck on at 33^OC, the air-conditioning didn’t work and we had a perpetual Gear Box fault that meant stopping and ‘fault clearing’ every time we tried to accelerate too fast, i.e at every traffic light, roundabout and toll-booths etc, but hey, what did we expect for £900?

To date we have raised £3236 for UK Blind Veterans, a total which has far exceeded our ambitions. The support offered by tlmNEXUS has contributed greatly to the success of our adventure, and we are very thankful to you and all those that supported us."

What a great achievement by Andy and his teammates, Neville Townsend and Gary Riches.  And of course, we were delighted to see our logo alongside the perfect French picnic!