NOW more than a month into his epic whistle-stop tour of the country in a touring caravan, Timperley fundraiser Don Taylor has admitted he’s having a fun but tiring time on the open road.
Don, who hails from Moss Road, is hoping to raise £1m for the Christie Hospital as a thank you for caring for his wife Aileen who died of cancer last May.
His hope is to raise the staggering sum during his England-wide trek with collections at almost 150 Caravan Club sites across England.
Head of supporter services at the Christie, Lesley Birkhead, said: “Don is finding the trip quite tiring but he is managing and he’s really enjoying himself.
“He’s being well received at all the caravan sites and the wardens are giving him great pitches and providing him with drinks, refreshments and sometimes an evening meal which is wonderful.
“The Caravan Club, staff and members have been a great support to Don. Some of them knew Aileen too.”
Leslie also reported Don was making good progress with his collections, delivering leaflets at sites so people learn of his endeavours, before later going around with his collection bucket.
“He’s raised some fantastic sums of money at the sites,” added Leslie. “At Low Park Wood in Kendal he took £189, and similar sums from lots of other sites. He’s banked a few thousand so far.”
It’s not all been plain sailing for Don though, who’s had a couple of mishaps along the way. On one occasion he didn’t shut his fridge door properly and had to spend an evening cleaning up his kitchen area. And at a site in the Yorkshire Dales Don, who’s relying solely on his own map reading skills and doesn’t use a sat-nav, took a wrong turn and ended up on a 1 in 5 gradient hill and then had to negotiate a narrow hump back bridge.
“But all in all the trip is going really well,” said Leslie.
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