logo
Help for Heroes 4×4 European Rally raises over £192,000

Help for Heroes 4×4 European Rally raises over £192,000

By on 03/09/2012 in News

The HELP for HEROES 4×4 EUROPEAN RALLY have announced that the 2012 event has raised a massive £192,341 for the charity (£209,285 including Gift Aid). This brings the overall amount raised by the rally since 2010 to £474,072! (£522,783 including Gift Aid!)Continue Reading..

Help for Heroes Ambassador and gold medal winner visits Vauxhall on Armed Forces Day

Help for Heroes Ambassador and gold medal winner visits Vauxhall on Armed Forces Day

By on 03/07/2012 in News

Vauxhall’s Help for Heroes Ambassador Private Derek Derenalagi visited the company’s Luton HQ to support Armed Forces Day on Friday.

Help for Heroes

Derek’s Vauxhall visit was off the back of his gold medal-winning performance in discus at the IPC Athletics European Championships, beating Russia’s world champion and world record holder Alexey Ashapatov.

Derenalagi, who lost his legs in an explosion on military service in Afghanistan, collected over £1000 from generous Vauxhall employees.  These funds will pay for specialist gym equipment for an injured soldier so they can continue their training at home, after leaving rehab.

Derek’s gold medal finish puts him in an exceptionally strong position to fulfil his dream of competing in this summer’s Paralympic games in London.   Having already achieved a status of fifth in the world for disabled athletics, Derek is also aiming to represent Great Britain in shot put, as well as discus.  The Great Britain squad is announced on 9th July.

“I’d like to thank Vauxhall for their kind donation,” said Derek Derenalagi.  “It’s fantastic news that one of my colleagues will benefit from the same equipment that I did.”

“We at Vauxhall are very pleased to hand over this donation to Derek and Help For Heroes,” said Cheryl Stibbs, Vauxhall’s Programmes and Promotions Manager.  “Derek’s achievements are living proof of what can be achieved through the use of such specialist gym equipment to aid rehab.”

To date, Vauxhall have raised £197,000 for Help for Heroes, money which is used by the charity to help those wounded, sick or injured in Britain’s current conflicts.

To donate £1 to Help For Heroes text ‘YES’ to 70900 (you will be charged £1 plus your operator’s rate).

Help for Heroes European 4×4 Rally raises over £400,000

Help for Heroes European 4×4 Rally raises over £400,000

By on 17/05/2012 in News

Since 2010, the award winning Help for Heroes European 4×4 Rally has raised over £400,000+ for the charity.

This milestone figure has been reached today by the crews taking part in the 2012 event which starts on 16th June. The inaugural rally of 2010 had ‘hoped’ to raise £20,000 for Help for Heroes – the success of the event has surpassed all expectations; it has become an annual event and it continues from strength to strength.

The rally follows the path and tells the story of the Allied Invasion through Europe. The Allied Forces landed in France early on D-Day morning – 6th June 1944. The Help for Heroes 4×4 European Rally 2012 will retrace much of that route.

The event starts from Littlecote House Hotel, Wiltshire, UK on 16th June 2012 and is a 2000 mile adventure through Europe. This non-speed touring assembly is again fully subscribed with 45 vehicles crewed by serving and ex-military personnel, as well as civilians and families with children. It will be part military history tour (including museums etc), some fun activities, part off-road driving and part club-type social, open to road-legal 4×4 vehicles.

Event Summary: After using byways on Salisbury Plain the rally travels to Portsmouth to embark on the ferry to France. In addition to visiting WWII historical areas in Normandy, the H4H 4×4 Rally route will take in the WWI battlefields of the Somme and Ypres. It will then visit Arnhem in Holland and ‘Operation Market Garden’ before heading south to Bastogne in Belgium where the Germans made a final push – the famous ‘Battle of the Bulge’. We continue to the Alsace region of France – with its Maginot Line fortifications. The route then journeys into Germany and Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial; with its horrors of war. The event concludes 12 days after leaving the UK – the final part being a visit to Hitler’s “impenetrable” Eagle’s Nest high in the Bavarian Alps at Berchtesgaden.

Related articles
Heroes help Vauxhall with Ampera drive

Heroes help Vauxhall with Ampera drive

By on 09/11/2011 in News

The Vauxhall Ampera was just about to stretch its muscles, looking forward to a further 300-mile drive, as the RAC Future Car Challenge Finish Line came into sight.

Vauxhall had three Ampera extended range EVs cruising along the 60-mile Brighton to London route this year, one of them in the hands of Private Derek Derenalagi from Help for Heroes, for whom driving the Ampera turned out to equally be a piece of cake.

Derek, who lost both his legs to a road side bomb in Afghanistan and was using his driver’s adaptor kit during the run, said:

“The Ampera is comfortable and easy to drive and it’s also extremely responsive and silent, making the journey an amazing experience.”

The Ampera will be in UK showrooms in the spring of 2012. It qualifies for the Plug-in Car Grant, zero congestion charge and road tax exemption. Generating its electricity onboard once the battery is depleted to a certain state of charge, it also beats all range anxiety – in all respects a winner.

Vauxhall is an Official Partner of Help for Heroes.

So far, Vauxhall raised over £160,000 with support from its staff and retailers and the company is also providing cars for their business activity and mini buses for some of their new Recovery Centres.

Since its very beginnings in 1903, Vauxhall has a history of close partnership with the British armed forces. It provided vehicles for both the First and Second World Wars, and today it makes significant discounts and tax free offers available to serving or retired members of HM forces and their immediate family members, through its long standing military sales programme.