Report seen in local paper

Sallie and Liz rally to £10,000 for Hospice.
28th November, 2016
Friends Sallie Connery and Liz Linford have raised over £10,000 for Katharine House by taking part in the annual Monte Carlo or Bust Rally – a 1,000+ mile race through Europe, culminating in a drive around the world-famous Monaco Formula 1 street circuit on Monte Carlo’s star-studded seafront.
The rally is a light-hearted event with over 80 teams of competitors decorating their cars, dressing up as movie stars or superheroes and taking part in challenges much like those on BBC’s Top Gear.

Sallie & Liz mid-challenge high up in the Swiss mountains.
Sallie, a hairdresser at the Hospice, joined her racing-driver friend Liz to take on the challenge in aid of Katharine House having seen first-hand the care the hospice gives to people facing life-limiting illnesses in and around Banbury.
Mrs. Connery said; “It was a great opportunity to raise funds for an essential support service for the local community. We hope that we never need their help, but for those who really need it, the hospice creates a sanctuary where patients and their families can make the most of their time. Liz and I have known each other for quite a few years and she’s a keen rally driver – so she was perfect for the challenge of driving to Monte Carlo.”
Chris Higgins, Communications Officer at the hospice, said; “We are so grateful to Sallie and Liz for their fundraising efforts. The £10,000 they’ve raised could run all our hospice services for a whole day, meaning we could carry on caring for almost 300 patients and their families in their homes, care homes, hospitals and in our hospice in Adderbury. They’ve been so positive and inspirational, coming up with so many exciting ways to raise even more than just the sponsorship money from the rally; everything from pub quizzes to talks, and showing off their car in market squares in local towns. It’s been great to keep up with their activities over the last few months, and we can’t wait to see what they come up with next!”


Sallie & Liz at Katharine House Hospice with their Mazda MX-5.>brt>

(L-R: Sallie Connery, Chris Higgins – Communications Officer, Wendy Crosse – Lottery Administrator, Liz Linford)

Driving Home

Finally time has come to go home, Nice is beautiful, hot & sunny.  Thelma & louise hit the road, music blaring, sun shining the 6 hour+ journey to Dijon starts, keeping the hood up due to noise & heat, although it may have been cooler with the hood down as we were cooked!!! Not a good look for us both (Next time I think we need air conditioning in our car) Think we both may have lost a stone in weight, it’s so hot, 😉😉 finally reaching our destination 661 km later, fell into bed for a well deserved rest & some beauty sleep.

Tuesday, refreshed and ready to go the final step of our journey, Dijon to Calais which is about 570 km, after a food stop, fuel stop, 51/2 hours later we reached Calais, joining a slight queue at passport control we we’re soon through, straight onto the train & off through the tunnel. Soon arrived in the uk, more food & fuel for the last part of the journey,

welcomed home by family & friends with a bottle of Champagne. 

Final days driving

Wow time has gone so quick, here we are on our final day of the rally, today we are in ‘movie star’ outfits, once again people had made the effort & dressed for the occasion, ‘Thelma & Louise’ were to be transformed into Audrey Hepburn & Marilynn Monroe.  Marilyn & Audrey were snapped by the paparazzi & have finally found international recognition on behalf of Katharine House Hospice. Today we have no challenges we can enjoy the journey to Monte Carlo, so first stop the II museo Nazionale dell’Automobile complimentary tickets. Interesting if you like that sort of thing!! The drive to Monte Carlo was full of interesting roads & scenery, at one point Thelma thought Louise was taking it to seriously as she was very close to the edge. We made it to Monte Carlo in one piece and were the only team to gain access to the restricted casino square and more paparazzi ! much to the annoyance of our fellow competitors who just looked on with envy. When asked ” how the heck did you get in there?” Louise (aka Marilyn) just said ” watch and learn boys!! Watch and learn”



And so to the grand finale and prize giving in Nice. Not entirely uneventful as there was a trade delegation in town and parking was a nightmare, even with Louise’s cheeky parking skills we ended up resigned to parking in an obscure underground car park, and drag ourselves back to our hotel. A quick change and taxi booked we were off to prize giving. Obviously as Audrey and Marilyn we needed to look our best and were running traditionally late, to our horror no taxi !! So we resigned ourselves to walk 20 MINUTES IN HIGH HEELS!! Our biggest challenge yet!! 


At last we arrived in time to learn we had won the”Team Spirit” prize (much to our astonishment  and delight!!) with a €50 prize for Katharine House hospice, We were tired and very happy, so after more photo’s (some with admiring competitors!!)and of course our admiring fans!, a quick bite to eat and back to the hotel…. That walk?? and the distance where even was the hotel?? Then relief!! A rickshaw arrived as if by magic (perhaps Audrey and Marilyn were looking kindly upon us) the hotel loomed up in front of us and we collapsed into bed full of achievement and happy memories…… Until next time?

We have had an amazing adventure while raising money for a great cause Katharine House Hospice, met some great people on the way, and a big thank you to all the people who have supported us. 

day two

Up early & off to check in venue, in our costumes, onesies! So how to get a see through painting overall to look good? Well……… !      So what’s in store for us today? what will the next 15 challenges be?  ‘Brochure or flyer for a new motorbike’ found the shop was shut for lunch!  ‘music cassette tape’ ummmm… Blue paper napkin, post card featuring the queen if GB, application form for gym membership in Switzerland,  champagne cork, Chinese Resturant/takeaway menu – written in Chinese! These are just a few!!!  How on earth will we get these done and do a 6hr car drive, well we will give it our best shot!!! We will be travelling through 3 different countries today France, Switzerland & finishing in Italy, we will be taking our little car over the Alps, well over a 2469 meters high, and we are pleased to report she made it 😀😀 no problem with clutch & breaks, making a very happy T&L, we finally make it into Turin in day light, then off out on foot to try & get the final challenges. Finishing with a well deserved glass of wine & dinner. 😳😳

First days driving

So much to tell you but little time to! Met up with all teams & cars this morning, wow have we seen some fab Cars & fancy dress, people certainly have gone to town 😀👌 group photo intro, challenges for today & we were off.


Our challenges, camera charged & ready, as proof was needed that these were done. Here are a few to give you an idea of what we are up against. ‘Entire team on a sofa in ikea’ ummm where to find the nearest ikea!!! ‘A team member standing next to  a mannequin dressed exactly the same’ we decided not to do the underwear shop,  ‘entire team throwing and catching eggs’ could be messy!! ‘Entire team on bikes’ Thelma wanted push bikes & Louise predictably something slightly faster, motor bike, guess who won 😀 and the list goes on to 16 in total. the final dash to Dijon in torrential rain ment the wet tea shirt challenge started early, not to mention the wet bums with our leaking roof!!! Arriving in Dijon in the dark.

so loggin off as off up in the Alps today

Finally time

So after such a long time & quite a journey, preparing & planning, final checks done & ready for registration 


Registration was a hoot with so many strange looking people, and that was just the locals😉😉 don’t think we stood out………much 😀 our first challenge was a questionnaire,we were sure of the first 7 questions and just guessed the rest 😳😳 all challenges earn points and what do points mean ??   PRIZES,!!

Pre Rally Day

Must do’s for the day 1.Retail shopping 2. Ladies that lunch 3. More shopping. 4. Shops shut, so a spot of sight seeing  5. Ummm shoe shopping. 6.check car 7. Get ready for registration (beachwear) 8. Food.  

To much choice so little time, no time to service the car!! 😉😉

1.

 So we did a bit of sit seeing, but think the retail therapy was a winner

So checking the car, now where did we put it!!!   Oh never mind the shops have reopened !! 😍  we seem to be missing something that is a tad important!  Now what was it??  Crumbs … Engine oil !! Nah!! We can get that laterAhhhh so back to the shops😬😬

Journey has started

19th July 2016 we have set off for the town of Battle to meet up with one of our sponsors 

sun shining, roof down, 60’s music playing, peddle to the metal, watch out France cops  we are on our way 😀

20th July. Thelma & Louise well rested & fed, on our way to http://www.claremontschool.co.uk/ to meet up with mark & his team.

many thanks for your support it makes a big difference to all who need the Hospice 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Liz-Sallie 

on the way we found this fab castle in Battle.

After a short journey we arrive at the Tunnel 


Then comes the wait, delayed, fortunately we’ve got all day 😀

More activities 

Quiz night, Syresham Sports Club. Our thanks to Syresham Sports & Social club for allowing us to park the car outside with our collecting bucket. We managed to scrape up a small team to join in with the quiz night, I personally hate quizzes so managed to wander around with my bucket avoiding the questions, but in the other room the football was on, not one of my favourite sports. However we did raise just under £100, which was fab. Many thanks to all who were there.


Artisan Market Brackley,  So armed with ‘Thelam & Louise’ scarecrows we set up on Brackley Market Place for the day, we were blessed with a beautiful warm sunny day, plenty of people about. Enjoyed the afternoon chatting to people about our adventure.

Afternoon Tea.  Our last big fundraising, with the help of my family, liz & Holly, grace & Alisha & Liz (Louise) gasibo up, tables & chairs sorted, flowers. All looking good, Sale tables – Tombola, cakes, plants, raffle & name the teddy, teas & cake, not forgetting brick-a-brac. Finally all set & ready, everyone worked there socks off, we had a fab afternoon, raising £727 with a few donations promised. Many thanks to all who made cakes, donated raffle prizes & bric-a-brac, not forgetting everyone who came & spent there money.  Fab result.