A WESTBURY woman and her Smart car have raised over £2,200 for Help for Heroes, by taking up the challenge to drive from Land’s End to John O’Groats within 24 hours.
Loretta Pritchard embarked on her challenge on Thursday 9th September, arriving at John O’Groats at 11.00am on Friday 10th September after completing the journey in 21 hours. Loretta said, “It feels awesome. We got to the hotel and had a meal and a couple of drinks to celebrate, and then we had a good 12 hours’ sleep!”
Their arrival was a real cause for celebration as the closure of the M6 put a lot of pressure on Loretta. “It was a three hour hold up on the M6, it was closed and so we were gridlocked for a few hours. It was a nightmare – when you’re trying to get there in a time it was very frustrating – we weren’t sure we were going to make it!”
“In the end we took the back route which took us onto B roads, and then had to navigate our way back up to the route.”
Driving through the night in wet and windy conditions through Scotland was another challenging part of the adventure, as was persevering despite lack of sleep.
Loretta drove her own smart car on the journey, supported by her husband Andrew Pritchard and friend Matthew Scott in a second smart car sponsored by Digitec of Shepton Mallet.
The journey was the latest fundraising effort in aid of Help for Heroes for Loretta. Loretta, who runs Twist Hair Specialists in Warminster, explained why the charity is one she feels passionately about. “My salon is in Warminster, which is a military town,” she said. “And my husband is also ex-military, so we’ve got quite a connection.”
When she embarked on her adventure, Loretta had an impressive £2,259.85 donated on her Justgiving web page, but says that the total is set to rise now she has completed the challenge.
“I was thinking I really want to make a grand, and we’ve done a few fundraising events as well. When you start out you just don’t know how much you’ll get – I’m absolutely amazed! I’m a member of Smart Club UK, and so have got lots of sponsors through there, and there’s the salon – loads of people have sponsored me through that, and the just giving site made it easy for people from far away to donate.”
In a previous fundraising venture, the money was stolen from the salon where she was collecting during Christmas week, so this time Loretta chose the online method to safeguard the donations.
Loretta’s fundraising page can be found at http://www.justgiving.com/Loretta-Pritchard
Help for Heroes is a charity that raises money to support members of the armed forces who have been wounded in the service of their country.
