Larkhill soldiers drive 'banger' 4,300 miles to raise money for military charity
Help for Heroes helped one of team taking part
Two serving British Army soldiers who live in Larkhill, have raised for money Help for Heroes by driving a ‘banger’ 4300 miles.
They took park in a madcap British Bangers 2021 rally, in their customised Mercedes ‘banger’.
Anthony Cranston, 37, who serves in 26 Regiment Royal Artillery was joined by Mark Gough, 41, who is serving in 14 Regiment Royal Artillery
Alongside the two Larkhill team members was Keith Binyon, 46, who is Anthony’s best friend from his hometown of Durham - a mechanic by trade, bringing essential tools to the challenge!
Driving to Benidorm
On September 26th the team set off from Larkhill in a bid to reach Benidorm by Sunday October 3rd.
With Keith then reaching Durham on Thursday 7 October.
The team drove through Germany, Switzerland, France, Monaco, Italy, Andorra and Spain and even had the opportunity to drive round some Grand Prix racetracks on the way, including Monaco and Nürburgring.
Anthony explains,
“I had always wanted to drive in a big rally, so when I chatted to Mark and Keith about this event we all just said, ‘let’s do it! Especially as it’s a charity rally and this meant I could raise money for Help for Heroes.
“I can’t thank this Charity enough for what they did to help me so I wanted to be able to give something back. Keith and Mark also wanted to join in the event and help me to help the ones that helped me.”
Why they completed the challenge
In March 2016 Anthony was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo several operations and seven months of Chemotherapy. He had several goals that he had to reach before he would be signed off to return to work as a serving soldier but Help for Heroes assisted him in this process.
The charity enrolled him onto a ‘Battleback’ course which helped him to build his confidence and provided skills for the workplace. In addition, Anthony took part in Help for Heroes sports recovery programme which took him kite surfing.
This enabled him to relax while he was working his way back to full time work, giving him the chance to talk to other serving Armed Forces personnel and veterans who were experiencing similar hard times and stresses, and also gave him a civilian kite surfing qualification.
In July 2017 he was officially signed off as fit to return back to full time work and could continue his Army career at a fully deployable capacity.
To make the car stand out from the crowd, it was customised in bold colours by Keith and his wife Cath and son Harrison, with the addition of Help for Heroes emblazoned on both sides.
The team really enjoyed the experience and were relieved to not have had any breakdowns - although what they call ‘geographical errors’ added to their mileage! A highlight was the reaction they caused in Nürburgring when all three team members arrived for their drive around the racetrack wearing lederhosen. This was well received by the locals.
Team 49 hope to raise £1,500 for Help for Heroes via their Just Giving page.