Last weekend was our annual sport car's event with Sporting Bears. In case your sat there thinking "what is Sporting Bears?" allow me to explain Sporting Bears are an organisation who are made up of people who own a variety of sports cars and then go to events around the country doing Dream Rides where people pay to get in the cars and have a ride in them. The money that is raised is then passed on to various charities including Muffins. But last weekend was not about raising money but giving our families a very rare opportunity to ride around in these wonderful sports car, for free all day long. Sounds like a dream for our Muffin's and the parents right?
There were over 30 cars there on the day we had everything from Lambroghini's to Maserati's, now I don't know much about cars but they certainly looked impressive and were very shiny. Now you can imagine what an out of this world opportunity this is for our Muffin's and their families, it's not every day you get to say you were driving around in sports cars. Some adults might get to experience this once maybe twice in their whole life and here was our Muffin's getting to go out multiple times in a whole heap of sports cars, pretty amazing huh?
A lot of preparation went into the event several months prior to it taking place but it is so worth while when you see our Muffin's faces. Everything had been considered when it came to taking our Muffin's out on the road from making sure our hoist was there on the day so we could hoist wheelchair bound children into the cars to having support staff who could go out in a car with some of our more medically complex children. The joy from some of the children knowing they could get into some of these cars because we had a hoist available was just so wonderful to see. When you see children, siblings and parents just enjoying time out as a family and forgetting the situation they find themselves in for even a few minutes, you know you have not just done your job but it's a job worth while doing anytime, anywhere.
Before the event had started a police car turned up, I and the Dream team were slightly unnerved by this to start with as I was unsure as whether they were there to participate in the event or on official police business. Thankfully and very luckily for us they were there to participate and we had not slipped into a police drama where they were about to arrest somebody in an drama filled scene. The police car and motorbike did not go out on the road that much but did give children the chance to go up and down the run away on the air field and sit on the police motorbike. If this was not already an incredible event I mean at this point they had sports cars and the police you would think that would be enough and most of our Muffins' were in car heaven but it was made even better when the fire engine turned up. They let the children dress up in the fire fighters uniform and spray the hose. We stayed well away from our Muffin's spraying water for fear of getting very, very wet.. That being said I'm sure they would of found it hysterically funny to see the Dream Team soaked by the water hose. Perhaps the nosiest thing during the whole event was letting the children play with the siren and have the lights flashing. Now I say it was the nosiest part of the day because even having over thirty sports cars down there on the day which trust me are extremely loud you could still hear the siren over the top of all of them. Although perhaps it was not helped by the fact that the siren was being played with all day. However it was magical seeing the Muffin's faces getting the chance to do this. For some of our Muffin's it is a dream of their's as there obsessed with police and fire engines. So we know that a few Dream's came true that day for a few of our Muffin's.
Our Dream Team did not stop all day from 9am till 5pm and neither did the drivers with most of the drivers going out in there cars over ten times during the day. An incredible amount when you consider the route they were driving was about twenty to thirty minutes long. I have to admit even our Dream Team got a chance to go out in the cars which was a lovely extra bonus for our staff and volunteers.
It's a truly lovely event for everybody involved for our families they get a once in a life time opportunity and the chance to make some very precious memories. For our Dream Team and volunteers we get to see pure and utter joy on our families faces and that will never stop making us smile and keep us doing our job to the end of the earth. For the drivers of Sporting Bears they get to meet some of the families they raise money for which is an opportunity that do not generally get to do. Although we can never say what our families situations are we can say to the drivers of Sporting Bears that you truly helped make some magical memories for children and families who are going through some of the toughest situations life can throw at you so from the bottom of our hears and with all our Muffin Spirit we say THANK YOU!!
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