Welcome to CWC 2012!
Welcome to the SECOND annual "Caring with Cars" event supporting the Children's Hospice South West at Charlton Farm, Bristol, which takes place on Sunday 20th May 2012. The event is kindly sponsored by Bath Audi, part of the Mon Motors group.
This private, relaxed event is for motoring enthusiasts and PistonHeads members to meet and get up close to other amazing machines. We are raising money for the charity through donations and raffle ticket sales.
Why should you come?
- Entrance is COMPLETELY FREE
- Huge variety of real petrolhead vehicles attending
- Relaxed and respectful atmosphere
- Live music during the day
- Raffle stuffed full of prizes you'll want to win
- 3 fantastic FREE petrolhead talks in the Theatre
- Even more interesting showcase vehicles
- Proper loos!
The 2011 event raised over £5400 for CHSW with over 350 vehicles attending on the day.
Register Your Vehicle - only 500 spaces
We are registering vehicles through PistonHeads - it is very simple to register your vehicle. Go to the registration page for more details.
Donate
To donate right now, please visit our Just Giving page. All money raised will go to the charity.
Our sincere thanks go to PistonHeads member Simon Pow who helped greatly with professional photography at the 2011 event and subsequent photoshoot.
The Children's Hospice
The hospice at Charlton Farm near Wraxall provides care to life-limited children and their families from across the South West; from South Gloucester, Bristol, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, and the Isles of Scilly.
They are the only organisation in this area to provide such care, and some families may use the hospice for many years, from the time the child is first diagnosed as having an incurable condition which will mean they will die in childhood. They may come for planned short breaks, emergency care or end of life care, and will usually be accompanied by family members.
The whole family can stay at the hospice, and with a dedicated sibling support service available, this means that the well brothers and sisters can be cared for during their visit and enjoy spending time with other children in similar situations to their own.
A True Life Line - My Story
by PistonHeads member Nick MacBean (nickmac209)
"We were struggling to cope. I had to make the decision to give up work to support my family. We were at a knife's edge. Just coping, well just living."
"When Abbie was about 6 months old, and I was in intensive care with her after she had had further neurosurgery, a lady walked into the room. She told me she was from Children’s Hospice South West and that she wanted to help our family."
Read full story
Children's Hospice South West is a truly incredible charity. The hospice provides outstanding respite care to children with life-limiting conditions and provides support not only to the parents and children but also the siblings of those children.
Charlton Farm (Children's Hospice in Bristol) became a true-life line to my family during some very difficult times.
In May 2007 my wife and I had twin girls (Abbie and Isobel), who were born healthy but early. Having spent 2 weeks in paediatric intensive care they were moved to our local hospital. While in the hospital's care they developed a strep B infection. Due to a bad choice by the doctor only one of the twins was treated with antibiotics. The result of this choice was devastating. While Isobel returned to health, Abbie developed severe meningitis and suffered massive brain damage as a result.
My wife and I had already a severely disabled son (with a condition he was genetically born with). I was working full time as a quantity surveyor and Abbie continued to require huge amounts of care and intervention.
We were struggling to cope and I had to make the decision to give up work to support my family. We were at a knife's edge. Just coping, well just living.
When Abbie was about 6 months old, and I was in intensive care with her after she had had further neurosurgery, a lady walked into the room. She told me she was from Children’s Hospice South West and that she wanted to help our family.
At that time (and time after time) my wife was at home trying to cope with a 4 yr old son who was severely disabled and with nightime seizures, a 6 month old baby and basically feeling like a completely crap mum because she couldn’t be in hospital with her very sick daughter.
This lady said she would do everything she could to support us and would we like to visit the hospice. I can only tell you that that was the turning point for us. God knows what would have become of us, because I cannot now see how we could have carried on without the hospice's help and support.
Oliver (our disabled son) is life limited and the hospice wanted to provide respite for us and Ollie. Most of Abbie’s life was spent in Bristol (Frenchay) or the Children’s Hospice and we lived in Sherborne, Dorset. From that point on they supported us. When Abbie was very acutely sick in Bristol, they would care for Ollie and put us up in the parents accommodation, feed us and offer help and support. This would allow my wife to be close enough to visit Abbie in hospital (the hospice was 15 mins from the hospital) safe in the knowledge that Ollie was being cared for and close enough to get back if Isobel needed feeding.
This continued until April 2009, when we woke early one morning to give Abbie her 3 hourly medications to find that she was not breathing. After a horrific and devastating morning in A&E, Abbie had given up on her fight.
My wife called The Children's Hospice and they arranged for us all to stay at the hospice until Abbie’s funeral. They helped us with everything during this time even to the point of printing the funeral service sheets. Thanks to CHSW we were able to say goodbye to Abbie with dignity, time and support.
I know for sure we would not have been able to cope with what we were dealt with without the support of Children’s Hospice South West. We have met so many other families who have been able to spend the last days with their children in an environment of support and utmost care for them.
This is a charity that receives no government support.
Please make a donation to this incredible charity; it really does make such a difference to special children with precious lives.
More about the event
To find out more about the event and what's happening, please visit the Event page. To get directions and maps, please click here.
