The Big Day Dawns for Sherlock Holmes and Watson!

In 2.5 hours the intrepid band of motor enthusiasts will commence their journey to France. The plan is to drive to the Heritage Motor Museum at Gaydon then down to Porstmouth for the 11pm sailing to Le Havre - but you know what they say about plans! On the assumption of easy wifi access (Starbucks or Little Chef!) keep an eye out for the daily posts and hopefully later today, confirmation that we've arrived in Portsmouth unscathed!
Cheers

Watto

Last trip before the big one!

Took a trip out to the Ashford Arms at Ashford on the water to thank our sponsor Andy for his sponsorship and we had him draw the raffle. Then it was back home for the last prep to the cars ahead of a 10 am departure on Thursday. Can't wait!
Cheers

Watto

High Storrs Opening

Braved the variable weather with the Frog and the Magnette and raised a few bob from very generous people who turned up to visit the alma mater! This despite being in between a beautiful 1947 Triumph Roadster and an immaculate 1955 Zephyr Zodiac.

Roll on Thursday for the off!

Cheers
Watto
PS Photo's of today's jaunt to follow

SRUFC Beer Festival

Had a great couple of days at the beer festival and raised a further £150 or so. Make sure you come and see us from 11am Saturday 17th September at High Storrs School where we're participating in their 1933-1973 classics show which is part of the celebration for the opening of the new builds at the school.

Cheers
Sherlock Holmes and Watson, Parsons and Harrison

The next fund raiser - Abbeydale Park Sports Club 9/10/11 September

Our next attempt at raising somemore badly needed cash on behalf of disadvantaged children in South Yorkshire on behalf of Wooden Spoon takes place on the above dates where you will find us and the cars at the Sheffield RUFC Beer Festival (so come for the beer even if you don't want to see us!).
As well as displaying the cars and rattling tins we will be having a raffle for which the prizes are as follows:

1. Dinner for two at Ashford Arms - kindly donated by the proprietor
2. Mini Cask of Wild Swan - kindly donated by Thornbridge Brewery
3. Wooden Spoon Rugby Ball - donated by Sherlock Holmes Watson and Parsons
4. 6 Bottles of Gold Medal winning Jaipur - kndly donated by Thornbridge Brewery

See you there!

Dave

First Fund Raiser - Hope Show 29th August 2011

Went to Hope Show to publicise our quest and came away with £50, a first prize in the motorcycle class for Stinger's Triumph T120 and a second in the 1500 cc class for Watto's Magnette, plus a whole load of publicity for the Spoon. Wanted to put a picture in but the Blog won't let me - anyone help?

Sherlock Holmes & Watson and the adventure of the Parsons yellow Frog

Sherlock, Holmes and Watson and the adventure of the Parsons’ Yellow Frog

Four former Rugby Union teammates are joining together to complete a driving challenge to raise money for the charity, Wooden Spoon.

Derek Sherlock, 62; David ‘Stinger’ Holmes, 49; Dave ‘Watto’  Watson, 51 and Nigel Parsons, 56, were all part of the same successful Sheffield RUFC side in the 1980’s and have remained in close contact ever since.

The challenge will begin on Thursday, 22 September, at Abbeydale Sports Ground, the home of Sheffield RUFC, progressing through the Dore Moor ground of Sheffield Tigers and the Gosforth home of Dronfield RUFC on the way south.

The four men will drive their own classic vehicles from Sheffield to La Forge, Bessin in the Limousin region and back in 5 days. This equates to approximately 1200 miles in total or 240 miles per day.

Derek had retired to La Forge but returned to Sheffield in 2008. The team plan to parade their vehicles at La Souterrain Rugby Club, before turning home.

The quartet’s passion for cars and bikes was ignited following a joint project between Watto and Nigel to restore Nigel’s 1959 primrose yellow Austin Healey ‘Frogeye’ Sprite in 2006.

As the project developed Watto’s wife bought him a 1959 MG ZB Magnette Varitone for his 50^th birthday adding a second vehicle to the growing fleet in 2009.

At the same time, Stinger approached Derek to help with his restoration project, a 1962 Triumph T120 Bonneville bike, which he was rebuilding from the ground up.

Eventually Derek gave in to temptation, buying a 1977 MG Roadster thus completing the line-up of vehicles which will be taking part in the challenge.

During this time the men have been meeting every Sunday to discuss and renovate their vehicles.

Nigel said: “This is something we have wanted to do for a long time. It will be difficult but we know how important this money is for the children of South Yorkshire adding, we can’t wait to get started.”

Wooden Spoon is a children's charity founded in 1983 dedicated to helping underprivileged children and young people all over the UK and Ireland. The regional committees of the charity undertake local fundraising activities and ensure that the money is spent on projects in their community.

This will ensure that the money raised from this challenge will go to projects in South Yorkshire and will be visible for everyone in the local area to see.

David Knaggs, Regional Committee Chair for the Yorkshire branch of the charity, said: “This is an exciting challenge for a truly worth cause. Wooden Spoon is always thrilled about any donation as it gives us a chance to improve the lives of children in the local area.”

All the money raised will go directly to Wooden Spoon as the men are funding the costs of the challenge, such as petrol, ferries and accommodation, themselves.

Contacts: Corporate Sponsorship: Nigel Parsons nigel.parsons@valuadding.com

Direct Giving: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Sherlock-Holmes-and-Watson-and-the-adventure-of-the-Parsons-yellow-frog