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Sunday 16 November 2014

Louise Raises £54K for Children in Need

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Local driving instructor Louise Walsh (Daughter of Sue Whitlock) had ‘a bit of an idea’ whilst watching the Children in Need appeal last year.

She thought perhaps driving instructors could get together to raise money, and this ‘idea’ came to its conclusion with Louise’s guest appearance on the Queen Vic set during this year’s BBC TV Children in Need programme on Friday.

Amazingly, Louise's 'bit of an idea' has raised £54,000 for Children in Need.

For a brief minute during the transmission Louise was able to tell the nation that driving instructors had banded together to ‘do some good’ by passing a specially made ‘top box’ from driving lesson to driving lesson across the country.

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This relay started in Northern Ireland on the 30th October and was ferried across to Glasgow where Louise joined the relay. She has sat in the back of every car from Glasgow down the eastern side of the country, across the south to Plymouth, back to Bristol, over the Severn Bridge to Cardiff then to Hereford, north to Liverpool and then back through the centre of country finishing in Birmingham on Children in Need Day, the 14th November.

There were 147 lead cars throughout the country with 147 handover venues where lots of other learner drivers with their instructors joined the convoys - more than thirty cars in some convoys - they even closed the Mersey Tunnel to let one convoy through.

Louise has been delighted with the support the Relay has generated - not least from Milford on Sea Primary School where children paid £1 to sponsor a Pudsey spot which they stuck onto her car and from The Cave, which hosted a welcome party when the convoy (complete with an accompanying tractor!) came through Milford on Sea last Sunday, and finally from the Community Centre which hosted a Big Learner Relay breakfast as the convoy left on Monday morning.

Louise in
BBC Children in Need Studio
with Shane Richie
Look out for spotty cars next year - the Big Learner Relay intends to get bigger and bigger.

Big Learner Relay 
Donation Page: click here
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