First Stop Dealers and TV Stars Raise Money For Charity

Six First Stop dealers joined forces with celebrities from the worlds of television and music recently to raise money for charity. Coronation Street stars Bill Ward and Tina O’Brien, who play Charlie Stubbs and Sarah-Louise Platt in the show, joined Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding and the dealers on the Bridgestone stand at the Truckfest North West show at Haydock Park Racecourse, Merseyside.

Visitors to the stand not only got the chance to have their photos taken with the stars, but also get up close to a replica Ferrari Formula One car and state-of-the-art racing simulator courtesy of Bridgestone. In total, more than £1,500 was raised for the Bauleni Street Kids Project, a charity which supports and educates underprivileged children in the city of Lusaka, Zambia.

Ken Riley and his wife Monica, who are both heavily involved with the running of the charity, were delighted by the generosity of all those who contributed over the weekend. Mr Riley, who also runs one of the participating First Stop tyre outlets, said: “We are very grateful for all the help and support we received over the weekend – from the celebrities who gave us so much of their time, to all those who dug deep to donate cash.

“Monica and I have been involved with the Bauleni Street Kids Project for eight years, and in that time we’ve seen hundreds of orphans in Lusaka benefit from clothes, food, and medicine supplied by the charity. We’ve even seen schools and small businesses established that help train and educate youngsters in the city so that they can learn to be self-sufficient, and none of this would be possible without the generous support we receive at events like this,” said Ken Riley, owner of Tyrecraft in Merseyside.

Tyrecraft were supported at the event by five fellow members of Bridgestone’s First Stop network. Pemberton Tyres, based in Wigan, Ashton Tyre & Exhaust (Ashton-in-Makerfield), Tyresave (St Helens), Tyreworld (Widnes), and Roadrunner Tyres (Cabus, near Preston) all joined ranks at the festival to raise money for the charity.

Andy Bucknall, business development manager at Bridgestone UK, praised the combined efforts of the First Stop dealers. “It was good to see the dealers combine so effectively in support of such a worthy cause. We use the Formula One car for fund-raising throughout the year, predominantly supporting national and regional charities in the UK, so it’s great to be able to help an overseas charity too,” he said.