“We all have the duty to leave a better world for future generations” – Capt. Gianluigi Aponte – MSC Foundation Chair.
MSC Foundation works to restore the critical balance between people and nature within a generation. The foundation uses their global reach and unique knowledge of the sea to take immediate action that contributes to protecting and nurturing the blue planet and all of its people. The MSC Foundation is motivated by a deep sense of responsibility for the planet and its resources, particularly the oceans. The MSC Foundation takes action in harmony with the values of the MSC Group, leveraging its expertise and presence on the seas.
Embodying the Group’s commitment to protecting and nurturing our blue planet and assisting communities in need, they work with trusted partners to support programmes tailored for long-term impacts. With MSC’s global shipping heritage, the MSC Foundation is keenly aware of the increasing fragility of our planet’s interlinked ecosystems and committed to leaving a better world for future generations.
They support the most vulnerable communities around the world to realize their full potential through education, sustainable development and humanitarian medical programmes.
Environmental education, school education and vocational education, the MSC Foundation is committed to supporting all three, from the Ivory Coast to Italy. Because education lays the foundation for a brighter future for all of us and our planet.
They intervene promptly in disaster situations, even obtaining emergency supplies on their own initiative and shipping them by MSC Cargo to deliver the containers directly to the areas affected.
Environmental conservation, particularly of the marine environment, emergency relief, support for the most vulnerable communities and education are the four key areas of impact in which they are actively engaged every day. Together we can all make a difference!
From 11 am to 5 pm, you can join us at Suffolk Food Hall to enjoy a wide variety of classic and sports cars. With around 250 cars registered to be displayed, there will be something for everyone, whether you’re a fan of vintage classics or modern sports cars. Even though registration for display cars has closed, there is still plenty of space for you to bring your car to show off in the large parking area (whatever you drive). It’s a great way to be part of the event, whether you’re displaying a car or simply coming to enjoy the day.
Supporting Cancer Support Suffolk
At Bridge Classic Cars, we’re proud to be the headline sponsor of this event. Cancer Support Suffolk is a charity that’s close to our hearts, as many of us have personal connections to cancer. We’re committed to raising as much money as possible to help those affected by this disease.
Win a Classic Jaguar XJ6
To support the charity and raise as much money as possible, we’re running a special competition where you could win a 1990 Jaguar XJ6 for just £5.00. All proceeds from the ticket sales will go directly to Cancer Support Suffolk.
Be Part of Something Special
Events like this are about more than just cars—they’re about coming together as a community to support a good cause. Tickets for adults (16 years and over) are £4 in advance or £5 on the day, with children under 16 admitted for free. It’s a perfect day out for families and car lovers alike.
For those displaying cars, you need to arrive between 8:00 am and 10:30 am and keep your vehicle on-site until at least 4:00 pm. There will be prizes awarded by a special guest judge so make sure your car is looking its best!
Thank You for Your Support
We want to extend a big thank you to Suffolk Food Hall for hosting this event and to everyone who’s coming out to support Cancer Support Suffolk. Your participation helps make a difference in the lives of those affected by cancer.
We look forward to seeing you at Classic & Sports Cars by the Bridge on Monday, 26th August 2024. It’s going to be a fantastic day of cars, community, and charity.
For more details and to enter the competition to win the Jaguar XJ6, visit our website. Don’t miss this chance to enjoy a great day out and support a worthy cause.
Summer is upon us and that means the school fates are in full swing. Bridge Classic Cars have worked alongside the organisers of Friends of St Mary’s to offer donations for their summer fetes in and around our region.
So I took the final seat in a team of 4, made up of my good friend Tim from Gifted Melon Comedy (he’s got a proper job too!) and a couple of his cleverer friends to take part in Volunteering Matters quiz held at Seckford Hall.
My specialised subject was obviously cars, Tim’s was music…everything else fell to the others.
Frustratingly we aced the quiz with us leading the way for the majority of the night. The final question was an ‘only answer if you know it…get it right or lose it all’ style question and guess what?
We answered it…
…but didn’t win. That’s the risk you take for the glory I guess.
A great evening had and a fantastic charity for the money to go to.
Christmas is just around the corner and we will be beginning our festive celebrations with our Mince Pie Drive 2024.
On Friday 5th December, we will be taking a small convoy of our classic cars to four local care homes to deliver mince pies, festive cheer, and some nostalgia in the form of cars from yesteryear.
The concept behind the Mince Pie Drive is simple – we want to help combat loneliness and disconnection during the festive season by delivering moments of happiness that only memories can bring.
Visiting Four Care Homes
The Mince Pie Drive will visit four care homes in the area – Henley House, The Willows, Silver Birch, and Haughgate House. We will also be making a quick stop to display our classic cars at Christchurch Mansion from 12pm to 1pm. This is so more people can admire the beautiful classics as well as giving the care team and residents to have their lunch undisturbed.
At each care home, we will deliver mince pies for staff and residents to enjoy. While it may seem like a small gesture, last year’s drive showed just how meaningful such acts of kindness can be.
The Bridge Classic Cars Mince Pie Drive 2024 is about more than just Christmas. It’s part of a bigger mission to inspire acts of kindness all year round. By showing how small efforts can make a big difference, we hope to encourage others to connect with their communities and spread joy, whatever time of year.
The entire team here at Bridge Classic Cars understand how important the charity’s work is and we are very proud to be doing our part in helping them raise much-needed funds.
More information about the event can be found here and we will share more details of our involvement very soon too.
We were very proud of our special charity competition where we gave the opportunity for someone to win a 1973 Triumph Spitfire, while also helping to keep East Anglian Air Ambulance saving lives throughout Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and Bedfordshire.
Although we are known for our classic car restorations, we love being able to offer incredible opportunities like this to win a classic car. This competition not only allowed us to contribute to an extremely important cause, but it also gave car enthusiasts the chance to own an iconic piece of automotive history for just a few pounds.
The 1973 Triumph Spitfire was a true gem among classic sports cars, renowned for its timeless design, thrilling performance, and undeniable charm. Our Spitfire was finished in stunning Carmine Red with a black and red interior. It came with a history file containing invoices, MOT certificates, parts catalogues, and a Haynes manual. Showing 59,000 miles, the car was transported from its previous home in Scotland by Bridge Classic Cars ready for it to be won.
By collaborating on this charity competition, we wanted to make a significant impact on EAAA’s mission of saving lives 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
Craig Ranson, Managing Director of Bridge Classic Cars said “We were delighted to support EAAA as we know just how important their work is for our region. We understand that without their fundraising efforts, a lot of lives will be put at risk, so we are extremely happy to play our part in helping the charity continue their incredible work and save many more lives.”
Our 1973 Triumph Spitfire charity competition generated around £40,000 in ticket sales. From this, all profits were donated to East Anglian Air Ambulance. The live draw of the car took place at the 2023 Bridge Classic Car Show and Alex Chifu was randomly selected as the lucky winner with ticket number 3744.
Everyone here at Bridge Classic Cars would like to say a massive thank you to the whole team at EAAA for working with us. We would also like to express our gratitude to everyone who purchased a ticket for the Spitfire. It was great to see so much support for this very special charity.
Last week, Tom and Nick went to deliver our 1972 Triumph Stag to its new owner Dudley.
Dudley had won the car the previous week through Bridge Classic Cars Competitions and was excited to take delivery of his new pride and joy.
Upon meeting Dudley and finding out a bit more about his story, his incredible life with aircraft and cars, we also found out about his personal connection to our current charity partner, East Anglian Air Ambulance.
Dudley has been an avid supporter and advocate for the amazing work that the charity do to help people in serious situations either in the air or on the road with the incredible live saving team since he found himself in need of their help one day while visiting family.
Take a look at the moment Dudley met his 1972 Triumph Stag for the first time and more on this amazing gentleman’s story below.
You to could be just like Dudley and win a dream classic of your own while also supporting a very worthy charity by entering our 1973 Triumph Spitfire charity competition, with 100% of the profits of this competition going directly to help East Anglian Air Ambulance continue to save lives.
More than 150 supercars and hypercars were on show for those in attendance to admire. An auction also took place where items such as road trip packages, artwork, luggage, and hot air balloon flights could be purchased.
The event raises money for Chorley-based Derian House which provides 24/7 palliative, specialist respite and end-of-life care for over 400 children and young adults throughout the North West. Seeing supercars up close is exciting enough but knowing that you are helping to raise vital funds for a special charity like this makes the day even more important.
Friend of Bridge Classic Cars Malc, and his grandson Owen, went to Supercar Showtime and were kind enough to send us a whole load of photos. As you can see, there were some very interesting and exciting cars on display and it looked to be a successful event.
The shoot was for our latest classic car that has just launched on Bridge Classic Cars Competitions. This is a very special competition though as all profits will be donated to this life-saving charity.
We were extremely lucky to have the helicopter join us for the shoot, as well as getting to meet some of the skilled lifesavers that have saved thousands of lives in some extraordinarily bad situations. Watching the air ambulance fly overhead and land just a few feet away from our 1973 Triumph Spitfire and from where we were standing was an experience none of the team here will forget in a hurry.
As important as the shoot was to make sure we highlighted just how important the charity’s work is, while also demonstrating the quality of our Spitfire, it was a fun day out with a lot of laughing, and adults acting like children being so close to a helicopter!
East Anglian Air Ambulance is a charity that provides life-saving services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Since the charity first launched in 2000, they have attended the scene of more than 30,000 accidents and given critical care to thousands of casualties in need.
This epic journey began on 23rd April 1900 and ended on 12th May 1900 when 35 of the original 65 cars that began the journey successfully arrived back in London.
National Drive It Day has become even more than a celebration of this mammoth undertaking. It is now an event where classic and historic vehicle enthusiasts can get together to not only share memories and experiences of their own classic vehicles but also raise money for the NSPCC too.
More information on the origins of the event and how you can get your rally plates can be seen here.
Enjoy your drive in the morning and join us at our Pettistree workshop between 11am and 2pm. There will be Mediterranean food from Prestige Catering and the bar will be open for drinks.
Please register to let us know you are attending the event. To take part you must purchases a rally plate. Commemorative rally plates can be purchased from the official Drive It Day website with the money raised from the purchase providing vital funding for Childline.
For more information, please contact Lily via events@bridgeclassiccars.co.uk
On Sunday 23rd April, Bridge Classic Cars hosted Drive It Day.
Starting at The Hangar, at Bentwaters Parks, around 150 cars arrived and were put on display. Tea and coffee were available and there was plenty of time to admire the wide variety of vehicles in attendance.
At midday, we all travelled, in convoy, to the Bridge Classic Cars workshop, in Pettistree – a journey of approximately 7 miles. Once here, there was musical entertainment from The Buskateers, food from Suffolk Fried Chicken and Otis Breading, and The Atelier bar was open too.
The whole day was a lot of fun and it was great to see so many classic car enthusiasts turn out and spend some time with us (despite the poor weather at times!). However, it wasn’t all about fun and cars – Drive It Day helps raise much-needed funds for the NSPCC, specifically Childline.
Our Drive It Day was a great success and more than £2000 was raised over the course of the day.
Everyone here at Bridge Classic Cars would like to thank everyone who came along and we hope to see even more of you at our future events.
Five friends are soon to embark on a mammoth motorcycling challenge to raise funds for East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH). Ian Charlesworth, Chris Tebbit, Robert McDonald and Ethan and John Stenner hope to cover around 1,500 miles on their motorbikes while visiting the most Northerly, Southerly, Easterly and Western points of the UK.
If the distance wasn’t enough of a challenge, the five bikers are planning to complete their epic journey in just 36 hours. In the early hours of Saturday, 29th April 2023, they will set off from John O’Groats, in Scotland, before heading to St Davids, on the Welsh coast. From there, it’s on to Land’s End, in Cornwall, before finishing in Lowestoft.
Ian, who is just down the road from us in Stowmarket, said:
“It’s a 29-hour ride, according to Google Maps, however, that’s without any stops and our plan is to rest for a quarter of an hour every time we fill up. It’s important to top ourselves up – not just in terms of petrol but also in terms of coffee and chocolate!”
“We estimate that we’ll stop about a dozen times, so hope to complete the challenge in 30 to 32 hours. Having said that, if it takes longer then so be it – even if we don’t finish within 36 hours. We’re not going to do anything silly and plan to stay safe. If we need to stop and sleep then that’s what we’ll do.”
“The most important thing is that we complete the distance, by hook or by crook.”
Ian has already completed long-distance challenges like this. He even managed to cover 1,000 miles in 19 hours but this latest challenge certainly takes things up to a whole new level. Despite the endurance-testing distance the group hopes to cover, knowing that it is helping to support the incredibly important work of EACH is proving to be a great source of motivation.
Image Credit: East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice (EACH)
Ian went on to say:
“It’s certainly daunting but going to be an experience and something special to share together. My only regret is that we don’t have longer in any place, but it’s still going to be great and we’ll have a giggle along the way.”
“It’s going to be long and tiring but we want to raise money for a great cause. All costs will be coming out of our own pockets, so we hope family, friends and the public get behind us and help make our trip worthwhile by donating as much as possible.”
“We wanted to do something for a local charity, rather than a national one. My fear with the latter is that your money goes into a big pot and you don’t necessarily get to see how it’s spent. With EACH, it feels more tangible and we’re safe in the knowledge that our donation will directly help and benefit children, young people and families within our community. I like that thought and know the others feel the same.”
East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH)
EACH supports families and cares for children and young people with life-threatening conditions across East Anglia. It has three hospices – The Treehouse, in Ipswich, The Nook, near Norwich, and at Milton, near Cambridge.
The charity offers families flexibility and control over where they receive their care and support, including where their child dies – at home, in hospital or at one of three hospices. EACH relieson voluntary donationsfor the majority of its income and this year needs to raise £5.8 million from fundraising and £6.5 million in income from its shops.
If you would like to support Ian, Chris, Robert, Ethan, and John, you can do so by making a donation via their JustGiving Page.
A 2009 Jaguar X-Type Estate that was previously owned and driven by the late Queen Elizabeth II has been donated to Comic Relief by Chris Evans and his motoring event, CarFest, to help raise money for the charity’s Red Nose Day appeal.
The Queen was photographed driving the car and the original vehicle handbook confirms the registration as PYN 1F which belonged to the late Monarch.
The 2009 Jaguar X-Type Estate comes in Emerald Fire with a Barley Leather interior. It was designed by Ian Callum and has a sunroof, automatic transmission, electric windows, climate control, and a Jaguar Heritage Trust Certificate. It has covered 73,000 miles and it was previously sold at auction in November 2022 for £43,000.
If you want to own this extremely special vehicle, you won’t need to pay out that much though. Instead, you can win it by sending a simple text message. Full details here.
When speaking about donating this very special Jaguar, Chris Evans said “I’m so grateful CarFest is able to support Comic Relief and I’m thrilled that we are able to donate this very special historic car, and so pleased to be able to share it with another enthusiast, especially for such an important cause.”
Samir Patel, who is the CEO of Comic Relief said “We are enormously grateful to Chris Evans and CarFest for this generous donation for Red Nose Day – this truly is a prize like no other we have ever been able to offer our supporters. This is an extraordinary opportunity to own a real piece of history and will be such a special prize for the lucky winner.
“From homelessness to mental health problems to food poverty, the money raised will help people facing incredibly tough times in the UK and around the world. Huge thank you to everyone who enters.”
Red Nose Day 2023
Red Nose Day 2023 will be taking place on Friday 17th March 2023. All the money raised will go towards supporting people who are struggling due to the cost of living crisis as well as trying to tackle issues such as homelessness, mental health problems, and food poverty both nationally and internationally.
Part of the money raised will also go towards helping the victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria.
On March 3rd 2022, the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal was launched. This happened due to the escalating conflict between Ukraine and Russia. As the situation has continued to progress in the last year, more and more aid is needed and the DEC continues to do all they can to assist as many people as possible.
Since its launch, the appeal has raised more than £400 million. As a result of these funds, almost 2 million people benefited from access to clean water, 392 000 people received assistance in accessing food, and 71 000 people were able to access primary healthcare services.
£38 500 Raised By Bridge Classic Cars
Everyone here at Bridge Classic Cars is very proud that we have contributed in some way to the DEC’s cause of helping the Ukranian people. We raised £38 500 for the appeal through one of our competitions. Previous winner, Jar Joyce, returned his prize (1989 TVR S2) back to us so we could run another competition for it with the money raised going to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.
With the support of Jar and several other companies and friends, the competition was a great success and we were extremely happy to raise a large sum of money for such a worthy cause.
The Mission Continues
The conflict in Ukraine is still ongoing and more help is needed. The DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal continues, as does our passion to support charities working to help people in need.
If you would like to read more about how we raised £38 500 for the Dec Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, the full story can be read here.
We have raised money for a number of charities. Our other charity work can be seen here.
This epic journey began on 23rd April 1900 and ended on 12th May 1900 when 35 of the original 65 cars that began the journey successfully arrived back in London.
National Drive It Day has become even more than a celebration of this mammoth undertaking. It is now an event where classic and historic vehicle enthusiasts can get together to not only share memories and experiences of their own classic vehicles but also raise money for the NSPCC too.
More information on the origins of the event can be seen here.
The drive will begin at our secure storage facility, The Hangar, located at Bentwaters Parks – a former military air base. There will be time to have a coffee, talk to other enthusiasts, and admire all of the special vehicles in attendance. At noon, we will travel, in convoy, covering a 7-mile scenic route to our workshop in Pettistree, Woodbridge. Here we will have live music from The Buskateers, food from Otis Breading and Suffolk Fried Chicken, and The Atelier Bar will be open until 3 pm.
Commemorative rally plates can be purchased from the official Drive It Day website with the money raised from the purchase providing vital funding for Childline.
For more information, please contact Lily via events@bridgeclassiccars.co.uk
The late Robert Furniss Riding (known as Bob) was a passionate supporter of maritime charities. He had a past love of sailing and felt it was very important for charities such as the RNLI to be supported as much as possible.
After Bob’s sad passing in May 2022, his support of the RNLI continued.
Over the years, Bob had acquired a substantial car collection. With many of these being classics and rare vehicles, his collection was worth more than £1.5 million.
To show how generous Bob was, the RNLI was named the Residuary Beneficiary of the Robert Furniss Riding estate. This meant that, after his death, when his collection of cars went to auction, the money raised would go to the charity.
We purchased one of Bob’s cars – our 1991 Maserati Bi-Turbo Spyder E and, in the process, offered our support to the RNLI.
The RNLI does extremely important work keeping people safe at sea. Everyone here at Bridge Classic Cars is very proud that we have played a small part in supporting them and we are honoured to be a part of Bob’s story.
Helen Hopkins, head of legacies at the RNLI, said:
‘We are incredibly grateful to the late Robert Furniss Riding for naming the RNLI as one of the beneficiaries of his estate, along with many other beneficiaries.
The sale of the classic car collection will form some of the donation as the RNLI is the residuary beneficiary, so we’re very grateful to see it raise so much money.
Six in 10 lifeboat launches are only possible due to gifts in wills. Any gift left to the RNLI, large or small, makes a huge difference.’
We are very keen to support and promote local and national charities to help support them in their work and this is just one of the ways we have done so in the past.
The full story of our 1991 Maserati Bi-Turbo Spyder E can be seen here.
In October 2021, Bridge Classic Cars teamed up with Lotus and the Norwich City Football Club charity – the Community Sports Foundation (CSF). We worked with these fantastic partners to raise as much money as possible to help with the mission of using the power of sport to support and inspire our community.
Community Sports Foundation
CSF do incredible work all based around the common love of sport. The charity helps drive inclusion for people with disabilities, boosting mental health and wellbeing, inspiring disadvantaged people, and increasing community engagement.
This type of work is hugely important and we wanted to do our little bit to help the charity.
We worked with Lotus and had the opportunity to offer a very special car as one of our prizes in our competitions. The 2021 Lotus Elise Sport 240 Final Edition we gave away had the very first VIN of the last run of this model making it a very important car.
Through our combined efforts, our competition was able to raise more than £100 000 for the Community Sports Foundation. This is a huge amount of money and we are extremely proud that we had a hand in making this happen.
The lucky winner of our 2021 Lotus Elise Sport 240 didn’t just get his hands on a new car though. He also got to visit the Customer Experience Centre at Lotus Cars to see behind the scenes of one of the greatest automotive manufacturers and most successful racing teams of all time. Not only that, but he also got to drive a range of Lotus cars around the track. He even had a driving experience with former racing driver Martin Donnelly.
Everyone at Bridge Classic Cars is extremely grateful to Lotus and Norwich City Football Club for helping us raise a six-figure sum for a very special local charity.
Last night, March 10th 2022 saw the Bridge Classic Cars Competitions find out not only who the lucky new owners for the 1952 MG TD and 1973 MGB GT V8 were but we also launched a very special competition that is close to our hearts and has such an amazing story which will go on to help and support people most in need right now.
On the live stream to our Facebook page, we welcomed those who tune in every week and some new names. The first order of business was to unveil the latest competition.
A 1989 TVR S2 2.9 has been amazingly donated by its owner Jar Joyce. Jar had been so moved by the Humanitarian Crisis in Ukraine that he felt compelled to do the most he could. Jar had won the TVR from us in October, and a few days ago got in touch with us to help him use the car to raise funds and awareness for the situation the Ukrainian people have been forced into. In Jar’s own words ”I have had a very lucky life and now I would like to share my luck with those who need it most.”, so we will be drawing this 1989 TVR S2 at the end of April with 100% of the proceeds going straight to the Disasters Emergency Committee who are working with the Ukrainian people to support and help in so many worthwhile and incredible ways.
If you want to enter this amazing competition to win the TVR or just to help support this noble effort, click the link below (or share this with everyone you know) and remember 100% of the proceeds will be sent at the end of every week directly to the DEC to make a direct impact to those displaced and victims of the invasion.
After Craig had gone through the details of this wonderful, heartfelt appeal on behalf of Jar and all of us here at Bridge Classic Cars, it was time to run the live draw of these two classic sports cars.
First up, was the beautiful Acconite purple 1973 MGB GT V8. Hayley, using the random number generator, input the numbers. The odds for this car were fantastic as by the time the competition closed, a few hundred of the 4666 tickets were remaining. So, with one click of a button, the next owner of the BGT V8 was decided. 1602. That number had been the single ticket bought and allocated to Richard Holland. The lucky new owner of this stunning V8 sports car.
Next was the 1952 MG TD. A very special car with again, fantastic odds for all those who entered. Just under 300 tickets remained from the 1999 tickets allowed for this competition. Hayley reset the random number generator for between 1 and 1999 and with a single click, the fate of the TD was decided. 1476 appeared on the screen. This particular ticket was again a single ticket bought by a long time player with Bridge Classic Cars Competitions, Alan Cockerill.
Local charity, GeeWizz has partnered up with Ed Sheeran’s parents, John and Imogen to host the Ed Sheeran ‘Made In Suffolk’ Legacy auction. It aims to raise funds for children and young adults from Suffolk and Norfolk who suffer from life-threatening conditions, disabilities, or Cancer
The money raised from the auction will help fund the children’s equipment, care and education as well as providing important support for the families.
The auction includes ‘money can’t buy’ prizes from local businesses. A day of recording or mixing for a band at Decoy Studio, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars VIP Tour with lunch for 4 people, and a VIP visit to Classic Team Lotus in Norfolk are among the prizes.
Among the sponsors is local business Tru7. CEO Guy Nicholls has pledged his company to be the main sponsor. Guy is passionate about East Anglia and helping local children.
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