Our Charities

In order to decide what charities we should support (in addition to Cool Earth which is a Mongol Rally pre-requisite) we asked people following our blog and Facebook group what charities they felt we should raise money for.

We had a great response and ended up with a list of 12 charities which we had to go through to decide which to support.  After some discussion Sarah and I decided that we would support all the charities that friends and followers suggested rather than pick one or two.



After investigating options for fundraising pages we decided that VirginMoneyGiving was the best site for our fundraising pages.  The primary reason was that we could fund raise for up to five charities per page.  By sheer good fortune the 12 charities could be easily split into Children's charities, Cancer charities and the others.  We then created 3 fund raising pages for each of these groups and subsequently added three more charities as a result of popular demand so currently we are fundraising for 15 charities in total.  Please donate and help us help raise funds to help those that need it.


The charities being supported are;
Children's Charities
Lotus Children's Centre Mongolia - is a small, official Mongolian non-governmental organisation (NGO), that currently acts as a home for around 80 vulnerable and abused Mongolian children and also takes part in community out-reach projects. Lotus Children’s Centre is an orphanage home but more importantly is a centre for development for abandoned and vulnerable children.  Hopefully we will be visiting the centre and staying in their guest house which they run to help raise funds.

SOS Children's Villages - give orphaned and abandoned children a loving home.  Children in their care live in a unique community called an SOS Children's Village. Here, they are cared for by an SOS Mother and live with other children as a family. There are SOS Children's Villages in 125 countries with long-term care for almost 62,000 children in 547 villages.  We are intending to visit some of the villages on our journey to Mongolia and back. 


Make a Wish Foundation UK - grants children with life threatening conditions a wish. Inspired by the story of Chris Greicius, a young boy fighting leukaemia in the US, Make-A-Wish UK was formed in 1986 to grant magical wishes to seriously ill children in the UK. Since their founding over 9,000 wishes have been granted.  Make a Wish accept wish referrals from parents or guardians, medical professionals – or even the children themselves. If you know someone who deserves their wish to come true or have any questions about the wish process, give them a call


Save the Children - works in 120 countries saving children’s lives and fighting for their rights  helping them fulfil their potential.  At the beginning of the 20th century, two sisters had a vision to achieve and protect the rights of children. That vision continues to guide Save the Children's work almost a 100 years later.




The Nicola Emmerson Trust -  Nicola Emmerson suddenly collapsed while celebrating her birthday and couldn't be resuscitated. The Trust was setup by her family and is dedicated in Nicola’s memory and helps to raise funds for Papworth Hospital,- Researching Sudden Cardiac Death in young people.    The research focuses on the cardiac rhythms that are responsible for sudden death in all its manifestations and has several strands, one of which is helped by The Nicola Emmerson Trust.



Cancer Charities

Sue Ryder - provide incredible hospice and neurological care 
for people facing a frightening, life-changing diagnosis. It’s not just expert medical care they provide. It’s the emotional support and practical things they take care of too. They do whatever they can to be a safety net for their patients and their loved ones.  This charity is close to our heart as my mother and an uncle were cared for in St John's Hospice Moggerhanger and the care they received was fantastic and made a terrible situation a little bit more bearable.

Anthony Nolan Trust - Every day, the trust matches incredible individuals willing to donate their blood stem cells or bone marrow to people with blood cancer and blood disorders who desperately need lifesaving transplants.  It all began in 1974. With Shirley Nolan's three-year-old son Anthony in urgent need of a bone marrow transplant, Shirley set up the world's first register to match donors with people in desperate need.  Now, the trust helps three people each day find that lifesaving match.  The trust also conducts world-class research into stem cell matching and transplants.

Pancreatic Cancer UK - Support, Information, Campaigning and Research into pancreatic cancer. They run the UK's only dedicated support line, staffed by expert specialist nurses. Pancreatic Cancer UK fund innovative research that makes the most impact and aids the development of new research talent in the field of pancreatic cancer.  They also campaign to increase awareness of the disease, and bring about change for pancreatic cancer patients.

Cancer Research UK - receive no government funding for their research. They fund scientists, doctors and nurses to help beat cancer sooner. they also provide cancer information to the public. Cancer Reasearch UK's funding covers a wide range of activity, from basic research to late phase clinical trials.  This includes drug discovery, basic cell biology, clinical trials, public health, bio-marker research and much more. Over the past century, Cancer Research UK researchers have made consistent progress in the fight against cancer, and survival rates have doubled over the past 40 years.

Macmillan Cancer Support - are a source of support, helping with all the things that people affected by cancer want and need. It's not only patients who live with cancer, they also help carers, families and communities.  Macmillan Cancer Support fund nurses and other specialist health care professionals and build cancer care centres. They also give more than medical help.  People need practical, emotional and financial support, so they provide carer respite, they listen, advise and share information through their cancer support specialists, website and trained professionals. 



Other Charities

Diabetes UKprovide information, advice and support to help people with diabetes manage the condition well, and bring people together for support when it’s needed most. They are the UK’s largest charitable funders of diabetes research and search relentlessly for life-changing breakthroughs that improve diabetes care, treatment and prevention. Having friends who have children with Type 1 diabetes and as a Type 2 diabetic and with my brother being insulin dependant this charity is important to me personally.


The Motor Neurone Disease Association  - is a British charity, operating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, established in 1979 by a group of volunteers to coordinate care, support, and research for people affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is a form of motor neuron disease.  Most people had awareness of Motor Neurone Disease raised through the ice bucket challenge but I decided to support this charity because of a chap called Martin Redmond who drove around the world in his Series III Austin much of our route was covered by Martin who also has links with Potton.

East Anglian Air Ambulanceis a 365 day-a-year lifesaving service working across Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. Since the charity’s launch in 2000, the dedicated, highly skilled medical crews on specially equipped helicopters have helped to save the lives of hundreds of people unfortunate enough to be involved in accidents or medical emergencies in this region.  My friend Barbara is fundraising manager for South Cambridgeshire and using her charm and feminine wiles convinced me to support this worthy cause.  We will be sharing a stand with them at the Cambridgeshire County show.   

Help for Heroesmission is to deliver an enduring national network of support for the armed forces' wounded and their families. They will inspire and enable those who have made sacrifices on our behalf to achieve their full potential. The war in Afghanistan may be over, but for those who have suffered life-changing injuries, their battles are just beginning. 

Cool Earthworks alongside indigenous villages to halt rainforest destruction. Over the last 40 years, half the world’s rainforests have been destroyed. Cool Earth don’t create reserves or put up fences. They don’t buy land. Instead, they put indigenous people back in control of the world’s most endangered rainforest.  These people have lived in the forest for countless generations. By building better incomes, better schools and better clinics, Cool Earth give their partner villages the resources they need to keep their forest intact.







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