Wellingborough man's Rust Bucket Rally raises almost £60,000

The Rust Bucket Rally - where entrants must drive cars bought for under £500 - saw 123 people in more than 50 cars trek across nine countries in four days earlier this month.

In doing so they raised £58,500 Children Are Butterflies, a charity in Northampton for bereaved families. It means 58 families using the charity will get £1,000 towards support after losing a child.

Rally organiser Carl Baldry, who drove a Mercedes CLK wrapped in rust, said: "I think they ran the charity off about £75,000 last year so this is enough to keep them going for some time and give the charity a bit of breathing space.

"Fifty-eight families will benefit from this and will have some help at probably the worst time they will ever go through."

The rally saw cars drive through England, France, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium.

They took in mountain passes and ventured into Paris to stop at the Eiffel Tower.

Carl, an airport transfer driver, said: "It was absolutely epic."

But it didn't go without hiccups.

Two cars broke down and were left in Italy and at one point Mr Baldry got lost near the border of France and Switzerland.

He said: "Everything went well apart from getting lost at one point. Somehow I managed to put the wrong co-ordinates in.

"It would have been alright but four cars followed me to the top of a road!"

The rally first started in 2014 and has now raised more than £150,000 over the years for various charities.

This year's went so well that Carl is planning two next year - one at the beginning of June and one at the end of July.

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