We reach the end of a wonderful project with a final cheque presentation to the Cancer Society Nelson

Cancer Society
Alison McAlpine, chair of Cancer Society Nelson and Linda Lucre (Centre Manager) receiving the cheque from the sale of the BMG Mini Trailer from Tony Bowater.


We recently had the pleasure of presenting a cheque for $1590 to the Cancer Society Nelson as the final stage of the BMG Mini for Nelson Cancer.

This cheque arose from the selling of the custom built trailer that the BMG Mini was carted around on in the promotional phase of the project.

This bought the massive project to an end for us as major sponsors of what has to be regarded as a wonderfully successful fund raising campaign. Overall the very hard working Caffeine Crew team from Wakefield, led by ex-mechanic Bob Croy, has raised over $110,000 for the region.

The Bowater Motor Group has been an instrumental part of this entire project, supplying free of charge all of the parts needed to completely rebuild the 1975 Mini from the ground up. The Parts Department of Bowater Toyota, led by Kieron Reilly, had quite a task sourcing some of these parts, but came through each and every time sourcing sometimes hard to find parts through their extensive network of contacts and associates.

After close to 2 years of hard work, and alot of blood, sweat and tears by all involved with this very ambitious project, the Bowater's team were proud to round off the project with the final donation handover to the representatives of Cancer Society Nelson.

It was with great pleasure that we met with new Cancer Society chair Alison McAlpine and Centre Manager Linda Lucre to present another cheque, all be it a few months after the raffle came to a close and the wonderful result of so much money raised.

This money goes into the fund to help support those in the region on the cancer journey. All of the money raised locally stays locally, so the incentive to contribute just a little more was a great motivator.

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The BMG Mini for Nelson Cancer and the custom built trailer we auctioned.

The handbuilt trailer came to the project courtesy of the skills of Colin Ryder and the generous support of many other sponsors. The winner of the raffle, and the winner of the BMG Mini back in January 2014, Levin school principal Trevor Jeffries, drove the Mini back to his home in Levin. 

The trailer that had been used to cart the mini all over the district to events here and there now had no purpose. In the end the decision was made to auction it off as well, and present the money to the Cancer Society Nelson as a part of the whole project.

An auction was set up on Trade Me, the bidding was great and in the end it was won by a very nice gentleman from Christchurch, who in the end got quite a bargain for what he actually bought. 

This concluded a wonderful project that raised a great deal of money for such a worthwhile, poignant and relevant cause. It needs to be said that everyone involved deserves a very large pat on the back for working so tirelessly hard to pull off such a great result. A result we are sure that will be appreciated by those in need of this support over the coming years.

The Bowater Motor Group would like to publically thank Cancer Society Nelson, and in particular Linda Lucre and previous chair Bill Findlater for all of the hours they poured into this project. A project that would not have even existed had it not been for the extremely hard work of Bob and Lynn Croy and the rest of the Caffeine Crew of Wakefield. Their vision and dedication to raise so much money for those on the cancer journey is a heart warming and inspirational act of selfless kindness that needs to be commended. A truly inspiring group of people with a massive community spirit, a hard working group that committed thousands of hours into a project that they would not directly benefit from.

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The BMG Mini for Nelson Cancer in all of it's glory preparing to head off to it's new home.

Thanks must also be given to the countless businesses that came on board and supported this project with the donation of skills, products or services, all for free. If not for these generous businesses the project would have never reached the heights of success that it did.

Bowater Motor Group
Sun City Panel and Paint Ltd
Mortimer’s Upholstery
Tasman Auto Electrics
Richmond Tyreworld
Smith and Smith Auto Glass
Young’s Automotive 2008 Ltd
Hotwash and Water blasting
Wurths
Fletcher Easy Steel
Precision Regrinds Ltd
Carburettor Services
Pit Stop
Automotive Electrical Specialists
Queen Street Caravans and Motor Homes
EVS Ltd
Speedy Signs
Bank of New Zealand
Smart Pay
Radio World
Top of the South Service Centre
Trinders Engineering Ltd
ITM
Radio Network
Smart Engineering Services
Richmond House of Travel
Awaroa Lodge
Hanmer Springs Pools
Abel Tasman Aqua Taxi
Freemans Roofing Ltd
Wakefield Four Square
Wakefield Auto Services Ltd
Wakefield Medical Centre
Wakefield Pharmacy
Wakefield Print
Pitt and Moore
Para Rubber
Resene Paints
Engraving and Trophy Centre
T M Covers
Haven Realty- Cynthia Martin
Mapua Country Traders Ltd

You can take a look back on this incredible journey at the BMG Mini section of our website, just click here to cruise to the home page of that section.