THE LATEST
THE FIRE ENGINE
The official handover was on the 29th January with Chief Fire Officer Darran Gunter at Dorset Fire and Rescues HQ . Martha (the fire engine) is currently in the workshop getting work done from the likes of Fire Aid International, SV Tech and Kelvin Hollaway. We hope to complete the full conversion and get her on the road by the end of February.
THE FOLLOW THAT FIRE ENGINE CHARITY
We are now an official UK charity !! We have 9 trustees in total. Our UK registered number is 133477. We have chosen “Virgin Money Giving” as our online donation site because it is non-profit organisation, and shares many values with our charity. We hope to be able to receive donations from mid February as there is some admin to attend to in setting up a charity bank account to benefit from Gift Aid.
GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS
FOLLOW THAT FIRE ENGINE has now been officially sanctioned by Guinness as an official world record attempt. Get in. The record we WILL break is the longest continuous trip in a fire engine.
SHIPPING
The world is a very big place. Much time and effort have gone into the route and shipping. The expedition is very much at the mercy of shipping. We are therefore very proud to announce our association with The Globalink Network. They are a network of freight forwarders around the world. They are an official partner of FOLLOW THAT FIRE ENGINE. The Globalink Network will assist in the logistical nightmare that is shipping. Their agents will assist in dealing with the shipping lines, customs and being a friendly face at each of the ports.
WEBSITE AND MERCHANISE
The website has been a huge success. In its first couple of months we have had thousands of hits. The geographical spread of these hits is very global. Brandkind Design have done a wonderful job. The blog will be online come spring time. The online shop is selling so very cool gear. 100% of all profit goes to charity. The hoodies are very popular indeed. Please keep looking as new merchandise will be added.
THE FOLLOW THAT FIRE ENGINE UK 360 TOUR
May 17th – May 29th 2010. We will be driving Martha around the UK. This will be a good opportunity to test the fire engine, raise awareness for the trip and give us a chance to visit cancer units, hospitals and care home for injured fire fighters. We plan to visit rural areas in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Come and support us! More details to follow very soon.
TELEVISION
There has been interest from a couple of independent TV companies. Talks are ongoing. The main concept is for a cameraman / director to ride with the team throughout the journey. Broadcasting a fortnightly webepisode. On return a 4 x 1 hour TV documentary.
CHALLENGES
We are proud to announce the following ‘sweat team’:
Barcelona Marathon - 7th March 2010:
Simon Lowans, George Troughton and Seve Poderoso
Engadin Ski Marathon - 14th March 2010:
Deborah Grant and Paul O'Sullivan
London Marathon - 25th April 2010:
James Dare and Dave Stewart
Brighton Marathon - 18th April 2010:
Amy Harpin and Kate Bartishel
Ironman Lanzarote - 22nd May 2010:
Paul Barham, Ross Shepley-Smith, Thomas Wicka and Dave Orders
Swimming the English Channel - June/July 2010:
Dave Orders
PARTNERS AND SPONSORS
We are beginning to approach sponsors.
The three point plan:
1. To remove large cost items from the budget through sponsors providing value in kind
2. Bring on board sponsors whose contribution will go directly to the charities
3. Bring on board sponsors that will drive awareness and further spin-offs/contribution to the charities
The big new partner in January was Prometheus. They provide an extensive range of specialist medical equipment, training and consultancy based on their clinical expertise in pre-hospital trauma care, major incident and disaster management, combat casualty care, primary care and remote medicine. They offer a wide spectrum of training packages, from emergency first aid for the layperson, to advanced techniques for the medical consultant.
Prometheus will train, supervise and advise the FOLLOW THAT FIRE ENGINE crew on many critical elements of the expedition. On top of donating the medical equipment, Prometheus will run the FOLLOW THAT FIRE ENGINE boot camp weekend. Training all of the FOLLOW THAT FIRE ENGINEcrew on rescue first aid, security and bush craft.
CREW
We now have 25 confirmed. All of the team have committed their time and money to the project. A legendary line up. Up to now we have very much been concentrating on ensuring we have the logistics (or skeleton) in place to complete the expedition (Fire Engine, Shipping , VISAs, Charity Registration, Website and unravelling the Red tape that is wrapped around China).
Now we have this in place we are beginning to concentrate on fleshing out the skeleton. The crew 25 are meeting every 3 weeks to give progress updates on a variety of projects that are currently in operation (First Aid Training, boot camp, Driver Training, Route planners, Launch Party, PR, Media (UK and on route), UK Awareness Tour, Corporate sponsors, Kit, Virgin Giving set up, Merchandise, Carney de passage and VISA issues, endorsements and raising as much money as possible etc).
If you would like to attend any of the crew meetings and get involved we would be delighted for you to join us.
ROUTE AND SHIPPING
The route is broken down into 9 stages. For each stage, one of the crew will be acting as the “Route Master General”. The RMG is the king of the stage, researching all that is needed to cross the territories in a safe and timing fashion. An information pack is completed for all countries we pass through. It covers all angles. We are looking to lock down all information packs by the 15th March. From our research, our route has already changed, hopefully no more ‘little’ surprises!
GO GREEN
The expedition will be carbon neutral. Our green team will ensure our actions (including driving, sailing and flying) will not be to the determent of the planet.
TRAINING
The Stage Two Crew are all learning Russian. We are all finding it very difficult but a lot of fun.
Three of the crew will be doing a 22 week mechanics course. Vital as this is an unsupported expedition.
Steve Moore attended VIPER training at the Prometheus training centre. The VIPER Course provides the emergency responder with an enhanced level of medical capability to deal with a casualty with trauma or medical emergency. The course focuses on the provision of effective trauma management in all environments particularly in a hostile or tactical environment. Training is ideal for those working in VIP protection, Private Security and specialist agencies, and provides the FPOS (Intermediate) award for Security Industry Authority (SIA) Licence.
FOLLOW THAT FIRE ENGINE TRAINING CAMP - MARCH 13/14TH
All of the crew will be attending the Surviving Adventure course run by Prometheus. It has been designed to give individuals with little or no medical experience, the confidence and understanding to manage an emergency medical situation when travelling off the beaten track or in a remote environment. The course runs over two days and aims to give an understanding of how to react to and manage a medical emergency. Surviving Adventure is high energy and very 'hands on' and, once the practical’s and initial lectures are complete, the course progresses to a series of fully realistic exercises. These are designed to give first-hand experience of what an emergency situation feels like, and how to manage one from start to finish. Key to the whole course is the fact that each and every lecture and scenario is presented by a medic, mountaineer or former Special Forces member who has encountered such a scenario first hand.
FACEBOOK & AWARENESS
Finally, it is extremely important to the expedition that you push FOLLOW THAT FIRE ENGINE at every opportunity to raise awareness and money using any leverage you have in any environment! For example, invite your friends to join the Facebook page (this is crucial as it enables FOLLOW THAT FIRE ENGINE organisers to contact interested people direct for help or contacts, so even if you rarely use facebook please do this NOW!), push the merchandise page, do a sponsored activity, approach your work to apply for sponsorship......the list is endless. Please think how you or your friends can help FOLLOW THAT FIRE ENGINE!
100% of money raised goes to three nominated charities
