The Italian Job 2012 Lottery

On Saturday December 8^th, Mike Cooper took some time out of his day to help us draw the winning tickets for the Italian Job prize draw.

For the first time ever in 2012 we had as our first Prize a Classic Mini, a 1996 Mini Equinox. Our thanks to our old friend and Jobber, Bill Handley for his support and kind assistance with this year’s Prize Draw. Ticket sales suffered a little because of the poor weather throughout the summer months which clearly effected many Mini shows as which we would normally have expected to sell quite a few. However, the draw day had come and so it was we found ourselves at Mike Cooper’s central London base. He drew three tickets in the following order:

                      10401 – FIRST PRIZE – The Mini Equinox

12093 – SECOND PRIZE - Second Prize is a holiday for two to Rome

03160 – THIRD PRIZE  - Hamper of delicious Italian food and wine.

Congratulations to the winners and sincere thanks to ALL buying the Lottery tickets and supporting The Italian Job!

The Italian Job rallies to the NEC for the 2012 Classic Motor Show

As soon as I arrived at the NEC for this year’s Classic Motor Show, I knew it was going to be huge! If the size of the giant Alfa Romeo sign some guy was struggling to carry along the outer concourse of the NEC was anything to go by, this show was going to be big, very big. Competition for entry into the allocated car park started a good couple of miles from the sprawling complex, thanks to the fact the Motor show shared the NEC with a ‘skills’ show, whatever that is! The white capped, yellow vested guardians of the NEC roads and car parks, like traffic cops but not nearly as friendly, directed me to park in the car park, which was pretty much as far away as could be from Hall 6 where our Italian Job pitch was located. So far was it, I’d wager the stand and car park didn’t even share the same post code.

Not deterred, I gathered my box of leaflets and prize draw tickets and began trudging my way to the Halls in the company of hundreds of other classic motor fans. Some decided to stop by the pay booth for the car park on the way into the show, I’m guessing to avoid queues on leaving, to pay the modest £10 all day parking charge. Before you ask, that £10 didn’t include a car wash, shampoo and quick run around with a hoover!

I arrived at the Halls (17 to be precise) and decided to walk my way round the outside rather than fight through the halls and the throng of people, pushchairs, and those annoying baskets on wheels full of literature and free plastic bags being dragged in-attentively behind people. I arrived at Hall 6, flashed my silver coloured ‘exhibitor’ wristband at the security chaps and I was in….. among a sea of beautiful classic cars and masses and masses of people. I spotted our Italian Job logo on the two tall sail banners and knew that Martin and Jeanette and our family of furry, loveable and attention-grabbing teddy bears were not that far off.

I arrived at the stand and immediately went for Diet Coke and coffee, for I knew a long day lay ahead. My task was dishing out leaflets and postcards about the event to passers-by while Trina sold tickets for our Classic Mini Equinox prize draw and Martin and Jeanette pumped passing pedestrians for a lucky dip ticket and a chance to win a teddy. While partaking in the lucky dip, punters would we know gaze lovingly into the eyes of the teddy bears and without any sales effort at all, end up buying an arm full. When the profits of the IJ-crested teddy bears are so great and all in aid of our chosen charity, it’s a great and pretty simple way to fundraise, simultaneously promoting the event.

At the end of the day and thanks to Trina, we sold several hundred tickets which isn’t bad going considering the cost of entry was pretty exorbitant. I bought three bottles of diet coke from three different outlets throughout the day and on each occasion I paid a different amount. The first cost £1.50 from a machine, then £1.89 from a newsagent outside of the hall and then £1.99 in a café inside the halls. So really when you factor in the cost of food (let’s not discuss the quality), it’s little wonder families were keeping their hands firmly in their pockets.

We circulated loads of info too and reminisced about the old days with passing Jobbers who had done the IJ in years gone by. Several said they’d love to return and several new people whom we had just met confirmed they knew all about us and that one day they’d love to do it too. It’s always great to hear that and it reminds me that awareness of the IJ is pretty high. It could always be higher though. Martin and Jeanette managed to find new homes for many of our teddy bears too, which is brilliant because as I said before, 100% of the profits from the sale of teddy bears goes to Variety, the children’s charity. Given that we didn’t even have enough space on our stand for a Mini, our teddy bear family represented the IJ really well.

I’m hoping we’ll be asked back next year and if we do, then I’ll try and make sure we get enough space for a classic Mini…. I’d love to try and get a real gem of a Mini there as a head turner, crowd pleaser, so if anyone has any ideas, please don’t be shy, ping us an email and let us know.

  

Supporting disability Sports with our Lottery

Tickets for the 2012 Italian Job Prize Draw Tickets are available for sale until Friday December 7th. All proceeds will be donated to Variety the children`s Charity. 
Variety will then invest the funds in projects supporting disability sports.

Tickets cost £ 1.- each and prizes are

1. A Classic 1996 Mini Equinox Reg P163 PYG
2. 7 day holiday for 2 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rome
3. Hamper of Italian wines and food

Should you wish to buy tickets and support disabled athletes, you can

• Buy on line at  The IJ Shop ( bottom right column ) paying securely with PayPal 
• send us a cheque for the number of tickets you require (minimum 10) together with a SAE to: The Italian Job - 93 Hangleton Road - Hove BN3 7GH .
• Phone 01273 418100 to give your  credit card details securely and confirm your postal address. We will debit your card for the number of tickets you require (minimum 10) + £ 1.- to cover for postage and cc charges.

Many thanks for your support and we hope to hear from you

  

The 2011 Lottery winning tickets

The draw took place in London on Saturday November 5th at the Awards Dinner celebrating the safe return of all participating Mini and Jobbers!
The winning ticket Number are
00771 winning the Mini
09010 winning a week for 2 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rome
00589 winning a return cross channel ferry ticket with Seafrance
12983 winning a hamper of Italian food and wines
02963 winning a hamper of Italian food and wines
Congratulations to the winners.... and all can try their luck again in 2012!
tickets for the 2012 lottery will be available for sale in February 2012.
Thank you to everybody who purchased a ticket for their support.

Move away from the vehicle Mr Cooper !

Italian Job Breakdown

Imagine you’ve broken down at the bottom of the Simplon Pass on the homeward journey of the Italian Job Charity Tour, and you’re still over 1,000 miles from home. You’re lucky in that you have managed to pull into a small car park on the side of the road where little patches of tarmac form a pretty pattern on an otherwise heavily pitted and seriously uneven surface.

You’ve had to coast in because you’ve conked out on the way down!  The stunning views you enjoyed moments before on the descent from one of Europe’s most breathtaking mountain passes is now but a distant memory. Your thoughts turn to the pressing matter in hand:  Your broken Mini.

In typical Mini fashion, it’s not long before hordes of fellow ‘Jobbers’ begin piling into the car park, drawn by the sight of a raised Mini bonnet yet unaware until now of the seriously uneven surface of the car park. A group head-scratching session begins almost as soon as the Jobbers alight from their still moving cars, such is their anxiety to lend assistance.
Quickly, the space beneath the bonnet and just above the engine of the disabled Mini fills with eager, gazing eyes belonging to nodding heads. With so many heads you know there’ll be many different opinions.

“You’re carbs are frozen!”     “It’ll be that cheap Italian fuel.”  The ubiquitous ‘head gasket’ and the classic ‘wait for the service crew, they’ll be along in a while’ solutions are bandied about.

A crowd now begins to form around the ailing vehicle and the huddle beneath the bonnet. Cigarettes are lit and talk soon turns to the difficulties of hiring a car in Switzerland when all of a sudden, the closely huddled crowd of people begins to separate and form a clear path, upon which is striding a man with a purpose, a man with knowledge above all others, a man whose father and thus he are inextricably linked with the Mini, a man with the technical ability to accurately diagnose the problem in one swift glance, a man who among all others should surely know precisely why this lovely little Mini is presently out of action.

That man is Mike Cooper, a fellow participant on the Italian Job and all round know-it-all about Minis.

As he approaches the car, he bends his knees to assume the ‘Mini squat’, pokes his head over the engine, fills his lungs with a sharp intake of air and is about to convey his judgement, when, out of nowhere, the massive frame of  Italian Job regular Big Jim Thompson appears, pokes Mike Cooper on the arm and says in his delightful Glaswegian accent, “Move away from the Vehicle Mr. Cooper. Probably best to leave this one to the experts, eh?”  With that Mike, Big Jim and the rest of us just laughed and laughed.

It reminds me, though, just how much fun we all have on the Italian Job in the company of like-minded Mini-
loving friends who no matter what the difficulty, problem, drama or situation, always find time to help one another and make sure that at the end of it we’re all laughing.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen...... lend me your ears

I’d like to tell you the story of my ‘baby’, the Italian Job; It's a fundraising event that I founded 20 years ago and that has so far raised over two and a quarter million pounds for children’s charities. 

It started like so many things do, as a bit of a gag really. A gang of us eating a pizza and sipping too many glasses of wine in a Hove pizzeria, deciding we should plan a drive in our Minis to Italy and back to raise some money for Children In Need. Some friends of ours had done a Beaujolais Run just before and I think we kind of figured we could do our own ‘job’ a bit better. 

That was in 1990! I sent a hastily cobbled together press release (and it really was cobbled together) to a motoring magazine called Autocar & Motor and if I’m being totally honest I really only expected them to come back and offer to sponsor us for a few quid. Instead they ran the news release with a photo and we were inundated, swamped and overwhelmed with applications to come along on our first ever Italian Job. We took 55 teams and collectively we raised £70,000! I even have the footage of me presenting a cheque on BBC Children In Need at an ice rink somewhere near Basingstoke!

We were pretty crazy in 1990. Our challenge was to return to the UK within 24 hours of leaving Trento in the heart of the Italian Dolomites via Lausanne in Switzerland. We spent two days in and around the city of Trento (look on the map) enjoying the beautiful mountain driving roads of this region, which our Minis positively loved. Whilst driving around we’d raided local producers (by prior arrangement of course) of what we termed our ‘loot’…. It was gold of the liquid variety… WINE! Once we’d filled our boots (geddit!) we said our fond farewells to Italy and headed north to Switzerland for an overnight followed by a soul crunching 14 hour drive to the French port of Dieppe and then home to blighty for a slap up breakfast at Brighton Marina.

Once the euphoria of that first Italian Job began to subside, sponsorship money started pouring in, literally thousands and thousands of pounds came flooding in. We quickly realised that what we had created was something that could go on to make a huge difference to the lives of many disadvantaged children…. We didn’t make a conscious choice to but we just knew it would happen and we began planning for the following year, almost instinctively. This time though we made a few tweaks and changes and added a day so that it became a tad less severe and physically challenging.

In fact, we’ve kept tweaking and improving the event each year. We change routes, cities and special visits just to keep the event fresh, alive and unique.

We have dedicated 21 years of our lives to building the Italian Job and staging what I truly believe to be an immensely rewarding experience for all involved. I know the Italian Job has empowered many people and changed the course of their own lives as a result. I have had the time, ability, back up and support each year to give some of my time to put this thing called the Italian Job together, and as long as I am able, I fully intend to continue. The team who work alongside me similarly give their time, energy and commitment and ask for nothing in return. We love doing it and if it wasn’t for the fact that sometimes, work, business and commitments get in the way, I’m sure we’d be on the IJ 24/7, because, you know what, I think it deserves it.

The reason I wanted to tell you this story is that I need your help and after twenty one years of very successful fundraising, one thing I’ve learned is that if you don’t ask you don’t get.

Don’t panic though I am not going to ask you to dig deep, make a donation, pledge or redirect you to my Justgiving page. The help I need from you is to spread the word of the Italian Job far and wide so we may continue fundraising for some brilliant children’s charities. This year we support the Variety Club Children’s Charity. Have a look at http://bit.ly/dLlMUB

I’d also like to ask that once you’ve read this posting, you take a quick look around you and make sure that you tell every Mini (old or new) to visit http://bit.ly/5uJIgE for the 10 day fundraising driving adventure they will never forget. If you can retweet to this posting then that is brilliant and I thank you.

Facts about the Italian Job:

Any Mini can participate in the Italian Job, as can any classic car which featured in the 1969 movie. These include E-Type Jaguar, Landrover, Aston Martin DB4, Lamborghini Miura, Fiat Dino, London Taxi, Fiat Cinquecento (old or new) Dormobile or even a coach!

So, if you’re reading this at home, at work, on your smart phone sitting in the doctors surgery it doesn’t matter. In the car park outside, parked up on the side of the road, on your neighbor’s drive, in the queue for the pump at the petrol station …. there will be a Mini (or classic car mentioned above) and I’d love for you to tell them all about us and the Italian Job.

Of course if you’ve got a Mini or classic car and you fancy giving the Italian Job a go, we’d love to hear from you. Please call us for a chat … and then fasten your seat belt, engage first gear, ease off the clutch and join us in Italy for the 21^st edition of the Italian Job.

March 26th, 2011 Step into France

It was a really pleasant day enjoyed by all! As ever we had prepared a simple route from Calais ( bit of rain ) to Le Touquet ( sunny and warm ) including our customary silly questions! and  here are the answers :

Q1: What is the name of the road you are on ?             A1:  Boulevard des Alles
Q2: How much do mussels & chips cost here?      A2:  2,50 Euro
Q3: The number to dial from the UK                            A3:  00 33 3 21823203
Q4: Which day would you not be able to dine               A4:  Sunday
Q5: How to say BIG WHITE COW in French             A5:  Grosse Vache Blanche
Q6: What do you think it is                                           A6:   Look out Point
Q7: The name of the road you are on                            A7:   Route de la Motte Bourg
Q8: What does "Renardeaux" mean ?                           A8:   Little Foxes ( Fox cubs )
Q9: Who is the neighbour of the Mairie?                       A9;   Madame Lelature
Q10:When was the church built                                    A10: 1960
Q11 Which of the 4 battles is a Metro stop ?              A 11:  Bir Hakeim
Q12 How many steps are there                                   A12:  54
Q13 What does POINTE AUX OIES means             A13 : Goose Promontory
Q14: What do you think a Digue is ?                           A14:  A Dyke
Q15: Who was France`s first President                       A15:  Napoleon Bonaparte
Q16: In euro, how much is a litre of petrol                   A16:  15,48
Q17: What do Ludovic and Corinne do?                     A17:  They are bakers
Q18: What nationality was the record breaker             A18 : British
Q19: What is the name of the river                              A19:  Canche
Q20: What is the admission at the maritime Museum   A20:  2 Euro
Q21: What is their Fax number                                   A21: 00 33 3 21 09 79 90
Q22: What is the name of the road you are on            A22: Avenue de lÈurope
Q23: Which town is Wimereux twinned with               A23: Herne Bay
Q24: What`s wrong with the boat picture on pg 6       A24: The letter "L" has been removed

..... and the winner with 80% of correct answers is Team Middleton ! Congratulations and they will receive a
bottle of the finest PROSECCO made by our sponsor Santome !
Will advise in a few weeks the next STEP event and look forward to many Mighty Minis joining.