The Long Way Round For Charity

From the Wiltshire Times and News, Friday 23 March 1984:

Travelling long distances the hard way for charity is becoming a tradition in the Bonner family.

Last April, Marie Bonner rode her horse 98 miles from Tredegar, Gwent, where she then lived, to the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Brian Bonner, of Jersey Hill, Crockerton, and raised £140 for Dr. Barnado’s.

In August her brother Will plans to ride his moped 1,400 miles from Warminster to John O’Groats and back to raise money for the £20,000 multiple sclerosis decompression treatment chamber it is hoped will be installed at the Beckford Community Centre, Warminster, at the end of June.

Marie (27) and Will (24) both live in West Street, Warminster. Will is secretary of Warminster’s Lunatic Fringe, an informal group specialising in way-out stunts for charities.

Lunatic Fringe are now making a concentrated drive to help the Mid-West Friends of Action Research into Multiple Sclerosis pay for the decompression chamber. Will’s ride will be part of that effort. He hopes to average 22 m.p.h. on his three-year-old moped and complete the journey in 11 days. To keep expenses to a minimum, he will stop overnight with friends and multiple sclerosis groups, and will not have a back-up van.

Will has already done several hundred miles on his moped, but this will be his longest. He has asked Jimmy Saville to “fix it” for him to visit an oil rig when he gets to Scotland.

He plans to collect funds along the way, and is seeking private and commercial sponsors in the West before he starts. Anybody wishing to help is asked to contact him at 96 West Street, or the Lunatic Fringe chairman Mr. Danny Howell.

Last year Lunatic Fringe, dressed as gnomes, did a sponsored walk for Warminster Gateway Club for young mentally handicapped adults; held a car treasure hunt for the Marie Curie Cancer Foundation; and staged a Christmas party for Warminster and District Physically Handicapped and Able-Bodied Club.

Mr. Howell said: “Our policy now is to support local charity organisations and projects. It seemed a natural progression to do something for one of the many groups which use the Beckford Centre. The multiple sclerosis treatment chamber is one of the most expensive projects there, so we decided to help that first.”

Lunatic Fringe are already running a lottery for the chamber, and the draw for cash prizes will be held at an Easter disco at Princecroft Primary School, Warminster. Other Fringe events will include discos, concerts, competitions and sponsored sports.

Mid-West Friends Chairman Mr. Tony Williams, who lives in Wingfield Road, Trowbridge, and suffers from multiple sclerosis himself, said: “We have already raised nearly £12,000, which means we can order the chamber later this month. Fully trained medical staff will operate the chamber. We need another £8,000 to pay for the chamber, but our costs will not end there.”

“We still have to pay the running costs of the chamber, including staff salaries. We have a long way to go.”