Drive-It Day hailed as a major success as nation’s biggest classic event beats previous record
The nation’s biggest celebration of classics has raised more than £50,000 for ChildLine – enough to fund more than a day of the charity’s operations.
The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) confirmed that this year’s Drive-It Day, supported by runs, meets and shows across the UK on 23 April, had generated a total of £50,088 to support the NSPCC’s life-changing service through the sale of rally plates and other fundraising initiatives – a whopping 8.4 per cent increase on 2022’s event.
Chairman David Whale said: ‘The historic vehicle community has really got behind ChildLine and this is very, very positive. We should remember as well as Drive-It Day, the Ride-It Day for the two-wheeled community has also contributed to raising all this money. It’s a brilliant result.’
This year’s event was supported by events at Brooklands Museum, Bicester Heritage, the Lakeland Motor Museum and Dalemain, with Car SOS star Fuzz Townshend and All Party Parliamentary Historic Vehicle group chair Sir Greg Knight MP among the thousands of enthusiasts sticking the fundraising plates on their classics.
FBHVC communications director, Wayne Scott, said: ‘The partnership has helped to give Drive-It Day a different twist. Not only are we getting our message of what the historic vehicle community is all about out to a wider audience and what we do to preserve transport heritage, it’s now also showing what we can contribute to wider society.
‘We’ve done that through our support of ChildLine. Make sure that you get your rally plates for 2024’s event because we need to raise even more funds to help support them.’
The result means that classic owners have raised a total of more than £125,000 over the last three years.
NSPCC trustee and honorary treasurer, John Worth, said that he was looking forward to continuing the partnership for 2024’s Drive-It Day event on Sunday, 21 April and that the aim is for enthusiasts to
