**Raising funds for St Catherine’s Hospice (Crawley) and Rainbow Trust**

Hi everyone,

My name is Zakariyah, and I want to tell you about my friend Ken and his very brave (and slightly crazy) adventure.

When I was having treatment for leukaemia and going through some really tough days, Ken was restoring his Morris Minor. I even got to ring the bell at The Royal Marsden when I finished my treatment, which was a really special moment for me. Around that time, Ken let me come along and help him fix the Morris Minor, and honestly, it really helped me too. Working on the car took my mind off hospitals, appointments, and everything else that comes with being ill. Instead of thinking about being sick, I was thinking about engines, tools, and whether Ken would notice if I “borrowed” his spanner. It gave me something fun to focus on and made difficult days a lot easier.

Ken owns a Morris Minor. Not just any Morris Minor, the Morris Minor that I helped restore. By “helped restore,” I mean I handed him tools, asked lots of important questions, and occasionally got told by my parents that I was being more of a hindrance than help… but Ken still let me be part of the team, so that makes me basically a mechanic now.

Ken has now decided to drive this Morris Minor all the way from Crawley to Granville in France and back again

Now, I can’t drive myself yet (apparently enthusiasm isn’t a valid driving licence), so Ken is doing the driving for both of us. He’s taking our little Morris Minor on a big adventure to raise money for two amazing charities:

Rainbow Trust – helping families with seriously ill children

St Catherine’s Hospice (Crawley) – caring for people and families when they need it most

Ken says it’s about doing something special to help others, but I think he also secretly wants to prove that the Morris Minor (and my repair skills) can survive a trip to France.

This journey means a lot to me because Ken didn’t just fix a car, he let me be part of something. Even when I was in the way, even when I dropped things, and even when my parents thought I was slowing everything down, Ken kept letting me help and learn. When I was being sick from chemo and having tough days, working on the Morris Minor with Ken gave me something positive to focus on and helped me forget about being ill for a while. That’s what good friends do.

So here’s the mission:

Drive a Morris Minor from Crawley to Granville, France

Make it there in one piece (hopefully!)

Make it back in one piece (even more hopefully!)

❤️ Raise as much money as possible for Rainbow Trust and St Catherine’s Hospice

Every donation, big or small, will help these charities continue their incredible work and will also prove to Ken that this adventure was worth it.

Thank you for supporting Ken, the Morris Minor, two brilliant charities, and the NHS for everything they did for me during my treatment.

Let’s get this little car to France and back! ❤️

Ken (Mechanic) & Zakariyah (Assistant Mechanic)