The 48-Hour Bus Pass Challenge: How far can a disabled pensioner and a bus pass go for a local cat rescue ?

My name is Tony, I live in sheltered senior's housing in Brighton.

Unfortunately I am disabled and have severe health problems and the one thing that keeps me going every day is my cat Terry.

I adopted him from the Big Hearts4Small Paws cat rescue based in Crawley in December 2023. Myself and my friends here first came across them earlier that year when one of our friends died and they were able to re-home his cats as a pair. They helped us when all of the big charities let us down and we needed to know the cats would be safe.

Later that year I saw a picture of a young cat on their Facebook page

BigHearts4SmallPaws Facebook page

looking for a home, he was called Corncockle alongside his four siblings who were all named after flowers. His mother who was still a kitten had been abandoned whilst heavily pregnant and Big Hearts rescued her. There was something about him that made me want to adopt him and I did in December 2023 and I renamed him Terry. Since then we've been inseparable and he is my world. We've become a family as my friend and neighbour Lanie has become Terry's auntie and he loves spending time on her window sill shouting at pigeons.

Since then we've kept in touch with Big Hearts donating food and money when it is needed and it is frequently.

The reason why we want to do this fundraiser is they've been inundated with pregnant cats recently as well as other abandoned cats and are finding it hard to cope , emotionally and financially. They had a vets bill for over £3k this week and we want to help them as much as possible.

To raise funds I will be trying to set a record for the furthest somebody can travel in 48 hours using their disabled bus pass. Unfortunately the days of me jumping out of planes or running marathons to raise money are long gone so I need to do something else.

I will be leaving Brighton at 0903 on Monday 20th April and see where I end up at on Wednesday at 0903. I want to set a record of at least 200 miles to start a challenge for anyone else to break.

I have set myself a target of reaching Rochdale. It’s where my late father was from, and he would have been 100 years old next week. He passed away in 2011, and I can’t think of a better way to honour his centenary than by pushing my disabled bus pass to the limit to help Big Hearts, Small Paws. If I can make it from the South Coast to his hometown in 48 hours, it'll be a miracle—but Terry the Transport Manager is on the case!

The rules are -

Only buses where the disabled bus pass are accepted or if before 0930 where the national bus fare cap is applicable.

No pre planning, just get on and go.

Every penny raised will go to Big Hearts, I will cover any costs I incur for a hotel etc and return travel from where I end up.

Please help us to raise as much money as possible and also raise awareness for such a brilliant job that Big Hearts do.

I will be posting live updates on my twitter page @realernestARS so you can see exactly how far I've got.

Thank you to my friend and neighbour Joe for his help with the graphics.

Thanks and love,

From Terry, Lanie and me