Total Raised So Far: £29,400

Last updated 23.03.2021

This section of our website is dedicated to fund raising initiatives from within the historic motoring community. We were impressed with and grateful for all the kind contributions to the Covid-19 Urgent Appeal which was really appreciated by the relevant NHS groups who benefitted.

We continue to create fun ways of engaging the rally community having run a second successful Virtual Table Top Rally Championship which was back literally by popular demand. The difference now is that as Covid-19 has started to come under control we have turned our attentions onto our own industry and the plight of apprentices for example who have been affected by the lockdown. Hence our alliance with the charity StarterMotor and the ‘Apprentice Lifeline’ scheme to try and help them.

Funds from the latest Virtual Table Top Rally Championship and £100 from each of the first 200 limited edition HERO-ERA watches which were announced recently, will go to StarterMotor in a bid to help the young blood of the industry.

You can find more information on the StarterMotor ‘Apprentice Lifeline’ here on the H2H pages below whilst the latest watch information can be found HERE  

We will also be adding more initiatives to help groups within the historic car industry as the programme develops so please kindly watch out for any news.

We really hope you would like to get involved and help ensure the historic motoring movement has a bright future. Thank you in anticipation of your kind help.

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HERO-ERA H2H programme to support the hospitality industry

HERO-ERA run historic motoring and rally events throughout the world, as such they are a rally family of organisers, competitors, partners, marshals and medics, who rely on the international hospitality industry to look after them in all their different roles in the UK and beyond.

From the largest hotel groups to our timing point at the smallest café, the hospitality industry is suffering huge losses with a grievous effect on owners and staff. Many businesses simply won’t recover from the world recession caused by Covid-19, and yet one charity, Hospitality Action is making a difference in the UK with links to major international hospitality groups.

HERO-ERA have decided to partner with Hospitality Action to help where they can to raise funds and awareness of the plight of the industry which provides their events and participants with such care and service.

This will be coordinated through the HERO2HELP initiative which has already raised over £20,000 to help fight Covid-19 and provide support to young apprentices in the historic motoring world. With a support budget now raised by H2H for StarterMotor, attention will now turn to the placement of apprentices and encouraging young people into the old cars and hopefully the industry itself.

To begin the partnership with Hospitality Action, £100 off the balance of the 200 HERO-ERA watches to be sold, will be directed to their recovery fund.

The Chairman of HERO-ERA, Tomas De Vargas Machuca explained why this alliance is so important.

“The hospitality industry has been among the hardest hit by this cruel pandemic. We have supported many different charities in the past including Healthcare. At this juncture, whilst healthcare remains as crucial as ever, we feel that supporting Hospitality Action we can contribute to minimising what will be a slow and difficult recovery. As event organisers we know the Hospitality industry well and take our hat off to all those who have suffered so far with so much dignity.”

Mark Lewis, Chief Executive, Hospitality Action

“In these unprecedented times we have helped countless hospitality families put food on the table, pay their bills and care for their children when they had nowhere else to turn. No matter what the future holds we will do our best to protect the wellbeing of the industry, providing financial and psychological support to our most vulnerable colleagues”.

About Hospitality Action

Hospitality Action is the trade charity for the hospitality industry and has been helping hospitality people in crisis for more than 180 years. Today, it provides financial, physical and psychological support to help beneficiaries overcome adversity and get back to work as quickly as possible. For those unable to return to work it supports them as they transition to the next phase of their lives. In addition, its EAP supports industry professionals by providing specialist, independent and confidential advice, support and assistance, 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.

Registered Charity Number: 1101083. www.hospitalityaction.org.uk

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Apprentice Lifeline

StarterMotor is a historic car charity entirely focussed on the next generation. It does this by providing access to careers through apprenticeships and other training opportunities, working hand-in-glove with partners such as The Heritage Skills Academy, Hero ERA, Bicester Motion, Hagerty and Goodwood. It also encourages classic car businesses to engage with the next generation by providing job opportunities. It has a fleet of ’training cars’ for colleges to use and young people to drive. Before the pandemic StarterMotor had been supporting approaching 200 apprentices at HSA and others with a target to see that grow to more than 500 in the next two years.

“They are the future lifeblood of the industry, we need to help during this trying time” – Patrick Burke M.D. Hero Events

“Our objective is straight forward- to put young people in old cars, whether they are apprentices or simply enjoying driving them. If we don’t succeed our whole community will begin to disappear” – David Withers, Chief Executive StarterMotor 

Hero are joining forces with charity partner StarterMotor to highlight the plight of young apprentices in the historic motoring world who have lost placements with engineering companies or events in the lock down. Through this platform, together we aim to canvass your support and help to ease their path for when normalised activities resume.

Apprentices need to be fed with home course work and skills updates online in the interim. We need to develop more potential apprenticeship placement opportunities for normal times ahead and we want to encourage apprentices to ‘home project’ if they have space/tools for the interim to keep practising their skills. HERO ERA will be bringing in senior officials to help transfer their event marshalling skills to the next generation to add further experience and encouragement in event operation. Apprentices will earn a marshals certificate and can put that into practice on a HERO ERA event.

Above all we don’t want historic engineering apprentices to lose hope or ambition. HERO2Help and StarterMotor aim to help orchestrate a programme that keeps the young bloods motivated and focussed on their future in the historic motoring industry.

Would you be prepared to make a monetary contribution?

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Donate Here

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Support funding to be paid directly to StarterMotor as a registered charity via Just Giving – https://justgiving.com/campaign/apprenticelifeline

What other help can you offer?

Online Tuition

Home Project Construction

Future Placement

Please kindly email StarterMotor directly stating what areas you can help with; info@startermotor.co

If you are kind enough to make a monetary contribution, an audited expense receipt will be issued after payment with each contributor receiving a numbered certificate of provision which will go into a prize draw at the end of the lock down

1st Prize – Bicester Heritage Tour with StarterMotor. Arrive & Drive classic or vintage rally car drive on the Bicester Heritage track with family friends

2nd Prize – A free entry into a HERO Challenge Rally

3rd Prize – A selection of HERO merchandise

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The Hero Virtual Table Top Rally Championship, still setting challenges and keeping navigators and drivers on their virtual toes

 The international historic rally and motoring community continue to enjoy the challenges set by Seren and Elise Whyte in the Hero Virtual Table Top Rally Championship. Following the clamour by participants for a second series after the first six-week competition left people asking for more, the second edition is now into its fourth week and seems to bringing challenge, headache and enjoyment in equal measure.

As you can see from some of the rallyists reactions, there is genuine appreciation for the level of competition and learning but also thanks and an understanding how much work goes into creating such successful map plotting challenges that help people to learn or brush up on skills at the same time. You will even see some comments from plotters who don’t go rallying but love the VTTRC and are thinking about taking up the sport.

As a parallel story it is gratifying for everyone at Hero ERA to be able to report that through your efforts £13, 256 has been raised both for the NHS Covid-19 rapid response fund and some latterly for the charity StarterMotor which helps find, place and help apprentices in the historic motoring world, some of whom have lost their jobs or placements through the contagion. They are the future lifeblood of the industry so as the grip of the disease eases, we are turning our attention to our own industry. We thank you all for your continued help and support.

Some will be distraught in the knowledge that we are nearing the end of series two VTTRC, but for those who are learning and some who want to chip off the navigational rust, there is the the Hero Training Academy and the brilliant training webinars run by the patient and rally experienced Whyte sisters. With sessions via Zoom and a host of options, you can transfer your lust for learning to the HTA!

Please enjoy a selection of some of the quotes from happy participants so far in the Hero Virtual Table Top Rally Championship – 

I just cannot imagine the time and effort you have all put in to coming up with these brilliant VTTs.  Really sneaky using Wales to come up with unfamiliar words for the wordsearch made the word search extra challenging but then I assume that was the idea.  Still, I have come up with an answer for week C aided by a couple of glasses of guiness as a result of which it may not be quite coherent:  Golden roamer Championship.

My stroke therapist is most impressed with your challenges – bet you never thought they would be of medical benefit, did you? Thanks a million, Pierre Miles

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you and Elise for the work you have been putting into these tests for us plotting and pondering the routes we have been given. I find them tough but achievable, most of the time.

Thanks again and look forward to meeting up at a rally sometime this year hopefully. Kind regards, Ted

Thank you for the challenging exercises and a shame there is only one week to go.

Keep up the good work and keep safe. Best Regards, Keith Woolhouse

Thanks for another great week.  Last week next week – how quickly this last four weeks (and the 6 before) have gone!  I’m sure it is because you are giving us something interesting to do! Best wishes, Maryon

‌Hello to all and Bonjour, Hoping the right answer is GOLDEN ROAMER CHAMPIONSHIP for week C. Also let me take this time to say thank you for a brilliant idea and to say sorry for missing the earlier ones, being in France since moving over from Kent I have not used the English system for a while  albeit some regularities crossover so was good to re-use and re-light my interest, so may come over when all this calms down. Thanks again, rgds, Rob

Best week yet – and that’s saying something! Thanks, Cheers, Paul

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Rally for the NHS

In the absence of classic rally action, competitors and enthusiasts alike are taking advantage of the HERO-ERA Table Top Rally competition to test their navigational abilities and contribute to the NHS charities Together Covid-19 Appeal at the same time.

Here is what some of our competitors have had to say:

Big Big thank you to the team – lots of fun, right level of challenge and kept me sane due to self imposed exile, isolation, distancing or quarantine. Three cheers and a few hip hip hoorays from Australia. – Mark Tolhurst

Thanks for putting in the effort into the event – I’ve been doing it every morning with my 5 year old daughter, she’s thought it was a great way to start every morning. – Andrew & Sana Fish

Thanks for the daily brain workout, they’ve been good fun! – Lynsey Procter

What saviours you are!! I eagerly await the ‘ping’ of the email at about 10:00 and, along with a coffee, the Table Tops help the mornings slip by! As for the £££ you have raised, that’s just brilliant!

Thanks for organising this, my wife and I are looking forward to it every day. It’s over 30 years since i was last in the hot seat in a rally, it all seems to be coming back though. – Kevin Box

Find out more on NHS Charites Together Covid-19 Appeal

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