Grandad's Last Lap
Donation protected
A moving family project, following the restoration of a beloved Bedford CF campervan, in memory of our late Grandfather, Derek Phillips.
Mum’s scream woke me. I could hear her saying ‘No’ repeatedly. Then she was rushing, rushing to pull on clothes, still screaming.
‘Something’s happened to Grandad’ was all she could say. Seconds later, Mum and Dad were away, beyond a slammed front door. An agonizing 45 minutes later Dad phoned, ‘I’m so sorry Ems, he’s gone.’
In the early hours of the 30th December 2014 my grandfather, Derek Phillips, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in his sleep. A brave next door neighbour, 3 ambulances and over an hour of CPR couldn’t bring him back.
He left behind not only a loving family but also a 40 year old project. One that he spent practically every single day of those 40 years working on… the conversion of a Bedford CF van. His dream was to use it as a custom built campervan for holidays with his family. Something he will sadly never get to do now.
My family and I plan to finish the Bedford for our Grandad, following as best we can his notebooks of specifications and getting to grips with the many modifications he made to the van.
Our aim is to take the finished camper on a road trip through the UK and Europe, exhibiting it at various car shows along the way. We will try to retrace some of the journeys he made as a young man, before completing a final lap around his favourite British racing track - Brands Hatch.
What We Need
We are seeking donations to fund the final renovation of the van.
Despite Grandad having at least three of everything in his garage, it looks like we will still need to spend money on parts, and certainly a good chunk of money on creating a comfortable, custom interior and giving the van a shiny new paint job.
This project will not be soley funded by GoFundMe donations but by family contributions and from the sale of some of Grandad's old tools and garage equipment. It has been quite costly to get it through it’s MOT (passed with a clean sheet!) so we really need your help for the final push.
Timescale
In regards to timescale, our project has to happen in two stages.
Stage 1 - Fundraising and Road Trip planning until April 2016.
The firm that we have chosen to renovate the van are a young business and based in Bedford, UK – our van’s birthplace. Despite our restorers relatively recent entry to the business, they have a few projects on the go already, so we have booked an April 2016 slot for them to start work on our van.
This will give us time to fundraise and plot out our adventure on the road.
They also employ mechanic apprentices and so we have traded some of Grandad’s tools for a credit of work on the van. It was very important to us that these trainees benefit from a fellow mechanic's tools of the trade.
Stage 2 - April 2016 onwards: Completion of the rebuild and road trip (date of trip tbc – hopefully late Summer 2016).
Tribute Film
I am filming this project from start to finish, to document our progress and to have a wonderful visual tribute to Grandad, to show subsequent generations.
I have hundreds of photographs and hours of home footage already, but in Spring 2016 I plan to pitch for a small film budget, so that a volunteer film crew can follow our road trip and give the film the cinematic quality I envisage.
VOLUNTEER FILM CREW
Any film students or professional filmmakers who like our story and fancy accompanying and filming us on a leg or two of our road trip, please do send us a message.
Dementia
Grandad had begun to develop dementia, a horrible disease that robs you of the person you once were/knew, but I believe that the van helped delay his deterioration by giving his mind something to focus on.
We will carry a collection tin to use at each stop off point along the trip, to raise what we can for MIND - the charity that helped both Grandad and Nanny come to terms with his illness.
Share our Story and Get Involved
Please tell all your friends, family, colleagues and everyone you know about our project.
Share our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, like our posts and follow our journey. We would love you to be a part of our story!
BUY / DONATE SPARE PARTS
We have surplus Bedford parts and other motoring items for sale - check our social media pages for more details. If you too have Bedford items you think could be useful to us, or have any knowledge of campervan interior design - we'd like to hear from you too.
BEDFORD CF CONVOY
If you have your own Bedford CF and would be interested in talking to us about your van and possibly meeting up at some point on our road trip, please get in touch.
This project means the world to me and every other member of my family. I hope Grandad would be proud(depsite us medling with his Aladdin's cave of a garage), and I hope he is watching and laughing along with us.
Two important lessons we've learnt so far is how incrediby important family is, and that truly...
"It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish!"
www.facebook.com/grandadslastlap
THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US!
Mum’s scream woke me. I could hear her saying ‘No’ repeatedly. Then she was rushing, rushing to pull on clothes, still screaming.
‘Something’s happened to Grandad’ was all she could say. Seconds later, Mum and Dad were away, beyond a slammed front door. An agonizing 45 minutes later Dad phoned, ‘I’m so sorry Ems, he’s gone.’
In the early hours of the 30th December 2014 my grandfather, Derek Phillips, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in his sleep. A brave next door neighbour, 3 ambulances and over an hour of CPR couldn’t bring him back.
He left behind not only a loving family but also a 40 year old project. One that he spent practically every single day of those 40 years working on… the conversion of a Bedford CF van. His dream was to use it as a custom built campervan for holidays with his family. Something he will sadly never get to do now.
My family and I plan to finish the Bedford for our Grandad, following as best we can his notebooks of specifications and getting to grips with the many modifications he made to the van.
Our aim is to take the finished camper on a road trip through the UK and Europe, exhibiting it at various car shows along the way. We will try to retrace some of the journeys he made as a young man, before completing a final lap around his favourite British racing track - Brands Hatch.
What We Need
We are seeking donations to fund the final renovation of the van.
Despite Grandad having at least three of everything in his garage, it looks like we will still need to spend money on parts, and certainly a good chunk of money on creating a comfortable, custom interior and giving the van a shiny new paint job.
This project will not be soley funded by GoFundMe donations but by family contributions and from the sale of some of Grandad's old tools and garage equipment. It has been quite costly to get it through it’s MOT (passed with a clean sheet!) so we really need your help for the final push.
Timescale
In regards to timescale, our project has to happen in two stages.
Stage 1 - Fundraising and Road Trip planning until April 2016.
The firm that we have chosen to renovate the van are a young business and based in Bedford, UK – our van’s birthplace. Despite our restorers relatively recent entry to the business, they have a few projects on the go already, so we have booked an April 2016 slot for them to start work on our van.
This will give us time to fundraise and plot out our adventure on the road.
They also employ mechanic apprentices and so we have traded some of Grandad’s tools for a credit of work on the van. It was very important to us that these trainees benefit from a fellow mechanic's tools of the trade.
Stage 2 - April 2016 onwards: Completion of the rebuild and road trip (date of trip tbc – hopefully late Summer 2016).
Tribute Film
I am filming this project from start to finish, to document our progress and to have a wonderful visual tribute to Grandad, to show subsequent generations.
I have hundreds of photographs and hours of home footage already, but in Spring 2016 I plan to pitch for a small film budget, so that a volunteer film crew can follow our road trip and give the film the cinematic quality I envisage.
VOLUNTEER FILM CREW
Any film students or professional filmmakers who like our story and fancy accompanying and filming us on a leg or two of our road trip, please do send us a message.
Dementia
Grandad had begun to develop dementia, a horrible disease that robs you of the person you once were/knew, but I believe that the van helped delay his deterioration by giving his mind something to focus on.
We will carry a collection tin to use at each stop off point along the trip, to raise what we can for MIND - the charity that helped both Grandad and Nanny come to terms with his illness.
Share our Story and Get Involved
Please tell all your friends, family, colleagues and everyone you know about our project.
Share our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages, like our posts and follow our journey. We would love you to be a part of our story!
BUY / DONATE SPARE PARTS
We have surplus Bedford parts and other motoring items for sale - check our social media pages for more details. If you too have Bedford items you think could be useful to us, or have any knowledge of campervan interior design - we'd like to hear from you too.
BEDFORD CF CONVOY
If you have your own Bedford CF and would be interested in talking to us about your van and possibly meeting up at some point on our road trip, please get in touch.
This project means the world to me and every other member of my family. I hope Grandad would be proud(depsite us medling with his Aladdin's cave of a garage), and I hope he is watching and laughing along with us.
Two important lessons we've learnt so far is how incrediby important family is, and that truly...
"It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish!"
www.facebook.com/grandadslastlap
THANK YOU FROM ALL OF US!
Organizer
Emma Swannack
Organizer