Topless Tour for CLIC Sargent - 26th June 2011

Last month you might recall I wrote a blog post about the upcoming Topless Tour, a convertible car rally which was going to take place to raise vital funds for CLIC Sargent. Well, after being postponed at the beginning of the month due to some very un-seasonal weather, I am pleased to report that it took place on Sunday – and what a beautiful day to postpone it to! The temperature in Cornwall soared to idyllic summer standards on Sunday and I for one didn’t see a single grey cloud all day!

Many of the staff at Celtic Sheepskin put their hands in their pockets to help out and Charlotte Cole, our HR Manager and Press Officer took part in the Topless Tour and very kindly documented it in photos which I would like to share with you today.

Here’s Charlotte (in the bandana in the top left hand picture) with some of the Topless Tour organisers very early on Sunday morning, getting everything set up for the day ahead…


The Tour started at Hendra Holiday Park on the outskirts of Newquay where Charlotte said the staff and management couldn’t do enough to help with the event. They set up outside Hendra’s swimming pool, in front of their cafeteria and the staff of the park at that section wore CLIC Sargent t-shirts to help promote the morning. With a handful of helpers made up of Newquay Lions and family members, they set up a Tombola stand which raised over £75 and a registration desk for the 22 cars that signed up.

Once all the cars had arrived, they were judged for prizes in different categories including “cleanest car” and “best oldest car”. Each car donated £25 to CLIC Sargent, plus a further £2 for each category they entered their cars into.

Then at around 10.30am, they were off!


In all, 23 convertibles set off in topless convoy on a scenic tour which would hug the north Cornish coastline almost the whole way.

Most of the cars congregated for a picnic lunch at around 12noon at Godrevy Point where there is the most fabulous view of the lighthouse in one direction and St. Ives in the other...
How stunning was the weather!

Charlotte thinks they stayed there for around an hour but in her own words, after sitting in the baking sun, sipping Champagne and eating as much food as she could fit in, clock watching became less important! Very kindly, the National Trust gave the tour vehicles free entry to park in their car park. It was a busy day for staff at Godrevy Point as the sun was out and the surf was pumping, but they happily opened all the fields so that all the topless cars could park together...
After the picnic, the convoy stuck as closely to the coastline as possible although they didn’t travel through St. Ives because of the predicted traffic at this time of year. The cars reached Land’s End by around 2.30pm where they were greeted by a sectioned-off part of the car park to themselves, close to the entrance of the village, once again with free entry to park all the topless cars. Thank you to Heritage GB for this!
All in all it was a hugely successful day; with sponsorship from the Topless Tour cars and donations from everyone the estimated amount raised for CLIC Sargent is over £2000.

Big thanks go out to Alison from CLIC Sargent for her part in the organisation of the Topless Tour as well as the main organisers; Celtic Sheepskin employee, Jos Cole and her husband Andy. They created such a special day which will be remembered by all who took part as a fabulous way to spend a glorious British summer’s day while doing their bit for an incredibly worthwhile cause!