Joy and tears as Lancaster Insurance and Practical Classics Magazine raise £16,100 for Prostate Cancer UK

Now, you may remember last year we restored a Classic VW Camper in partnership with Practical Classics Magazine, to auction off at the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show at the NEC in November. The fabulous Yvette Goodge placed the winning bid helping us raise £16,100 for the Prostate Cancer UK charity.

This month, we caught up with Yvette to find out how she’s getting on with her classic, and discovered she has a moving and truly wonderful story to share.

“It’s an amazing story, it keeps on getting more amazing and I’m going to make sure it gets even more amazing.” says Yvette whose winning auction bid for a classic 1979 VW Camper Van, has raised £16,100 for Prostate Cancer UK.

The camper was restored by Lancaster Insurance and the team at Practical Classics Magazine last year, and Yvette bid online to secure the vehicle when it came under offer at the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show in November 2021.

“It was always something I’d wanted, and I was going to take my Dad Colin on antiques tours, as he loved antiques, but tragically he died two weeks after I got it. He’d been having injections to help cure prostate cancer, though he died peacefully. He was absolutely delighted I’d managed to get the Camper when I took it to show him and I know he’d have loved to go on our antique tours. I’m just so thrilled the money is now going to help Prostate Cancer UK.”

The van had been part of the Lancaster Insurance and Practical Classics Magazine ‘Camper round the Coast’ initiative, which involved visiting the readers’ top UK beaches over the summer and raising money for the charity along the way.

“I went to the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show and when I saw the van I was just stunned.” said Yvette. “I was actually joking with one of the ladies at Lancaster Insurance, and said I’d have no chance of making the best bid and just hoped everyone went for a cup of tea when it came up as the first lot. I really wanted it for Dad and the way it had been restored was just amazing.”

“In the end I was watching and waiting online with my partner Simon, and when the bidding started slowly, I just couldn’t contain my excitement. I was getting more and more tense, and when the hammer eventually came down, I was jumping round the room screaming and shouting with joy. We’ve just got a puppy and it was jumping round the room with me. It was the best thing that’s happened to me in ages.”

Yvette from Lincolnshire is now planning future trips for 2022.

“The van’s undercover in the garage at the moment but I’ve already dug out my 1970 AA Road Map to plan a summer road trip. I’ll always think of Dad when I’m with the van, and I’m just so stunned and delighted to have it.”

Lancaster Senior Operations Manager, Andrew Evanson, says he’s thrilled the van has found such a deserving home.

“We’re delighted Yvette won the van at auction and even though I’m sure she’ll have mixed emotions after her father died, we just hope there are many happy adventures to come with the VW Camper. We had so much fun restoring it and then taking it around the UK. I’m sure Yvette will do the same and create many more wonderful memories in the coming years.”

Silverstone Auctions kindly waived its fee which means Lancaster Insurance and Practical Classics Magazine will present a grand total of £16,100 to Prostate Cancer UK this month.

A huge thank you to the businesses who contributed time and parts free of charge to this project:

• Auto windscreens autowindscreens.co.uk
• Stereo by classiccarstereo.co.uk
• CBR Classic Restorations, cbrclassicrestorations.co.uk
• Dynamat sound deadening dynamat.com
• Trim by Newton Commercial, newtoncomm.co.uk
• Vintage Tyres vintagetyres.co.uk
• Heritage Parts Centre heritagepartscentre.com