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Beijing Biddies film marks final charity challenge

Thursday 14 September 2017

Two Yorkshire women, who have raised £114,000 for cancer charities through a series of driving challenges, are the subjects of a documentary film about their third and final effort.

The 45-minute film features Wetherby woman Kate Sleath and Edwina Sorkin, born and bred in Leeds and now living in Cumbria, as they drove around Britain in two Tuk Tuks earlier this year with team mates Helen Stobart and Liz Tinkler, also from Cumbria.

 

The documentary will have its first public showing at a charity event at The Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL) on Thursday, September 28, at 6.30pm.

The film traces their final attempt to smash their £100,000 target as they took to Britain’s roads in April this year in two motorised rickshaws with a top speed of less than 40 miles an hour.

The women had already raised £80,000 for Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support by driving from the UK to Beijing in 29 days in 2014, and from the UK to the Arctic Circle with no overnight stops in 2016.

Their latest efforts were recorded by film and photography students from Carlisle University, who filmed the highs and the lows of life on the road as the women travelled the country, stopping off to visit cancer hospitals and centres in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Harrogate, Cambridge, London, Merthyr Tydfil and Manchester.

The five students, Alexander Fowkes, Amon Shaw, Dominic Daniel, Sam Burton and Emily Dodd, have set up their own photography and videography company, Thrown Overboard Media Co (TOMCo), and used their expertise to create a daily blog, plus a film and photography record of the quirky 12-day challenge.

Edwina, who was team leader of all three driving challenges, said: “It will be fantastic to be able to re-live our trip on film. It certainly captures the thrills and spills of it all and will give people a real insight into just what a huge undertaking it was.

“Our aim was to raise as much money as possible and to have reached £114,000 on this final challenge was absolutely amazing. However our fundraising goes on and our film night at GSAL gives us another opportunity to add to that total.”

The event is open to the public and tickets cost £10, to include a drink and canapés. Profits from the evening will be shared between the Beijing Biddies cancer charities and the school`s bursary fund.  To buy tickets go to http://www.gsal.org.uk/event/beijing-biddies-charity-reception-and-film-premier/

Watch the trailer of the film

 

 

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