Jaguar to raise £250,000 for charity (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Jaguar to raise £250,000 for charity

THE living nightmare of losing his only son and the help he received in the aftermath from the Child Bereavement Trust has motivated a Sherston businessman's bid to raise £250,000 for the charity.

In September 1999 Peter Sidebottom's 24-year-old son Harry died in a car accident in nearby Easton Grey.

At the time of the accident the two men were restoring a classic 1951 Jaguar XK120 coupe.

Now, more than five years since the tragedy, Mr Sidebottom is raffling off the car to raise money for the trust, which helped him and his ex-wife Flappy - Harry's mother - following their loss.

The 62-year-old property developer is selling 125,000 tickets at £2 each for a draw to be held on May 8 at the Badminton Horse Trials.

The Child Bereavement Trust is the event's nominated charity for this year. Harry's two main passions in life were cars and horses, explained Mr Sidebottom, giving an added poignancy to the raffle and its venue.

He added: "It was always going to be his car, I've got a couple of other ones but this was very much Harry's baby and he was going to get his hands on it.

"I just came up with this idea that it's a good way of raising money for the charity, but more importantly of raising its profile."

Mr Sidebottom added: "It's just extraordinary how many people lose their children and visa-versa, and if you don't know where to turn this is a lifebelt.

"It's everybody's living nightmare to lose a child."

At the time of Harry's death the charity was relatively small and unknown, but two year's later Mr Sidebottom and Harry's mother had raised £600,000 to set up and run its helpline.

The money raised from the raffle will ensure the helpline, which costs £80,000 to run each year, continues for another three years.

Tickets for the raffle can be bought via the charity's website, www.childbereavement.org.uk, by calling 0800 0272997, or from Grant Barnes & Son Saddlers, Horsefair, Malmesbury.