End in sight for mammoth charity challenge

The Body Shop Foundation set the Message In A Bottle sponsored relay challenge to raise at least 50,000 for the charity Protect The Child. The challenge was to pass a wooden bottle between each of the 119 Body Shop At Home regions by any means, as long as it was free.

Said Anita: "What a combination '“ The Body Shop Foundation and The Body Shop at Home '“ they needed people with enthusiasm and commitment and they made perfect appeal partners.

"In this recent fund-raising event, we have had more than 500 self-employed party plan consultants, along with their families and friends, taking part in the biggest, most exciting UK-wide relay race seen by this company.

"Their enthusiasm to raise funds and raise awareness to fight the sexual exploitation of children in the UK, is nothing short of awesome."

Added Gordon: "The support that the charity and the consultants have received for this worthy cause has been amazing."

Anita and Gordon travelled on a vintage bus, loaned by Amberley Working Museum, from the COSi site in Wick to the Body Shop's headquarters at Watersmead, Littlehampton.

Since the event was launched on May 19, regional Body Shop At Home representatives have come up with ingenious methods of transporting the bottle through their patch, including police cars, speed boats and even helicopters.

The bottle successfully made its way round the UK, covering a total of 4,500 miles and accompanied at all stages by a camper van, sponsored by Bayprint in Littlehampton.

The event was organised by Adelle Pope and Liz Tessam, from Body Shop At Home, and was dreamed up out of one of Liz's ideas.

Adelle explained: "Liz was talking one night and came up with the idea of a cycle ride. From there, it just expanded into this huge event. I haven't a clue how much money we have raised yet, but each region seems to have produced around 1,000, so it's looking very promising.

Anita Roddick, who was made a Dame in the Queen's Birthday Honours on Saturday, set up Protect The Child in 1990 to support projects working to stop child sex abuse.

It joined forces with the Metropolitan Police and child protection agencies to raise public awareness about child sex abuse, lobby for changes in legislation to protect children from abuse and to provide support services for abused children and adult survivors.