9:00am Monday 6th September 2010
BIKINI-clad car washers provided a welcome diversion in Lyneham at the weekend as part of a charity fund-raiser for Help the Heroes.
Fortunately the weather held dry for the dozen hard working women armed with sponges and buckets of water to clean more than 60 cars and motorbikes during a gruelling day in the Mallard pub car park.
“It was absolutely fantastic,” said organiser, Nicola Holmes, 24, who lives in the village. “Everyone was so supportive and many people had seen the article in the Swindon Advertiser beforehand who decided to come down on the day.
“It was a good day, very tiring as we were washing cars non-stop. Cars kept coming in all the time.
“The weather was good too. It only started to rain at about 5.20pm, so someone was watching down on us.”
The car washers aged between 19 and the early 30s, were all from the Lyneham area and connected to the military, either through their families or boyfriends.
Nicola, whose father Kev Holmes is a warrant officer in the RAF, works in the village as a logistic support operative at Marshall Aerospace, which supplies aircraft parts to the force.
A former boyfriend of hers, serving in the Welsh Battalion, was injured while on duty last year.
The fund-raiser took several months to organise, and was inspired by the car washers’ close connections to the military, as well as the regular repatriations which serve as a constant reminder to the Help For Heroes charity.
“We were brainstorming fundraising ideas and I came up with the concept of a bikini car wash,” added Nicola, who worked closely on the project with Leanne Eccles and Mel Holden, who had been wearing special tops at different events beforehand to publicise the car wash.
“We all know someone who is in the forces out there, or who has been injured, and we just wanted to contribute and do our bit.”
Nicola reckoned they had raised more than £800 from their exploits with motorists giving donations for the car wash at the Calne Road pub.
“That is far more than we expected,” she added. “I would have been happy with a couple of hundred pounds, but I am so grateful to everyone who supported us, especially the girls who came along on the day, the Mallard pub, the local firms who donated the buckets and sponges, and, of course, all the motorists.”
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