7:10am Sunday 21st March 2010
By Nigel Kerton
The departure of goldsmith Peter Page on a 5,000-mile journey across Europe in a 50 year old Austin 101 van made an arresting sight on Saturday in the centre of Ramsbury.
Villagers turned out by the score to wave him and his partner Louise Andrew off and raise a toast to him in a new beer, called 101, that has been specially produced by the Ramsbury Brewery to mark the occasion.
To add an authentic air, Wiltshire Police sent along a 50-year-old Austin Cambridge patrol car driven by PC Jeremy Bachelor, the neighbourhood team manager for the Ramsbury area.
The couple hope to raise £11,000 in sponsorship, enough to pay a day’s running cost of the Prospect Hospice in Wroughton whose president David Margesson was among those in The Square to wish them bon voyage.
It will be a momentous journey for Mr Page and his partner not only because of the distance involved – and the fact they plan to transport the van along Venice’s Grand Canal on a barge – but because during the trip the van will have its 50th birthday and Ms Andrew her 60th.
Former vicar of Ramsbury, the Rev Sandy Railton, blessed the couple. She said: “Guide their way and bring them home with joy to their family and to this county.”
And Mrs Railton’s blessing for the van was: “That it may carry them safely on a peaceful and successful journey.”
Mr Page said: “We have every faith in the van because we have driven it to St Petersburg and back before when we also raised money for the Prospect Hospice that does so much good work.”
Mr Margesson said: “It’s wonderful way of making money for the hospice and it is good to see something so different.”
The van will travel through France, Switzerland, Italy and Greece to Turkey where, after a stopover in Istanbul, it will be driven back via Spain.
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