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Latest News
As you can see we have released a book and a film of our incredible journey around the world.
We have much more in the planning stage and news of upcoming Challenges will be published on this page in the future.
So please keep visiting this page within our web site for the latest news updates
Thank you for showing interest in our activities
December 2016 update from Les....
MERRY
CHRISTMAS
Hi everyone I would
like to wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New
Year.
Another year is
slipping past but to be truthful I am not sorry to witness its
passing, I don’t know where the time has gone. For someone who is
supposed to be retired, I haven’t stopped. The year started with
the shock at being informed that the love of my life had cancer and
needed urgent treatment. The process of recovery is almost at an end
and expected all clear at the end of this week apart from periodic
checks. That was a close call. In between dealing with household
chores, and fetching and carrying for Vi, the time I had to myself I
struggled to finish my book Heaven Can Wait I’m Busy, get it
printed and into the market place, what a nightmare. In the end I
ended up becoming the Author, publisher and salesman and set about
selling not only the book but the DVD set as well. I managed to get
good reviews in the local papers and magazines also live time on
local radio and TV resulting in the book being sold through most
major book shops. Not bad for a kid from Hackney.
Now that the book and
DVD set is getting established in the market place I have been able
to think about the next Challenge. You may recall from the up-date I
write for the web site I mention that I am in discussion with Suzuki
GB about whether we could work together to organise a series of
challenges for 2017. The discussions have dragged on mainly because
of the difficulty of getting around a table with the man that
matters, fortunately we have been able to do this on two occasions,
the last one only a few days ago, resulting in an agreement that
Suzuki GB will support in one way or another a series of events
planned for 2017. To firm up on what has been discussed and agreed so
far we are meeting once more before Christmas When the programme for
next year has been finalised I will let you know.
The year, although
starting out badly it has ended up bringing a smile to my face. So
Until I can give you more news I would like to say on behalf of Keith
Rimmer our web wizard, David Ellery Viewpoint productions Ltd, and
myself, also Charles Scott and Glyn Maher trustees of Heaven can wait
I’m busy our charity, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year
Bye Bye for now
Les Carvall
November 2016 update from Les....
Hi everybody I have finally got around to producing my latest up-date relating to what I have been doing recently, It’s later than anticipated but my wife Vi and I needed a break so we packed our bags and went to Greece for two weeks. I didn’t realise how knackered we both were until we got there, we have a house on Lefkas Island in the Ionian, and we haven’t been there since last January, although we have people looking after the place, as well as two dogs and a cat but as you can imagine we couldn’t help worrying if everything was alright, but as it happened everything was fine the doge were over fed and the cat created alarmingly because the dogs ate her food!
Back to the business in hand; let’s reflect on what has been happening the most important thing is that Vi has fully recovered as the result of the cancer treatment and been given the all-clear subject to periodic checks, what a relief. With what time I had to myself after doing the chores around the house I divided between the Heaven Can Wait charity work, together with Glyn Maher and Charles Scott my fellow trustees, and talking to various people about the next challenge. Before bringing you up to date with these issues I would like to mention that we made the donations to the three charities referred to in the previous up-date., the £1,000 cheques were received by the principle of each charity with sincere appreciation. As you are aware by now the book, EBook and DVD set are in circulation, we are not exactly flooded with orders but there is a lot of interest and orders are trickling in. One of the nicest complements I have received was from Pauline from Wales who emailed me to say she is enjoying the book so much her husband can’t wait to get his hands on it, and her son after him, can’t be bad. From a charity point of view there is a spin- off in as much as we have been able to put a film show together and I am at the moment calling at clubs of one sort or another in the area offering to put on a film show. Those at the club wishing to see the Ultimate Challenge film can do so by making suggested donation at the door (it is however not legal to sell tickets at the door) the money received at the door is collected and handed to our charity for distribution to other small charities, we make no charge for our services and 100% of the money raised goes to charity, I will keep you posted as to how it works out.
I have been in discussion with Suzuki for some time now relating to The Ultimate Challenge 2, it’s a long process with Emails to and fro and long phone calls and discussions with this or that person. I have submitted a whole package of really good exciting proposals for The Ultimate Challenge 2 and other events. There is a lot of interest but the last thing I want to do is to become a pest so all I can do is wait and hope I hear something soon. In the meantime I received an email from the Managing Director of Newman’s Suzuki, Southampton asking if I would be available to attend a new vehicle launch on the 26th of October and do a presentation during the evening about the Ultimate Challenge the journey around the world. As you know I am able to talk for England given half a chance so decided to have a go. I did some preparation, prepared a bit of a script and turned up at the showroom as requested and soon settled down and chatted to customers about what we did. Before the time came for me to be introduced and start my presentation Guy Foster the MD of Newman’s ran a 10 minute clip of the film so that everybody had some idea what it was all about. I started my presentation nervous at the beginning but I soon settled down and it seemed to flow smoothly, everybody listened intently to what I had to say and asked questions at the end, I was quite pleased with myself with the outcome and will not be quite concerned if asked to do it again in the future. I hope the news will be better next time, till then take care. LesAn Update from Les ....
Hello everybody I trust you are well and eager to find out what I have been up to during the past few weeks. As I recall from my last update, I mentioned that I was going to focus my attention on promoting the Book, EBook and DVD set we now have available and if an opportunity presents itself I will talk to TV companies about showing our film on national television. Well I managed to do what I set out to do with pretty good results. Before proceeding any further I must mention that to get the show on the road, so to speak, I had to set myself up as a publisher and I have to tell you self-publishing is not for the faint hearted. Trust me when I say, on occasion, its soul destroying hard work, fortunately it’s like water of a ducks back to me. With a little help from Keith our website wizard and David the Boss of Viewpoint productions the producer of the film and DVD’s, it wasn’t long before with had in place a sales and distribution set up through our website. Having the means to respond to a sales enquiry, I then set about getting the book reviewed. Fortunately and without exception those who have read the book have been very complementary so with hand on heart I was able to say to people if you start reading the book you probably won’t want to put it down. I distributed complementary copies to reporters of the local papers and magazines TV and radio stations and anybody who I thought could help in one way or another then pester the life out of them with follow up phone calls.The net result of my effort was very good,reviews in all the papers and magazines that I contacted, I managed to get a 6 minute slot on air with ITV Meridian South 6 o’clock news Friday July 15th followed two weeks later with an hour live interview with Julian Clegg’s early morning show on BBC Radio Solent. Not bad for my first effort and there is more happening that I will tell you about next time.
As to what we will do next, all I can say at this stage is that I am involved with a lot of discussion relating to a number of exciting Ultimate Challenge events and hopefully it won’t be long before I will be able to make an announcement.
I would like to mention to everybody that “Heaven can wait I’m busy” is our charity and is run and managed by myself as Chairman and trustee together with Charles Scott and Glyn Maher trustees. We organize and oversee all the projects and where possible we raise money through donation or sponsorship. As a result of the Ultimate Challenge our journey around the world and eventually from the sale of books and DVD’s we are able to make donations to local charities, I am pleased to announce the latest round of donations of £1,000 each are as follows.Wessex Cancer support, they look after people who are on their own and suffering from cancer.
Marcus Rutherford foundation, they make lots of small donation to people where a £100 or so will make all the difference to their lives.
The Flatterby fund, a charity very supportive of people in need in one way or another.
You can find out more about the charities we support by checking out their websites.
That’s about it for the time being, take care and speak to you soon. Les
Les gets Interviewed by ITV News!...
Les along with two of the team Roland and Keith who travelled together on their epic journey around the world were interviewed on the ITV regional news recently.
Click on the picture below to watch the interview.
The Book
The book begins with an autobiographical account of Leslie's life and what motivated him to take on The Ultimate Challenge, then continues with Les and the team, all in their seventies, driving two Suzuki Jimny's around the world.Les tells this story in his own inimitable way
Based on Leslie's daily diary's... it is a full, frank, no holds barred account of a journey that the group undertook overcoming the logistical, personal, technical and mechanical challenges along the route.
Click on the book to order your copy at only £9.99
an ebook version is also available at £3.99 incl tax
The Film
The epic story of the Ultimate Challenge is told in a six-part TV series and DVD set, due for release spring 2016.We follow Les Carvall and the team from planning and training for the journey of 18,600 land-miles and share the emotional highs and lows of the journey, stunning scenery and their triumphant arrival in New York after five months on the road!
Click above to watch the Trailer
Nearly 3 hours of television featuring footage captured by the team throughout their incredible adventure and reflective interviews with everyone who took part.
Click HERE to order your copy
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