A CHARITY convoy has embarked on a 3,000 mile adventure across Europe raising funds to help grant special wishes for ill children in Dorset.

Five teams in cars worth no more than £500, along with a support minibus, were given a send off by former Cherries player Steve Fletcher at the Goldsands Stadium on Saturday morning. They were heading for Amelia in Italy, with a mission to raise funds for the Amelia Grace Rainbow Fund.

The rally, organised by Dan Turk, Dan Berry and Rebecca Meaning, is a first for the charity, which was set-up by Chantel and Karl Cox in memory of their daughter Amelia, who lost her battle against an aggressive form of childhood cancer in 2010.

The adventurers had a good send off – which included good luck video messages from children who have already been helped by the charity, which last year gave £22,000 in grants to children in Dorset suffering serious and life-limiting illnesses.

Chantel told the Echo the cost of the rally had been met by generous donations from local businesses, leaving money raised by teams – which already totals some £7,000 – to go directly to the charity.

She added: “Each year the charity is getting bigger and we definitely need to be doing bigger events to keep the funds coming in – there is a big need locally.

“This is a big adventure – they have a mechanic with them, but hopefully nothing will go wrong on the way!”

The group, due to arrive at their destination today, has taken items representing Bournemouth, including a Cherries shirt and model of a Yellow Bus, over to present to the Mayor of the Amelia. They will return to a special reception with the Bournemouth Mayor on Saturday.

The trip is being documented live by media lecturer Steve McKell, whose updates are being fed onto the rally website ameliasrally.co.uk. Listeners to Hot Radio can vote for daily challengers for the group, and Wessex FM is hosting a competition for people to ‘guess the fare’ for the trip, with a taxi metre in one of the cars running throughout.

“There are lots of ways people can become involved,” added Chantel. “It’s about raising awareness as well. We are a small charity at the moment, but the amount we’re giving in grants gets bigger every year. We hope people will continue to get behind us.”

For more information go to ameliasrainbow.org