TNT flies in to help charity auction showpiece
A three-year crusade to create a unique memento of rugby history and raise thousands of pounds for one of Britain’s best-loved charities was facing disaster before express delivery giants TNT stepped in.
Champion fundraiser Russell Burton spent three painstaking years collecting all but two of the signatures of all the players and coaching staff involved in the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final.
Each member of the English and Australian squads had signed the matchday programme so that he could auction it on behalf of Mencap – the UK’s leading learning disability charity.
With the deadline for the London auction looming, Russell still required two Aussie names to complete the precious programme. It was despatched to the other side of the world but then it became snagged in bureaucratic red tape in Japan. At that point Russell, from Basingstoke, Hants, called TNT to try and get the one-off souvenir back in time to go under the auctioneer’s hammer.
TNT flew the programme free of charge, back to the UK just in time for TV chat show host, Michael Parkinson, to successfully bid for the item at London’s Whitehall Palace.
