Christmas letters from East Lancashire children will be personally delivered to Santa at his home in Lapland by team members of a fund-raising endurance drive across Europe.

The North West team for The 1996 Cape to Cape Super Challenge, a 65 hours non-stop across 3,500 miles, will deliver the letters to Father Christmas at the start of their voyage - and senders are guaranteed a reply from the man himself!

Jeanette Ball, Sheryl Scarisbrick and Caroline Hunt are the only ladies team entering the drive and, if they complete the challenge, they will rake in more than £20,000 for the North West Area office of the National Meningitis Trust and The Pain Relief Foundation, as well as Heswall Animal Sanctuary and Arrowe Park Hospital Baby Unit, both in the Wirral.

Chorley-based company, LAC Vehicle Management Ltd, Self-Drive Van Rental and Contract Hire of Dry Freight and Refrigerated Commercial Vehicles, is providing the team with a Mercedes Benz Sprinter 208d van for the challenge, which kicks off at Nordkapp, the most northerly point in Norway.

A total of 20 teams will drive across the Scandinavian countries before finishing at Europe's most southerly point, Cape Tarifa in Spain.

Team leader Jeanette said: "The challenge is not a race but a test of endurance. It is a challenge in itself. We will be sleeping, driving and navigating in shifts and are hoping to beat the record of 63 hours and 26 minutes and get our names in the Guinness Book of Records. We are all looking forward to it tremendously."

Letters for Santa should be sent to 47 Manor Place, Bromborough Pool, Wirral, L62 4TX and enclose a cheque or postal order for £2.50 made payable to 'Cape Challenge.'

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