The Great North West Truck Show
The Great North West Truck Show began in 2017, and as a charity truck show, we have donated with your support over £150,000.
Our two main charities are Reuben’s Retreat and Jolly Josh, which are children’s charities that are based in the North West.
Over the years, we have also been able to help some smaller charities, such as Manchester Children’s Hospital and some very special young individuals.
This is only possible with the support of the show sponsors, you lads and lasses who come to the show with your trucks and the many members of the public who join us all to enjoy a fantastic weekend!
We are committed to continuing to make the show bigger and better every year, to be able to help more deserving charities and to reach a total of £250,000 and beyond!
We wanted to share a bit more about the charities and people that your support helps and the difference it makes.
Reuben’s Retreat
Reuben’s Retreat supports families of children living with medical complexities who may face an uncertain future and families bereaved of a child.
The charity was founded in August 2012 following the tragic loss of Reuben Michael Graham, aged just 23 months. His mummy vowed that his short but wonderful life would never be in vain, and she would build a legacy in his name. After all, each life, no matter how brief, forever changes the world.
Reuben’s walk side-by-side with families, offering emotional and practical support by providing bespoke packages of support, therapies, wellbeing and activities such as peer support, counselling, memory-making, family fun days and sibling support.
Whilst currently supporting 647 individuals, we are also renovating our ‘forever home’ in Glossop, Derbyshire.
The site comprises a fully renovated bereavement counselling and support centre with a self-catering apartment and an activity wing in the main building, housing a hydrotherapy pool, sensory room, movie room, and playroom. Reuben’s is fundraising for the final stages of renovation to build two fully accessible self-catering suites and two further suites for family breaks.
‘The Great North West Truck Show are wonderful supporters of our cause and truly champion the work that we do. They work tirelessly at their events to advocate the beautiful work we do whilst raising vital funds which allow us to continue supporting families sadly suffering the loss of their child and those who have a child living with a medical complexity who may face an uncertain future.
Last year’s Truck Show raised a whopping £5,000, and previously, in 2019, raised £10,000 for the charity. To put into perspective how much of a difference this will make to the charity and our beneficiaries;
£10 provides a bereavement book for a sibling who has lost their brother or sister,
£20 provides a wellbeing session for a parent who has lost a child, or a parent who has a child living with medical complexities,
£30 provides a session in our sensory room for our families to enjoy,
£40 gifts a movie experience for a family in our cinema room,
£55 donates a hydrotherapy swim session for a family in our pool,
£60 provides a counselling session to a bereaved parent.
Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, to each and every one of you who support our cause. We truly couldn’t do it without you!’
Jolly Josh
Jolly Josh is a Registered Charity based in Rochdale founded by devoted mum Carole Kelly following the passing of her son Josh at just 15 months old.
After Josh had been diagnosed with suffering brain damage, Carole and her family faced the realities of caring for a child with disabilities. It is Carole’s experiences of a lack of local services for families of children with complex needs and physical disabilities that inspired her to establish Jolly Josh.
The Jolly Josh Centre is a safe, accessible, and inclusive flexible space, offering group sessions for children and young people aged 0-19, living with complex medical and physical needs. Led by experienced Session Facilitators, sessions run throughout the week, including evening and weekends. All play-based and social sessions are free of charge, thanks to the generosity and fundraising of our local community.
The Jolly Josh Centre is also home to a purpose-built Hydrotherapy Pool, the only facility currently available for children in the borough. The Pool provides sessions hosted by an experienced Hydro Lead, as well as life-guarded Family Splash and Baby Splash Together opportunities for families who visit the Centre.
Since its official opening in April 2022, Jolly Josh has welcomed 55 families to the Centre for play and social sessions, as well as given 33 families access to hydrotherapy.
Jolly Josh receives very little funding towards the £300,000 needed each year to run the Centre, the charity relies on the kindness of local people and businesses.
The Great North West Truck show has played a vital role in ensuring the Jolly Josh Centre is open and providing a lifeline to families, allowing them to emerge from isolation, into a place where they can connect with and support each other, and thrive by raising thousands of pounds at the annual truck show.
Thank you to all involved for your hard work and continued support.
Manchester Children’s Hospital
Manchester Children’s Hospital is the UK’s largest and busiest children’s hospital, with 371 paediatric beds and 60 neonatal cots.
MCH was one of the first charities that the GNWTS helped, and we have donated £33,284.99
The money raised by your support at the truck shows has been able to help fund a minibus for MCH that they have been able to use to take the children receiving palliative care.
It also went into their fundraising efforts for their new helipad, which was built in 2021 and is crucial to critically ill children’s ability to receive life-saving care rapidly.
The helipad will allow children to transfer into the MCH or MRI emergency department in less than 3 minutes, meaning they can combine the speed of response with the quality of their highly specialised care. Have a look for yourself HERE : MRCH Helipad
Tallulah Ferns
Many of you may remember Tallulah from Moston, whom we met in 2023. Tallulah was like most other 11-year-olds; she was enjoying her first year in high school, but she had started to feel unwell.
It was a few months of blood test due to weight loss, fatigue, loss of appetite, aching bones and a rash, which initially was put down to normal childhood illnesses.
After blood tests and more repeat blood tests after the waiting period, Tallulah’s mum, Joanna, knew her daughter was not right and continued to push. As parents, we know our children best, and we know when they are not themselves.
A blood test taken after a fall on the 5th of April led to a call at 2 a.m. on the 6th of April from a doctor telling us that Tallulah was very poorly and needed to be admitted to hospital immediately. To then be told that Tallulah had Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL)
Straight away 6 weeks of chemotherapy treatment started, but just 3 days after it finished, they were told that it hadn’t worked. Tallulah had the rare Philadelphia gene with a mutation, which causes the cells that are found in developing leukaemia cells to grow uncontrollably.
They were told that Tallulah would need a bone marrow transplant and would go onto the waiting list. The best chance of a donor would come from a young male under the age of 30 years old. Whilst they wanted for a donor, more treatment continued.
The bright pink Disney truck, Kelly’s Dream. which was commissioned in memory of Kelly Hancock, Graham’s niece, who, at 37 years of age, passed away from Cancer in 2013.
Kieran and Sandell from the show travelled up to meet Tallulah at her home with a gift, which arrived in the bright pink Disney truck that pulled up right on her doorstep.
Tallulah jumped in, and it was time to be a DISNEY passenger princess. Kieran and Sandell were able to chat, pass on messages from the team and truckers within the community, and clearly see how determined Tallulah was, with a smile that never stopped.
We gifted Tallulah with the limited edition Disney 100 collectors Lego Disney castle. Over the next few months, there were going to be some long days of isolation and recovery, and knowing it was pink and Disney, it was a little something from the show.
On the 10th of October 2023, Tallulah went into hospital for her bone marrow transplant and the treatment that was needed before. They have found a 10/10 donor from a young, 29-year-old male.
The journey started with more chemotherapy, which was tough. Tallulah had spoking temperatures, headaches, nose bleeds, vomiting and needed courses of antibiotics. Finally came the 15th of October, the last day ever of chemotherapy.
Then, the next stage was 6 sessions of radiotherapy, and then the day of the transplant, 19th of October 2023.
The transplant went well! Which was fantastic and another step in Tallulah’s journey to recovery. It was difficult over the weeks that followed, as her hair fell out again, and she had more headaches, nosebleeds, pain, temperatures and even appendicitis. All with being in the hospital and missing her sister, little brother and family.
Tallulah finally got to go home and visit at week 7, and there was hope in sight. Life could go back to “normal,” and she could be back home with her family… for good!
On the 4th of December, this day came, and Tallulah was finally able to go home for good, cancer free!
Since being home, Tallulah has had to face some other challenges, which we know she will win! We have never met a young lady with such resilience and determination.
We also saw in Tallulah something very important, and it is at the heart of everything we do at the show: kindness and a desire to help others. (I think we may have a future GNWTS committee member here! )
Whilst Tallulah has faced a year that not many of us can comprehend, she was thinking about others. During her stay at Manchester Children’s Hospital, on ward 86, where she underwent treatment, Tallulah raised £1,000.
She used this to buy 46 squishmellow toys for the other children on the ward and gave them all out. It is not often possible to bring in blankets from home for comfort, which is something we all love, especially in hospitals, and so poorly, and the squishmellows were perfect to have instead, and it was such a lovely gesture.
Tallulah has definitely made an impact on us at the GNWTS and on many of the trucking community that support the show.
2024’s show saw us blessed with the warrior herself Tallulah with her Mum Joanna and siblings. A standing ovation from all and a few wet cheeks were spotted! The GNWTS was pleasured with handing Tallulah tickets to Euro Disney with spending money – a welcome bit of playtime for her and her family!
Shauna Bickerstaffe
On the 2nd January 2019, Shauna, at the age of 2, was diagnosed with Acute Liver Failure. After a whirlwind of a few days, Shauna went from happily playing with her Christmas presents to fighting for every inch of her life in Leeds Children’s Hospital.
On Sunday, 6th January 2019, Shauna was put in an induced comer and put on the liver transplant list; she was so poorly she was made the highest priority in the whole of the UK and the next liver that was her blood type and compatible she would get.
Amazingly, after only 36 hours of being on the transplant list, they got a phone call to say they had found a donor. Shauna went into theatre at around 10 pm on Tuesday night, and this was a 10 hour operation that no 2 year old baby should ever have to go through.
Shauna came out of theatre in the early hours of the following morning, and initially, her recovery went well, but unfortunately, after a few months, she was taken poorly again and would need yet more time in the hospital
The new liver wasn’t functioning as it should and producing too much bile; over the coming months and years, Shauna had numerous operations and countless days and nights in the hospital.
It was decided in September 2022 that Shauna’s new liver had failed, and she went back on the transplant list. Shauna was weak and frail but never let her condition get on top of her; she continued to excel in school; after 4 false alarms on Saturday, 19th August 2023, we got the phone call to say another match had been found. After numerous tests and a long wait, Shauna went into theatre around 5.00 am the following morning for her second transplant at the age of 6.
Shauna came out of theatre at 3 pm on Sunday; since coming out of theatre her recovery has been remarkable. She spent a few days in intensive care and then went on to ward L50 in Leeds, where she made a full recovery and came home only 3 weeks after the transplant.
Shauna is an inspiration to all who have met her; she has actually become the face of Leeds Children’s Hospital Charity and can be seen on posters in and around the hospital. The care and treatment she and the family have received have been unbelievable, and they say, “We will forever be in debt not only to the two donors but to all the surgeons and nurses that have cared for Shauna xx”
Shauna, and her little sister were huge Disney Princess fans! Where else was the perfect evening out for two very special princesses? Disney on Ice, of course!
We arranged for Shauna, her sister, Mum, and Dad to go to Disney on Ice at Manchester Arena, with special transport to lead the way from HTF Transport, one of our show sponsors, and an escort vehicle to take them on their way.
Sam (Shauna’s Dad) sent us lots of videos and photos from the evening, and WOW, did these two girls sing and dance!! Of course, knowing all of the words.
Sam also sent us this message “Thank you for today, Kieran, the kids have absolutely loved it from start to finish a truly magical day. Me and my family will never forget it”
Andy’s Man Club
#ITSOKTOTALK
Andy’s Man Club was established in 2016 and is an incredible charity for men’s suicide prevention. They offer over 120 free to attend groups across the UK and online.
Their mission is to break down the stigma of men’s mental health, with the groups that they run on Mondays at 7pm.
The groups are run by over 900 volunteers and offer peer-to-peer support, a safe place, without any pressure to go and talk, or just be there and listen and not feel like you are alone.
The charity takes its name from Andrew Roberts, who sadly took his own life in 2016 at the age of 23
I am sure we all agree that mental health is something that people can often feel ashamed to speak to people about, or unsure of where to look for help and the highest rate of suicide is amongst me, with an average of one man every two hours taking his own life in the UK.
If you have been to one of our truck shows before, then you may have seen Andy’s Man Club there, raising awareness.
As with all charities, they also rely on support and fundraising, and we donated from the truck show and we will continue to support them and the great work that they do and hopefully be able to see them come to more of our shows in the future.
Bury Hospice
Bury Hospice first opened in 1991 and since then they have provided thousands of patients and their families with palliative and end-of-life care.
The cost that it takes to run Bury Hospice, along with all of the care and support groups that they offer, relies heavily on fundraising, as they only receive around 13% of the amount needed from the NHS.
It was in 2022 that we first heard about Bury Hospice and we donated from some of the amount that we raised from that years show.
They continuously raise money from their Lottery, retail and fundraising.
How Can You Help?
The show is a success and continues to grow year on year. We are able to raise the amount we do because of you! The thousands of people supporting the truck show create a compound effect as we come together.
We would love to hit our target of £250,000 donated to the charities you have just read about and more in the future.
We also have two other missions, which are equally important to us and are behind everything that we do here at the GNWTS.
One is the community of incredible truckers who come to our shows! The show is a place for you all to come together with a shared passion and have a fantastic weekend. We know, as drivers ourselves, that it can often be a lonely job, hours on the road in the cab by yourself, or not going home all week, and this is why the community is important to us.
We have built some incredible relationships with many of the truckers, some who have been to our shows since day one. We also see the friendships that have come from meeting at the show, many I am sure will be life long. The weekend is always fun, and we don’t stop laughing from Friday through to Sunday. When the show is over, many of you still speak, are at the end of the phone for each other, meet up, and there’s more tangs as you are out on the road.
One of our committee members, Steve Sandell, is extra passionate about this, which is why he started the Swittas Truckers Facebook group. The group has over 17,000 truckers and is an epic and supportive community in itself.
As a trucker, you can support the GNWTS by bringing your truck along to the show – Book on here
Our second mission is to put on a weekend that’s packed with entertainment for the many of you who visit our show! We want to give you a great day out, that’s lots of fun and one to remember.
Whether you are coming because you love the trucks, or with your friends for a great day, or as a family for a fantastic day out together, we promise you the best time.
The truckers that bring their trucks for the show are proud of the job that they do, and their trucks, whilst some are show-only trucks, are WOW, they are mint! There are many that are working trucks, but again WOW you can see how they are looked after and looking “Swittas”
Along with over 400 trucks on show, there’s live entertainment all weekend, great food and drink, and lots of activities for all ages, from the truck pull challenge to the lorry reverse challenge, face painting to Louby Lou, the North West favourite clown.
You can support our show and charities by grabbing your ticket, and coming along for the weekend and having a mega time. Tickets are available on Eventbrite
There’s one other way that you can support the show, and that is as a show sponsor. The show needs sponsors to continue to help us run each year and put on an amazing event.
Every penny that we raise goes to the charities that we help, and this is only possible with the kind sponsors that we have each year. As a sponsor of the show, we offer lots of advertising and marketing opportunities for your business. If you would like to find out more about sponsoring the show for 2025 – contact us at sponsor@gnwts.co.uk