Bassetlaw pensioner raises more than £190,000 for Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice with sports cars

Stuart Dixon, 76, and his Sherwood Jaguars team of 20 have raised more than £191,000 in the last three and a half years thanks to generous donations from the public and business sponsorships.

Often accompanied by his wife of 53 years, Dorothy, Stuart and his drivers take his nine luxury Jaguars to events across the country, where members of the public buy a laminated sticker and write their names on it.

The public can pay £5 for their sticker on the bottom half of the car, or £10 on the top. Businesses pay £200.

His goal is to raise a £250,000 for Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice.

Stuart began raising money by just showing his Jaguars at events.

He said: “I woke up one morning about 4am and I thought, ‘I wonder if people would buy stickers’.

“That year we went from raising £4,800 to £73,000 just doing the same thing and having stickers instead of just showing.”

The retired businessman raised a total of £81,000 on covering his first car and has raised £97,000 so far on his second car after changing the sticker shape to better use space.

Due to Covid restrictions, this year has meant the team have only been able to tour events from July, but in just three months they took in a whopping £23,380 for the charity which is 90 per cent self-funded.

Stuart, a father-of-one and grandfather-of-two, said: “I used to raise money for 10 charities, but I decided to focus on Bluebell Wood because some of these kids haven’t even had 60 days of life.

“A lot of the kiddies don't know they’re poorly, they’re as happy as anything, but you can see that look on mums’ faces, that sadness.”

He added: “Without the help of my drivers, my helpers and the sponsors I wouldn't have been able to do any of this.”

Stuart and his sporty Jags will be at the Worksop and Retford Christmas lights switch-on event on November 20 and 21, where half of funds raised will go to EMAS Community First Responders.