DurhamDubs, a group for Volkswagen campervan enthusiasts from County Durham and beyond are set to deliver presents to the children of the Treetops ward at the University Hospital of North Durham this weekend (December 7).
Setting off from Jade Industrial Park in Murton at 4pm across to University Hospital of North Durham for 5pm, their self-named ‘Christmas Cruise’ will see 26 vans decked out in Christmas decorations filled with donated presents for youngsters.
Friends Peter Lawrence and Mark Darby. (Image: DURHAMDUBS) This comes just months after the group was set up by friends Peter Lawrence and Mark Darby.
Peter, 51, from Easington Village, told The Northern Echo how their present run came to be.
He said: “Myself and my friend Mark set up DurhamDubs about six months ago – we’ve both had VW campervans for a few years now so we decided to set up a Facebook group to gauge interest.
“Now, we currently have about 1,000 members and it’s all been going well. We’ve had some meet-ups in person too.”
“We decided that we wanted to do something festive. We were inspired by a similar group down south and thought, why not do something like that?”
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Peter then contacted the children’s ward who were “over the moon” to hear about the plans, leaving the group to immediately get to work in planning the day.
Peter added: “The response so far has been fantastic. The group has exceeded our expectations because it has grown so fast.
“It is exciting – it’s a great social group to be a part of.”
