News / Arts
A little help from my friends
In October last year Ian Tsang, youth worker and part time set builder, started work on his Dream Van.
After scraping together enough savings for the project Ian (or Bedge to his many friends) bought a Mercedes Sprinter and started the painstaking work of stripping it out, putting in new electrics, windows, skylight, kitchen and even a wood burning stove. A skilled carpenter, he made all the furniture and fittings from scratch along with the cushions, mattresses and curtains.
Working every spare evening and weekend, when he wasn’t helping other people out with their own projects and events, he finished just in time for the deadline he had set of his birthday at the end of January this year when he had planned a trip with friends to go climbing in the Peak District.
Unfortunately, Ian’s maiden voyage also turned out to be his last in the finished van. A week after returning home, with the van still stocked up with food, booze and still with all his expensive climbing gear in the back, it was stolen from outside his house in Easton.
Having sunk hundreds of hours of his time and about £5,000 into the project the van had gone, never to be seen again.
With his savings dried up an the insurance company refusing to pay anything but a tiny percentage of the van’s value, Ian tried to stay philosophical about the situation.
While he did his very best, some of his friends, lead by Sophie Fagan and Chris Hardy, set about doing what they could to help. Hoping to raise £500 to soften the blow and maybe replace some of his climbing gear, they set up a Facebook group and a fundraising page.
In the end, well over £1,600 was raised in time for the big reveal.
Unfortunately, Ian came off his bike en route to meet Sophie so his friends, holed up in Renato’s to surprise him, had an anxious wait to see if he was coming.
He arrived bleeding and a little shaken and was overwhelmed by the gesture.
After regaining some composure he said: “I can’t believe it! My dear friends have blown my mind with a statement of pure love and friendship. They turned a sad time into one of the best things to ever happen to me. Never would I have imagined something like this could happen, you’ve all made me very happy and I can now start work on the next one!”
If you want to help Bedge’s Dream Van Mark II come a little closer to reality, the Kapipal fundraiser page is still open for a few days. You can visit it here.
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