Every August for the past 13 years,  Starlight Children's Foundation has hosted an afternoon of fun
for seriously and terminally ill children and their families. A day when the rigours and sadness
of hospital life can be put aside and replaced with seriously having fun! Volunteers willingly
give up their time and skills to entertain over 800 children and family members - everything from
riding on the back of a motorbike to flying in a helicopter or small plane!

This year MTJR "Live and Unleashed" were also there, to help entertain and to speak to others
who were also happy to be involved in such a magical day.
 

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From a wet and virtually deserted airfield at 9am,
the sun suddenly broke through and over the
distant hills, the volunteers started to arrive...

and they just kept coming.....

A land train, a man on stilts, a mobile petting zoo,
cars of every shape and size, and a very long convoy
of Harley Davidson motorbikes.....

By 12 noon the children and their families
had started to arrive. Their first port of
call was the reception marquee where they
were given name badges, hats, T-shirts and
teddies.  Boxes and boxes of cuddly toys were
shared amongst the children.

As the rainclouds disappeared, and the
children started to venture out of the huge marquee,
Tom Smith found he wasn't the tallest
man there after all!

A couple of Harley Davidson owners were
proud to show off their bikes and badges, while we waited for the grass to dry and the children
to pluck up the courage to ride pillion.....

It didn't take long for them to come out of the
marquee and start to queue for rides around the
airfield on these wonderful machines...

They didn't queue for long, as wave upon wave
of roaring Harley Davidson bikes came up the
airfield to take them for a thrilling ride.

Cars of every shape and size and age were there for the children and their families to ride in.
Limo's and vintage cars, Ferrari's and racing cars - just hail one and go for a spin!
 

Four helicopters waited to take the children
on a short flight - over and over again they landed
and picked up more passengers....

It's not every day you see a knight in full armour
assisting children onto a helicopter!
The knights put on a wonderful fighting display,
see further down this page for the pictures!

Planes, helicopters, motorbikes, land hovercraft, a bus,
the cars and a train kept the children amused outside,
while in the marquee a mobile petting zoo,
face painting, t-shirt painting,
remote controlled cars, magicians and loads
of other side shows
kept everyone happy and smiling...

Drinks and ice cream, hot food and delicious
french stick rolls kept them fed and watered.

By the hot food and drink stand, MTJR entertained
them with the latest chart hits and some quirky songs
requested by some hip hop dads!

It was a magical day, when children smiled and parents relaxed, and the only thing they had to do
was enjoy themselves!  It was a great privilege for MTJR to be there and we would like to thank everyone
who allowed us to interview them and take photographs for this webpage. Below is a selection of the
photographs we took and the interviews will be added to this site very soon.