The Touring Trotters

Happy Christmas one and all!

There couldn’t be a more perfect day to announce the final winner of the great Touring Trotters’ prize giveaway. And our lucky donor is Ling! The £40 voucher to dine at Babur will be on its way to her very soon. A wonderful late Christmas present. See below for further details.

We would like to say another huge thank you to everybody who has donated so far. We have now raised over £1800 for St Christopher’s Hospice, which is truly astonishing. Every time a notification email has pinged through to my inbox, it has felt like Christmas morning. Your generosity is overwhelming.

If you haven’t yet donated, there’s still time (just)…the more you give, the more money will go to directly to our chosen charity, St Christopher’s Hospice. Click on the JustGiving button on this blog to make your donation.

We are leaving on Friday 27 December for India. We can’t believe that this is all really happening, but we know that you’ll all be with us every hair-raising bend of the way.

Ling’s prize

Our final prize was a £40 voucher to dine at Babur, Zagat 2013 London’s ‘best Indian restaurant’. Located on the Forest Hill/Honour Oak/Crofton Park borders in south east London, this hidden gem of a restaurant is ‘worth the journey’ from anywhere (according to Zagat). Open since 1985, Babur is renowned for its stunning and innovative modern Indian cuisine, and particularly its sensational tasting menu. The restaurant’s stylish, earthy interior features exposed brick walls, natural wooden furniture and beautiful handmade Bengali artworks.

Zagat 2013 London Restaurants

Taking Indian food to new heights”, this Dulwich destination presents “amazing gourmet” cuisine with “exciting flavour combinations” and “seasonal” specials made with “not typical” meats (quail, haddock, venison and rabbit have all been spotted); the “classy” exposed brick digs are home to staff who exhibit real “enthusiasm” as they deliver the fare and “fantastic cocktails”, all “great value” – and “worth the journey” from anywhere.

The Independent 50 Best Curry Houses:

Firstly, apologies for the delay in announcing the winner of our second prize giveaway. I’ve been in China for the last 2 weeks where WordPress blogs are banned and so have been unable to update you all…I know you’ve been waiting with bated breath.

Without further ado, we’re pleased to reveal that our second prize giveaway winner is Roger! He’s already received the £60 voucher for a fabulous dinner at the wonderful Ganapati, London’s best South Indian restaurant (see below for more details). A lovely festive treat.

We would like to say another huge thank you to everybody who has donated so far. We have now surpassed our fundraising target thanks to you wonderful lot. But, if you haven’t yet donated, there’s still time…the more you give, the more money will go to directly to our chosen charity, St Christopher’s Hospice.

And especially to motivate you to click on that JustGiving button now that it’s Christmas, we have another restaurant voucher to giveaway next week. Everyone who has donated will be entered into the draw. Watch this blog for further details.

Roger’s prize

A second prize giveaway is a £60 voucher for Ganapati, the home of South Indian cuisine in Peckham, with a menu influenced by the family style cooking and street food of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Having dined here several times, we can thoroughly recommend this gem of a restaurant as the best for authentic South Indian dishes in London…the masala dosas are simply out of this world…but don’t just take our word for it…

“… and it’s probably the finest example of south Indian food I’ve had outside India.”
—Telegraph Magazine

“The menu is mouth-watering and screams authenticity.”
—Evening Standard

“This isn’t just a paratha. This is a Ganapati paratha…”
—Guardian Weekend

“The very incarnation of a hidden gem, Ganapati’s brilliantly coloured interior is every bit as warm and vibrant as its southern Indian cooking.”
—Metro

“The best Keralan cooking in London…”
—Elle Decoration

“There’s an attention to detail here that shows this lot genuinely cares about what they’re doing…”
—Metro

“Fresh, healthy and delicious – a local treasure…”
—Harper’s Bazaar

Last night we used some very high tech pieces of paper to conduct a good old fashioned prize draw out of a hat…and our first winner is Phoebe! The fabulous goodies generously donated by Garudio Studiage (see below) will shortly be ‘trotting’ their way to her.

We would like to say a huge and heartfelt thank you to everybody who has donated so far. We have already reached our fundraising target thanks to our wonderful family and friends. But, if you haven’t yet donated, don’t let that stop you…the more you give, the more money will go to directly to our chosen charity, St Christopher’s Hospice.

And especially to motivate you to click on that JustGiving button as we approach the party season, we have two vouchers for our favourite London Indian restaurants to giveaway over the next few weeks. Everyone who has donated will be entered into the draw. Watch this blog for further details.

Phoebe’s prize
Wildlife of London. Oh, how we love London and all its natural splendour! Meet the flying ant, the feral pigeon and Camberhell’s genuine crack-addict squirrel in this twisted urban take on the souvenir tea towel.

And…

Bag O’Nails. High quality meets low-taste in this hand screen printed bag featuring the iconic nail bar art from Peckham. Developed from Chris Ratcliffe’s screen printed ‘Blue Off – Licence Carrier Bags’ project, this tacky tote is a more practical celebration of what’s brilliantly bad about London.

Garudio Studiage

Garudio Studiage is a Peckham-based creative collective set up by Chris Ratcliffe, Laura Cave, Anna Walsh and Hannah Havana.

With individual specialisms in screen printing, jewellery and painting, the group also work together and with friends, taking part in a wonderfully bizarre array of exhibitions and events, as well as making props, displays and products.

The appropriately glamourous and unpronounceable name is derived from the words ‘Garage studio’ which is exactly where the venture started out in 2003. Working amongst sand, stray cats and broken car parts, the collective started making screenprints and jewellery for sale and exhibition, and thus the mighty Garudio Studiage was born!

More recent times have seen a move to new premises and an expanding list of clients and projects, as well as the Garudio and Friends online shop.

Thanks to the generosity of Garudio Studiage, we’re happy to announce our first prize giveaway (and it’s not ice cream). Anybody who has donated on our JustGiving page (and we’re very grateful) by 23:59 on Sunday 10 November will be entered into a draw for a fabulously creative and Peckham-themed prize from Garudio Studiage.

The more you donate, the higher your chances of winning. Each £5 donated equates to one entry into the draw. So if you donate £10, you’ll be entered twice.

More prizes will follow as the date of the launch on New Year’s Day 2014 moves ever closer.

Remember, every penny you donate goes directly to our chosen charity, St Christopher’s Hospice.

The prize

Wildlife of London. Oh, how we love London and all its natural splendour! Meet the flying ant, the feral pigeon and Camberhell’s genuine crack-addict squirrel in this twisted urban take on the souvenir tea towel.

And…

Bag O’Nails. High quality meets low-taste in this hand screen printed bag featuring the iconic nail bar art from Peckham. Developed from Chris Ratcliffe’s screen printed ‘Blue Off – Licence Carrier Bags’ project, this tacky tote is a more practical celebration of what’s brilliantly bad about London.

Garudio Studiage

Garudio Studiage is a Peckham-based creative collective set up by Chris Ratcliffe, Laura Cave, Anna Walsh and Hannah Havana.

With individual specialisms in screen printing, jewellery and painting, the group also work together and with friends, taking part in a wonderfully bizarre array of exhibitions and events, as well as making props, displays and products.

The appropriately glamourous and unpronounceable name is derived from the words ‘Garage studio’ which is exactly where the venture started out in 2003. Working amongst sand, stray cats and broken car parts, the collective started making screenprints and jewellery for sale and exhibition, and thus the mighty Garudio Studiage was born!

More recent times have seen a move to new premises and an expanding list of clients and projects, as well as the Garudio and Friends online shop.

Meet the fourth member of our team: Robbie the Rickshaw. He has a rather dreamy new coat! We’ve submitted the paint job design to the Adventurists, whose team of expert rickshaw pimpers in India will start bringing it to life ready for our arrival in Jaisalmer after Christmas.

We’ve borrowed the look of the classic Robin Reliant (hence the name Robbie) from Only Fools and Horses and have customised it with some Indian-inspired symbols:

Lotus flower: the padma or sacred lotus, often used as an example of divine beauty and purity, plays a central role in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

Om: a mantra and mystical Sanskrit sound of Hindu origin , sacred and important in various Dharmic religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism.

Swastika: literally meaning ‘it is good’, the swastika remains widely used in Indian religions, primarily as a a tantric symbol to evoke shakti or the sacred symbol of auspiciousness. Note that the arms are rotated in the opposite direction from the swastika incorporated into the flag of the German Nazi Party.

Ganesha: everybody’s favourite Hindu god, easily identifiable by his elephant head, Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles (we’re hoping this extends to large trucks, cows and any other Indian road users), the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom.

We’ll be completing the pimping with an Essex boy racer-style sound system (oh yeah), some fairy lights (well, it will be Christmas) and a rather large horn (entirely practical…’cow, get out the bloody way’).

We’re hoping that Robbie will be a true gallant gentleman and look after his ladies on our 3500km journey across India…and that he won’t fall sick too often.

As Claire, Jodie and Erica all hail from Peckham, the area has become something of a theme for our Rickshaw Run. Only Fools and Horses is one of Peckham’s most (in)famous exports. Our rickshaw will be painted to resemble the yellow Robin Reliant (we’re hoping that it will live up to its ancestor and be reliable, but we fear it will be anything but…) and we plan to set off on launch day dressed up as characters from the show. It’ll be a comedy moment for sure. Lovely jubbly.

Only Fools and Horses is a British sitcom, created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the UK between 1981 and 1991, with sporadic Christmas specials until 2003.

Set in Peckham in south London, it stars David Jason as ambitious market trader Derek “Del Boy” Trotter, Nicholas Lyndhurst as his younger brother Rodney, and Lennard Pearce as their elderly Grandad. After Pearce’s death in 1984, his character was replaced by Uncle Albert (Buster Merryfield). The series chronicles the Trotters’ highs and lows in life, in particular their attempts to get rich.

The characters

Derek “Del Boy” Trotter (David Jason): Del was an archetypal South London market trader, willing to sell anything to anyone to earn money. A lovable loser, he was sharp-witted, image conscious and an eternal optimist, always convinced that his latest money making scheme would turn him into a millionaire, but invariably a failure because he lacked the required nous to realise his ambitions.

Rodney Trotter (Nicholas Lyndhurst): Del Boy’s brother, naive, much younger and easily-influenced, more academically gifted, although only to the extent of two GCEs, but generally gormless and lacking common sense.

Uncle Albert (Buster Merryfield): Grandad’s long-lost brother, despite claiming to never talk about his past, his long-winded anecdotes about his wartime experiences with the Royal Navy became one of the show’s running gags, usually beginning with the words “During the war…” which resulted in exasperated groans from anyone nearby.

The catchphrases

The series had an impact on English culture, contributing several words and phrases to the English language.

The Robin Reliant

Owing to its exposure on Only Fools and Horses, the Reliant Regal van is now often linked with the show in the British media. The one used by the Trotters has attained cult status and is currently on display at the Cars of the Stars exhibition at the National Motor Museum, alongside many other vehicles from British and American television and movies, such as the Batmobile and the DeLorean from Back to the Future.