More than 120 members of the home improvement industry donned fancy dress and took part in a variety of hair-raising challenges, all whilst driving 1,300 miles through eight countries for the 2016 VADO Rally, raising money for the Rainy Day Trust.

The rally was inspired by VADO's Aaron Frogley, who took part in a Monte Carlo or Bust challenge last year and decided the industry would enjoy something similar. Teams of up to four people from across the builders' and plumbers' merchant sectors were invited to take part in the banger rally, buying a car for less than £500 and driving through eight countries to Monte Carlo and then reconvening in Nice for an awards dinner.

The rally took four days and covered 1,300 miles. Each team was set a target of £1,000 to raise for the charity, with the promise of a trophy for the team to raise the most. To make things more interesting, the rally was to be done in fancy dress with a different theme every day and different challenges.

Fancy dress costumes included cowboys, pirates, Top Gun and ballet dancers. Challenges set across the four days included making and wearing a swimming costume from a carrier bag, wearing one green shoe and collecting a variety of items including a postcard showing a goat and a receipt for as many things under €1 as possible. One participant - Trevor Mudd of Chandlers Building Supplies - received special mention for managing to convince a delicatessen server to cut him 100 pieces of cheese at 1c each.

All 37 completed the rally complete, however upon driving to Nice one car failed at  the final hurdle, just outside the awards dinner hotel, and had to be scrapped. Winners recognised at the awards dinner included Trevor Mudd for a points score that nearly doubled the second place team, the best dress car award went to Plumbwell and best dressed team to Hughes Forrest. Heatcraft Ltd, meanwhile, picked up best team spirit.

The team who raised the most money for the RDT was InverTay Homes, who raised an impressive £4,500.

Rainy Day Trust ceo Bryan Cover told DIYWeek.net: "The thing that stood out for me was the strength of bond between the teams. The support that they gave each other, the banter, the sense of fun that glued them together. Everyone was out to have a good time as well as support our charity by raising as much money as they could.

"For five days we watched as tired people got up each morning with renewed energy to put on another fancy dress costume and play their part. One of the prizes at the dinner in Nice was for Best Team Spirit - when Aaron asked me who I wanted to vote for, the answer was simple - all of them.

"The event was a huge success in every sense, organizationally, socially and from a fundraising perspective. While some funds are yet to be received, we expect to have raised in excess of £65,000 during the Rally which is incredible for the Charity and we look forward immensely to the next one.  The CEO and Trustees at the Rainy Day Trust want to publically thank Aaron Frogley and his team at VADO for the immense amount of time, energy and hard work that they put into the Rally.  The money raised will be invaluable in helping people from our industry who are struggling.