Relay For Life is an inspiring community event that gives everyone a chance to celebrate cancer survivors and caregivers; remember loved ones lost to cancer; and fight back by raising awareness and funds to support the work of the Cancer Society.

Relay For Life is for people of all ages and fitness levels - anyone can take part, and this year due to our sponsorship of the BMG Mini for Nelson Cancer, we too are also putting together a team and taking part at this years Relay to be held at Saxton Field on Saturday 1st March.

We recognise the terrible toll that cancer has on our community, some of our staff and their loved ones have been personally effected by this, so when asked to be a major sponsor of the BMG Mini for Nelson Cancer over a year ago we embraced the opportunity to be supportive. The Caffeine Crew's motivation behind the restoration of the mini is all about raising funds for Cancer Society Nelson through their participation in the Relay for Life. It was a natural extension of this support for the Bowater Motor Group to also sign up to be on the ground and involved in this years Relay for Life.

If you are keen to be involved, or want to know how it all works, take a few minutes to watch this short video. By the end of it we are sure, like us, you will be asking "how can i get involved?"

Getting involved is easy. You can build your own team of 10 - 15 people, register online at the Relay for Life website (click here) and begin on the path to fund raising and preparing yourselves for the event itself - a moving tribute to those we remember,  and an opportunity to help those going through it. Or you can support our Bowater Motor Group team, from now on known as the Bowater Dream Drivers!

Bowater Honda CEO Chris Bowater accepts a certificate for a sponsored fencepost from Brook Waimarama Sanctuary's General Manager Hudson Dodd

We bid the team from the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary's Campaign Office a fond farewell last week from the space we donated to them in the top showroom of Bowater Honda. The renovation programme we have in place for the moving of the Honda and Hyundai dealerships has now shifted up a gear now that Bowater Honda has moved into it's new showroom in Achilles Ave. This has freed up the showroom on the corner of Rutherford and Hardy street to begin the transformation into the new Bowater Hyundai showroom.

It was a bittersweet moment as the Brook Sanctuary's General Manager Hudson Dodd presented Bowater Honda CEO Chris Bowater with a certificate for a sponsored fencepost as recognition of the support the Bowater Motor Group has given the organisation over the past year.

The Bowater Motor Group has enjoyed providing a space for the central campaign office of the Brook Waimarama Sanctuary, and this was done with no expectation of any kind. We were genuinely pleased to be able to help this great, local, community focused initiative as they entered the public fundraising phase. By enabling them to have a presence within our highly visible showroom right on one of central Nelson's busiest traffic intersections was a gift we could easily provide this vital environmental project - a project we were very happy to get behind as a community focused organisation.

It is exciting to one day be able to see our name on a fencepost near the main entrance, and something that the up and coming generations of the Bowater family, and all those that work alongside them, will most certainly treasure. It is indeed a wonderful surprise and a great legacy for the company to be honoured with, and we are most grateful for the gift.