They say that our school days are the best of our lives and for 10 year old Aoibhe Baine this could certainly be true.
The Primary seven pupil from St Brigids Primary School in Brocagh, Co Tyrone, recently enjoyed a road trip in a Range Rover after receiving a positive response to a letter she wrote. Aoibhe, along with the rest of her class, was assigned a project to write to a local business. And the enterprising motor fan chose to contact Northern Ireland’s largest motor group, Charles Hurst.
In her letter, she expresses her love of the Range Rover, as well as including a drawing of her favourite car.
She wrote: “I love Range rovers when they are on the road. They are like the boss of all cars. I would love a reply from the best company in the world. It would be a dream.
"I always ask my daddy for one, not my mum because my daddy drives me to school, so if my dad gets one, I will get to go in it every day. I always ask him to get one, but if we win a million pound, oh he would, but unfortunately he did not.”
Her very sweet letter charmed Head of Charles Hurst Land Rover, Lars-Erik Aaroy, so much that he invited Aoibhe to the showroom in Belfast and then visited the school. Not only that but generous Lars-Erik also arranged for Aoibhne’s family to drive Range Rover car for the weekend.
Replying to the schoolgirl, he wrote:
“We love your Range Rover drawing here at Charles Hurst. And we were really impressed with the research you had done. Did you know that we are just in the middle of recruiting a person to do our marketing for Jaguar, Range Rover and Land Rover? That person will write the words to promote our cars on Facebook, on the radio, on the internet and in advertisements. And he or she will put together the nicest pictures, and do all she can to make people want to come and look at our cars.”
He then went on:
“I wish I could offer you that job, but I don’t think Charles Hurst would allow me to hire a ten year old. And it’s probably a good idea that you finish your education.”
Principal, Stephen Baine, said: “All of the children put a great deal of time and effort into their letters, with many receiving lovely responses with small gifts or offers to visit the company in person.
"It has been wonderful to see the entire class get so involved in the project and with each reply to the letters they have all been thrilled for each other.
Following her weekend as a passenger of her dream car, Aoibhe said: “I was so excited to receive the letter from Lars-Erik. He sent lots of goodies which was amazing and then his letter said we could borrow a Range Rover for a weekend which was fantastic.
"I went with my friends to Portrush and watched a movie on the onboard screen. It was so much fun.”
