Look After Number One? What a Load of Bull

March 3 , 2015

Look After Number One? What a Load of Bull Says Small-Town Entrepreneur

Bulls team enters Variety Trillian Bash in aid of Kiwi kids

Lyndon Tamblyn is a bit of a big kid, and perhaps that’s why he enjoys the Variety Trillian Bash flavour of humour. But he’s also a hard-nosed businessman who’s parlayed his love of good food and flavours and his small-town Rangitikei home into a national brand.

That brand now runs a fund-raising team for the now iconic Variety Trillian Bash, raising funds for disadvantaged Kiwi kids via a quirky road rally that appeals to Tamblyn’s rambunctious sense of humour, and to a marshmallow centre that sees him keen to help whenever he sees a child in need of a hand.

Each Bash team must pay a hefty donation to enter the Bash, and have a suitable vehicle – preferably a classic car or fire engine decorated with entertaining kids in mind.

Newer vehicles are allowed, provided they’re eye-catching enough. And Lyndon’s 1996 V8 Land Rover Discovery most certainly is. He’s covered it in 150kg of multi-coloured leather panels – yes, that’s real leather, painstakingly glued into place. On top of that, he’s mounted several equally colourful metal bulls, one of which ‘farts’ bubbles. And he’s added bull twin bull horns, grille lights, and a sign warning of bulls ahead, “though I did have some help, I have to thank sponsors who help get the bull beast ready for each Bash, especially Farmlands Fuel, Gulf Oil, Coopers Tyres and Autoworx.”

“It certainly grabs attention and garners laughs,” Lyndon says, “and that’s before we get out of the car.” For Lyndon’s team dresses to suit, in bull costumes, and with bull nicknames – he’s Head bull, Dave Urwin’s Adore-a-bull, and Jaq and Andy Wright are Mr and Mrs Const-a-bull…

Not surprisingly, Lyndon’s business is also a play on words – the What a Load of Bull brand sold nationwide via Farmlands retail stores, a bit of internet marketing and his Bulls store all selling almost any condiment that goes well with beef, plus European-inspired meats and plenty of Bull-related merchandise.

As for the Bull dogs, “think hot dogs but way better,” Bulls bacon butties and raffle tickets, they’re all in aid of the charity.

Lyndon was hooked into Variety by late comedian Ewen Gilmour, who filched a pile of beef jerky at a trade show and then started trading bullish puns. Gilmour liked his zany sense of humour and got Lyndon along to a Bash fundraising rally three years ago.

“The Bash is entertaining, and it’s a lot of fun – it’s a week of being an idiot, but it’s not just about that, it really is about the kids. The schools we visit, the fun and laughter and smiles in out-of-the-way places that often forgotten by mainstream entertainers and charities, and the kids who need a helping hand – that bit of equipment that makes a difference, the sports kit or the bicycle, stuff that sometimes families can’t manage. If we get behind today’s kids, and help them take that step up, that can only make for a better future for us all.”

Lyndon is clearly keen to promote his What a Load of Bull brand, and his home town “ A town like no udder,” but he’s also happy to lark about if it makes a kid’s day. He’s handed out bicycles to rural children when there’s not a camera in sight, sat in assembly with the little ones torn between giggling and pretending there isn’t a large and fluffy bull among them, and used his national contacts to pull more celebs into the Bash’s crazy convoy.

He says the Bash passes two types of folk – those who turn away when the flags, sirens and sound systems of the Bash cruise by, and those who laugh, who wave, and who dig deep for their small change to donate to Kiwi kids further down the line.

“I know there’ll be lots of donors when the Bash passes through Bulls en route for Parliament on March 9,” he says, `’thanks to the organizing team – a big-man hug for Mojo and his crew for all the work that’s gone into this year’s 25th Anniversary Bash, and to finding a route which travels through the home town of almost every team on the event.”

“There’ll be 35 quirky cars in this year’s convoy, and I can guarantee our gas-guzzling leather-wrapped What a Load of Bull team will be in the thick of it, from the March 7 New Plymouth flag drop to the March 14 finish in Auckland.”

ends

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