DRIVING around Guernsey in a tipper truck is not easy at the best of times. But try doing it backwards.

This is the challenge local builder Arthur Leadbeater has set himself this Sunday – unaided and using only his rear-view mirrors – all for a good cause.

It will raise money for the Guernsey Specials Gymnastics Club and could even get Mr Leadbeater into the record books – if he succeeds, it is believed this will become the world’s longest feat of backwards driving. As far as he is aware, there is currently no official record.

He said that the specials club was unique in the island and was always in need of funds for equipment and travel.

It is also a group that is close to Mr Leadbeater’s heart: his six-year-old grandson is a club member.

‘As a former haulier, I’ve taught many people to drive trucks over the years, so I felt that this is something that I could do to help.’

He estimates that his 22.4-mile drive will take five to six hours, including two short breaks.

The furthest he has ever reversed before is about 500 yards and he said that it required quite a lot of concentration.

What would make the drive tricky was just using the mirrors.

‘I expect to reach my first pit stop at the Imperial Hotel at Pleinmont after about an hour-and-a-half. I think I’ll need a break by then,’ said Mr Leadbeater.

Club chairwoman Sarah Bamford said that money was already coming in for the challenge. The funds raised will be used for new uniforms for the children for a competition in Jersey in November.

Mr Leadbeater will set off at 7am from outside the Credit Suisse offices at South Esplanade to circumnavigate the island in a clockwise direction. His first challenge will be reversing his Mitsubishi Canter tipper up the Le Val des Terres.

Island Coachways is providing him with an escort for his journey and he will have different people with him in the cab to keep him company.

He will also stop briefly at Vazon Bay kiosk, where helpers will collect money, and then again at Bordeaux.

He said that lots of people in the building trade had already contributed. The club is entirely dependent on voluntary donations. Set up 10 years ago, it allows youngsters with varying special needs the chance to do gymnastics which teaches them many things. It has 55 members from three to 17 years old and holds two sessions a week at the Styx Youth Club. Local gymnasts have competed in Luxembourg, Ireland and the UK.

Mr Leadbeater had the fund-raising idea some years ago but has only now been able to put it into practice, with the help of Bruce Wallace, of Wallace Barnaby, and his staff at White Knight.

The police have given him clearance for his attempt – reversing is legal as long as it is with the flow of traffic – and he said that everyone was happy for him to go ahead.

Fortunately, he will not have to listen to an annoying reversing bleep for six hours.

Driving with his lights on will cancel out the alarm while making it safer for other road users.

‘I think that six hours of that bleeping would probably be more than I could bear,’ he said.

* To make a donation, contact Graham Elwin, Guernsey Specials Gymnastics Club treasurer, on 07781 118654.

Forms are also available from the Bridge Kitchen and Cranford Estate Agency.