MGF Register XMAS 08

MGF REGISTER

XMAS AWARDS LUNCH

Sunday 7th December 2008

A frosty morning in Market Sqaure, Abingdon	A couple of Fs at Church	Two ZRs in front of the Abingdon museum, the MG Museum is on the top floor.
Adrian's 80th in front of the museum	Snails eye view of Marc's F at Church	Non Fs at the party
Arriving at the Doghouse	The Doghouse itself	Fs and Zeds at the Dog House
Seasonal T Shirt for Mr Alexander as he consults with Mrs Alexander over the quiz.	Apollo , Nigel and the Red Devil getting the grey matter working	Peter & Caroline also contemplating
Jonathan, Joyce & Keith	Nacho from Madrid	SMS table working out the carbitagrams
Andy gives us a demonstration on how to make balloon animals	A Special Award to Emma for services to regalia	Stewart wins the first Brian Griffin Competition Trophy
Rob wins the first FasTForward Trophy	Stewart also won the Priest's Significant contribution award	The Tanswell Member of the Year was .....Keith Williams

The Register's Annual Awards Lunch took place at the Dog House Hotel, Frilford on Sunday 7th December. The day started in a slight frost at the Market Square in Abingdon where the MG museum opened early so we could get a little warm as we looked around the exhibits. Being careful not to slip on the cobbles the cars set off for the Dog House along a wintry route but were soon embraced by the warmth of the Dog House at the finish. Many were surprised by the toll bridge half way along the route and had to scrabble for the toll....a grand sum of 5p.

This year we had a couple of new innovations in the form of a continuous slide show of MGF events and also some fantastic balloon animal, flower and hat demonstrations from our own Andy Phillips. You could take part in a cluedo style murder mystery as well as the usual tricky Xmas Quiz whilst enjoying your carvery lunch all before the presentation of the awards.

The winner of the Murder hunt were the very quick team of "Bloodhounds" (Jonathan , Joyce and Keith) who were rewarded with golden reindeer.

This year's tricky quiz was won by the South Mids Sportsters table with a fantastic total of 84 points. Well done.

The Register has two perennial awards in the form of the Tanswell and Priest's Trophies. This year we added two new ones with the Brian Griffin Competition Trophy and the FasTForward Trophy as well as a selection of Chairman's Special awards.

The Brian Griffin Trophy is significant in that Brian was a leading figure in the development of the MGF and headed up the engineering side of the project. Following this he went on to manage G Sport & Racing and was responsible for the MGF team entering the Le Mans 24hrs so an award in his memory honouring the person best representing the MGF in competition is more than appropriate. This does not just mean racing but also includes anything you can do with an MGF including Pride of Ownership, Concours, Driving Test, Gymkhanas, Naviscats, Drag racing , Hill Climbs or any other form of sport. The first winner of the Trophy was Stewart Griffiths who has attempted to win just about every competition that the register has organised this year, and several that we've not including this years Britball Rally

The other new award is designed to recognise those who contribute to the Register's magazine , FasTForward, and is awarded to the person whose article (s) were voted as best for the preceding year. This year it was won by past Chairman Rob Bell who has continued to provide illuminating and well written technical articles since the inception of the magazine in 2006. He is currently in the middle of a series of articles on his current MGF rebuild, Project Shed.

We also like to recognise other people at the Chairman's discretion and these are nominated by the members, committee and regional Reps. This year we awarded three people for their special contributions to the F Register. Claud Fink for his help in the organisation of the run from the Kempenrit to Zug for the European Event ; Emma Jackman for her services to club regalia over the last two years and for being the youngest MGF Register committee member ever ! ; Rob Bell for his past Chairmanship of the Register from 2005 to 2008 and continued help on the current committee.

This year's Priest's Trophy for Significant Contribution to the Register went to Stewart Griffiths who joined at the end of 2007 to help with events and has since become fully embroiled in the MGCC scene to the extent that he as just become an MGCC Director as well as being on the MGFest08 and 09 Sub committees and the MG Live09 Sub Committee and organising our presence at the NEC Classic Motor Show.

Our winner of the Tanswell Member of the Year Trophy for 2008 was Keith Williams who has been a figure within the register for several years and is often found helping out at our events and when he's not doing that he can frequently be found trackside marshalling for MGCC race meetings. He also attends the majority of Register main events both in the UK and on the continent making him the ideal person to be our Member of the Year.