Thames Bridges & Tunnels Charity Road Run - 7th September

[Softly~Softly]

Have to say a MASSIVE thank you to Adrian for agreeing to pick up Jane my navigator/friend who is over from Malta, and who is insanely excited about the whole run

My email has not come

Hmm, I think the pleasure may be mine

Lol Have you been looking at my FB

[spuddy333]

just joined the mg reg and All signed up, haven't done this before so really looking forward to it.

[adrianclifford]

Look forward to meeting you too, I think we'll all meet new people next Saturday.

Please say hello when you arrive so I know who's who .

[Keith Williams]

Registration for this event closes tomorrow - Sunday 1st September.

Only pre-booked car can join in the run on the night.

This is a free event but we would suggest you donate a minimum of £10 per car to our Macmillan Cancer Support Charity.

Please make your donation direct to the charity via our Just Giving Web page. Macmillan Cancer Support

Using our Just Giving page, will allow your donation, to benefit with Gift Aid if you are liable for UK tax, at no extra cost to yourself. Any collections made on the night, will not be able to have the added advantage of Gift Aid, so in effect the charity looses from a cash donation and we can't claim so much from the tax man.

[Dave_T]

Entry is now closed.

We managed to complete a full practice run from start to finish on Sunday evening, it's looking very good

Sign on is from 16:30 onwards, with a drivers briefing around 18:30. Departures will start 7pm and be staggered.
This gives plenty of time for all to eat & socialise before the "off"
Also we don't want to get to Dartford before 22:00 as that is when the tolls are lifted

Adrian will be going on ahead to make sure that there aren't any problems with the route.
I will be leaving last so I can pick up any stragglers along the route

Don't forget to bring a torch with you to aid reading of the route book and if you have a sat nav having it on map view will also be a big help.

Look forward to seeing you all there!

[Softly~Softly]

ooooooooooh not long now

[adrianclifford]

We've got around 65 cars registered including one from Norway and the MacMillan Midget driven by Darren & Liz Allsworth A good selection of MG types too, the rally plaques have been delivered, we have finished the roadbook, it's at the printers so were ready to go, see you all at the start. Don't forget to arrive hungry the food and coffee is surprisingly good and please don't all arrive at the last minute you'll have plenty to talk about, meeting new friends (there are many on the list I don't know and I want to meet) and you will want time to read and study the roadbook, you will not want to pick this up and look at it when you start navigating.

[Dave_T]

Just had an email from Canary Wharf, a very small part of our route is going to be closed for re-surfacing.
We have a backup plan but this would have to happen after the route books have been printed!
We will have to produce a small supplement & get you to amazed the mileage at the drivers briefing

Oh the joy of planning

[adrianclifford]

As I said, London can change by the hour .

As Dave has outlined you will still receive your roadbook when you arrive, at the start of the drivers/navigators briefing we will give you the amendment to put in at the right place and I'll go through it with you. You will not miss out on anything, in fact you will see a little more as part of the extra 1.4 miles is a regular on the London marathon route. The downside of this will be a cumulative mileage variation that we cannot alter so you will need to use the stage mileage and add it to your last point, it's easy enough as those of you that have used tulip diagrams before will know so don't forget a pen.

In addition we also have a number of items we will raffle for MacMillan so please buy a strip of raffle tickets, The highlight is a MGCC Benji signed by Jason Plato himself and don't forget we have a selection of lovely knitted wooly hats although it looks like the weather gods are due to be kind to us, 18 deg and cloud with sunny intervals

See you there tomorrow evening and please come hungry.

[Tibs]

Really looking fwd to this run

[adrianclifford]

Aargh...................with 48 hours to go we have to re-route Canary Wharf, then with 25 hours to go the M25 is closed in both directions at the Dartford Crossing, you may have seen this on the TV last night, 13 miles of stationary traffic but this morning it's finally re-opened.

I only hope it all goes to plan tonight, for this I will go first with Anglia Centre members at strategic intervals throughout the cars. If necessary I will stop at any problem areas and re-direct you around it back on to the route. We hope to welcome you all at the Lakeside Services that way we know you have all made it safely to the end. Dave will run as last car to make sure nobody has any problems and you feel alone.

[colintf]

Aargh...................with 48 hours to go we have to re-route Canary Wharf, then with 25 hours to go the M25 is closed in both directions at the Dartford Crossing, you may have seen this on the TV last night, 13 miles of stationary traffic but this morning it's finally re-opened.

I only hope it all goes to plan tonight, for this I will go first with Anglia Centre members at strategic intervals throughout the cars. If necessary I will stop at any problem areas and re-direct you around it back on to the route. We hope to welcome you all at the Lakeside Services that way we know you have all made it safely to the end. Dave will run as last car to make sure nobody has any problems and you feel alone.

I am sure that you and Dave have everything covered Adrian
Have a great one

[Dave_T]

Aargh...................with 48 hours to go we have to re-route Canary Wharf

It always happens!
Up 'til 2:30 this morning cutting & sticking the amendment into the route book

Good news is the diversion only puts 1 mile on the distance

[Dave_T]

Great night!

Thanks to all that came along & took part in the Thames Bridges & Tunnels 2013.
We have raised a great amount for Macmillan cancer support
(Further details to follow)

We also have 2 unclaimed prizes from the raffle, the winning tickets were 704 & 818.
Please check your tickets as You will need the original ticket to claim, & the prize will need to be collected from Essex.

2015???

[adrianclifford]

It's over for another year and it all went well on the night, thanks greatly to the efforts of Dave, Rhona, Michael, Steve, Bill and Andy with the preparation and presentation. Thanks must go also to Tim and Paul for helping marshall the 62 cars at the start.

Even with just 25 hours to go we had a potential problem as you may have seen on the TV, the whole of the Dartford Crossing was closed in both directions for a security alert. Vehicles were trapped for up to 9 hours on the bridge.

Then on the afternoon itself we were already aware of a march by the English Defence League in East London, it was proved to be true that it did not affect the event but it made it difficult and time consuming for cars getting to the start from the east.

We delayed the start by a little due to late arrivals but this proved no real problem as the run went well, no traffic to report and all roads were open as planned. I'm pleased to report that many cars took advantage of the toilet and drinks stop in Canary Wharf allowing them all time to rest, talk and be at the Dartford Crossing after 22.00 to get the free crossings.

It was also very encouraging to see so many cars make it to Lakeside Services were the event finished.

There were three awards on the night where a framed certificate was awarded, they were :

Furthest travelled : Steinar Braaten from Norway in his MGB.
Best presented car : Linda Stock in her silver TF160.
Car of the night : Liz and Darren Allsworth in the MGCC/MacMillan Midget.

Of course many cars made navigational mistakes (you will not get a harder roadrun than London at night) but many actually backtracked to where they went wrong so as not to miss a mile, that was impressive, well done.

Well done to all you and a BIG thank you to everybody who made the journey, some driving from the Midlands, Lincolnshire, Lancashire and the south coast, without you the event would not mean a thing and the charity would not gain.

We made new friends, met new people and I hope it proved the value of being members of a great club.

[colintf]

Well done guys, sounds like another great event

[Softly~Softly]

Massive thank you to Adrian, Tim, Dave and all the organisers, what a brilliant day/night, lovely people and fabulous cars, so much effort put in by the lads in the organisation, I doff my hat to you Sir's

[garytipping]

Just like to add my thanks to all concerned. A great route and a chance to see some of the most iconic sights in London from an open car.

Looking forward to the next one!!

Thanks

Gary

[adrianclifford]

Just like to add my thanks to all concerned. A great route and a chance to see some of the most iconic sights in London from an open car.

Looking forward to the next one!!

Thanks

Gary

WHAT !!!!

I hope you're volunteering then Gary, well done

[tail-end-char-lee]

Hi all
Just to say thank you to all that organised this run. We appreciate you all waiting for us at the end. I guess we were the last to finish. .... funny ive been known as tail end charlee before.
Regards
Jonathan & Joyce