ThamesMog
Secretary's Report December 2004

Well we are now in December, so I would like to wish all the readers of this Centre report a very happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year with above all good health! To celebrate we have a Christmas lunch at the Hampden Arms with Anita Pullen and I shall be running our Christmas Dinner at the Phoenix. These events are very special and set us up well for the festive season. They will be on our normal noggin days for these venues. Please contact Anita or myself if you want to go depending on which event you fancy, we will tell you if there are any places left at this late stage, of course you can be like me and go to both! I look forward to seeing you all there.

Our Annual Centre Dinner went very well; I would like to thank Pam and Mike Aldrich for a lovely evening. At the dinner, I took the opportunity to announce the grand total for our scenic run for cancer charities that we held last summer. The funds raised will go to Marie Curie, a fine organisation that I am very proud that as a Centre we are supporting. Marie Curie funds much needed research while also providing care for sufferers. The scenic run was organised by Viv and Tony Hempel, providing a wonderful day that was also one of remembrance for our lost love ones and friends. For me it was a very special day and one I shall always remember. I thank you Viv and Tony so very much. To make the memory of this day really special, I am very pleased to be able to tell you that we have raised a grand total of £1020. A great achievement, I would like to thank everyone that took part and supported this event. I hope this is something we can do again in the near future. Thank you all very much!

Don’t forget on January 1^st we shall be visiting the Phoenix Pub for the lunch time classic car meeting. Please contact Andy Low if you would like to learn how to get the best out of this event. However, as a treat for the Christmas and New Year period we also have two rather exciting walks with Sexmog and Hopmog on the beautiful South Downs.

A Walk from Devil’s Dyke 

Sunday 5^th December 2005

We shall meet at the car park for the Devil’s Dyke Inn at 10.30 am. Last time we did this walk we headed west, this time I plan to take us into the Devil’s Dyke itself – a very spectacular walk I can tell you. We plan to be back by 13:00 for a noggin at the Devil’s Dyke Inn, if you just want to join us for lunch. The views from the Inn are quite stunning and worth the trip alone. Devil’s Dyke is near Brighton, take the A23 and join the A27 heading towards Worthing then take the first immediate exit for Devil’s Dyke. It should be a really fantastic walk. I hope to see you there.

A Walk from the Long Man at Wilmington

Saturday 1^st January 2005

Our first walk of 2005 is another magnificent one! Wilmington is a few hundred yards south of the A27 a few miles west of Polegate. We shall meet at the free car park for the Long Man. The car park at Wilmington can be found as follows – turn off the A27 into the “Street” at Wilmington, pass the “Giant’s Rest” pub on right. Keep on through village for about half a mile. When the “Long Man” comes into view, the free public car park is on the right. Leave no valuables in car. We shall meet at this car park at 10:30 am. I shall then take you up to see the Long Man of Wilmington. For those that feel able we can also climb to the top to enjoy the fine views across the South Downs. We plan to be back in time to go to the Golden Galleon, Exceat near Seaford by 12 noon for lunch. For those that just wish to join us for lunch the Golden Galleon is on the A259 a few miles east of Seaford, west of Eastbourne, where the road crosses the river Cuckmere by way of a very narrow bridge. It has a large car park. In the afternoon, for anyone that has time, I can take you from the Galleon car park to my favourite beach in the Seven Sisters National Park, for a real New Years’ Day delight! I hope to see you there.

Thames Valley Centre Newsletter

July 2003 – December 2004  

As far as our walks go the above should provide a really a great end to 2004 and a tremendous start to 2005! While thinking about 2005 I would like to reflect on the fact that I find it just amazing to think that it has been eighteen months since the re-launch of the Thames Valley Centre Newsletter. During those months our team has grown quite considerably and there’s no doubt about it, it is thanks to the Editorial team that our newsletter has gone from strength to strength. I would like to thank: Gerry Burkitt for his tireless efforts in getting the newsletter to look right and his attempts at finding all my typos! Gerry has found that it is the pub that is the best place to look for them; Ann and Dave Vodden for the Quiz and our links to the World Wide Web; Helen Thorne for being our competition and foreign correspondent; Stu Ross for his letters from America; not forgetting our current regalia officer Geoff Giles; and of course Mike Aldrich, that as our treasurer makes sure we tread the financial straight and narrow!

Well have I forgotten anyone? It is true to say that one reason we had a gap in producing our newsletter is that we were experiencing technical difficulties in achieving reproducible results in reasonable timescales. However, what we really needed were some reports on our many Centre activities. So yes there is one more person I need to thank in a big way and that individual is Heidi Miller. Heidi’s first report eighteen months ago covered her experiences of MOG 2003. And an interesting report it was too. As a consequence with this report and subsequent ones, Heidi’s has helped us a great deal to bring our newsletter back into monthly production. Happily, from that time Heidi has been my roving reporter producing great material on a very regular basis. Therefore, to end my Centre reports for 2004, I would like to personally thank you Heidi for all your hard work for the Newsletter and of course for the Centre. I wish you Heidi a very Merry Christmas and the best that 2005 can bring you!