ThamesMog
Secretary's Report March 2007

Over Christmas we had the pleasure of awarding our three Centre trophies: the mileage challenge sponsored by F.H Douglass; the SGT trophy for a person or persons that have best represented the true spirit of owning a Morgan, voted for by Centre members; and the Richard Thorne Charity Trophy for the most monies raised during our annual charity event. These annual awards are very important to us, as they reflect very much the character of the Centre: keen to be out enjoying our Morgans; supportive of the camaraderie of owning a Morgan; and while we are having a special time, wanting to do some good for others. I hope this ethos will continue for a long time to come.

The mileage challenge was enthusiastically contested, with an average mileage covered in the Centre for 2006 of just less than six thousand miles – quite an achievement. However, the winner, in a Zetec 4/4 was Brian Miller. During 2006 Brian covered almost eight thousand miles – congratulations! Please send me your entries for this year as soon as you can. All I need is your current mileage so the sooner you give me your odometer reading the better. Good luck!

The SGT trophy for 2006 was won by Ann, Brian and Heidi Miller and well deserved too! Congratulations! The Miller family represent truly all that is good in running and owning a Morgan and the fellowship that it attracts. Well done!

Last year our charity efforts went to the Anthony Nolan Trust and through the superb twenty-four hour River Thames Charity event £850 was raised. A fantastic achievement, one I think all that were involved should be very proud. The Anthony Nolan Trust was so pleased with our donation that they have agreed to come and visit us at our Hampden Arms noggin in April. Andy Doughty has organised this visit along with the handing over of the monies to the Trust. Please contact Andy (details below) if you would like to come as we would like to judge numbers. Anthony Nolan Trust will be giving us a brief talk about their work which I believe will be very interesting indeed. I hope you can come.

We had two people that had raised the most monies during our charity event last year: Keith Wait and Helen Prior each raised £130. So we had the great pleasure of awarding the Richard Thorne Trophy jointly to Keith and Helen – well done to you both and thank you very much! As winners they both have the right to nominate our charity for 2007. Helen, Ann and Brian Miller’s eldest daughter, would like us to support Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and Keith would like us to possibly support a children’s hospice – details to follow. I am proud that we will be raising money for these wonderful causes; to this end we shall be running a special treasure hunt in September. I hope you will be able to take part – please watch this space.

Don’t forget Robin Henderson is pulling together our plans for a return trip to Ireland for late June to early July this year. We hope to start making booking arrangements very soon. Please have a chat with either Robin or myself if you are interested in this trip. We hope to be based in Cong, County Mayo with plenty of beautiful places to visit in and around the area. I hope you will be able to join us. All Centres are welcome. Our planned dates are approximate at the moment and are to be confirmed. Robin can give you an update if you get in touch with him.

As a season opener we shall be going back to the wonderful setting of Keswick in the Lake District for the Easter weekend. Please contact me if you would like to come – it should be a great trip. All Centres are welcome.

If you are not able to join us in the Lakes this Easter then you may like to go along with Bert Oslar to the Woodley Classic Show on Saturday 7th April, run by the Hants and Berks Motor Club Ltd. Please contact Bert if you are interested. Bert can also give you details on the Early Bird Classic tour being held on 6th May, run by the same club. Our invitations have been received through Bert. These are two very good events – please support them with Bert if you can.

Graham and Jacqueline Heather have informed us about some interesting European retro style car shows. They have found reasonably priced inclusive tours that run through 2007. Please contact Graham and Jacqueline if you would like further details. They can be contacted on the following email address: jacquelineheather@yahoo.com. As soon as we have some firm dates and venues we shall let you know – Paris in the spring would be nice.

On Saturday 3rd March, we have been challenged to a Beer and Skittles evening by the Marcos club. Please contact me if you would like to take part. The match will be held at the Seven Stars, Knowl Hill – it should be a great evening. Clearly every Morgan owner will be expected to their duty – ensuring victory.

As you know Sandra Stuart and David Smith are running the gymkhana for MOG 007, to be held at Goodwood on Sunday 12th August. The plans for the event are well underway but we are looking for volunteers to act as marshals for the gymkhana. If you would like to get involved please contact Gerry Burkitt. Gerry is coordinating the time slots for the marshals during the day.

Please note that for this month only, we have changed the noggin date for the Hampden Arms to avoid a clash with Mother’s Day. The Hampden Arms noggin for March will be on Sunday 11th. I hope this change will not inconvenience anyone - next month we shall return to the normal third Sunday noggin day.

With our MOG 007 gymkhana commitments our normal fourth Sunday walks in the Chilterns has been postponed. However, we still have the opportunity for some fresh air with a continuation of a series of Tri-centre walks with Brighton Centre, Hopmog and ourselves, the first of these takes us to the Surrey village of Dunsfold. See our events page for more details.

Take care & see you all soon