ThamesMog

February 2012

First off, I would like to make an important amendment to last month’s Centre report. Please note that the AGM will now be held on Saturday evening March 3^rd at the Bird In Hand, Knowl Hill at 19:30 for 20:00. I hope this change will not inconvenience anyone. I am pleased to be able to announce that Michele Bailey, the Vice Chair of the Morgan Sports Car Club, will be joining us at the AGM where she will give us an address on life with a Morgan from her view point. We are honoured Michele that you have accepted our invitation and I look forward to meeting you during the evening. I would like to thank Ann Miller for contacting Michele to facilitate her attendance. A buffet will be available after the AGM so please book with Mike Aldrich if you would like to partake. I would like to thank Mike for arranging the food – our recent Christmas dinner at the Bird In Hand was exquisite. I look forward to seeing you at our AGM – I hope you can join us. 

While remembering our Christmas dinner at the Bird In Hand, I would like to confirm the winners of our Centre trophies. It is always a pleasure and an honour to award our trophies at this event and this year I had the assistance of two lovely ladies: Natasha Franz of the Bird In Hand and our very own Sue Giles - thank you both very much indeed for making the presentations. To recap we have five trophies: the F. H. Douglass Trophy for the owner who has covered the most miles in their Morgan during the year; the Richard Thorne Charity Trophy for a member’s contribution to raising money for charity associated with the use of their Morgan; the Thames Valley Trophy (35^th anniversary car badge number 001 mounted on an ash plinth) to celebrate its sponsored charity journey along the River Thames and awarded to a member who has attended the most noggins in their Morgan over the year; the SGT Trophy awarded to the member who has exhibited the best traditions of Morgan ownership and its furtherance in true club spirit; and last but not least the late Glenn Davies Trophy awarded to the member who wins the annual boules competition held somewhere in the world usually on a nice beach. These trophies are very important to us representing as they do the emphasis and ethos of the Centre: comradeship in owning a Morgan, the use of a Morgan while helping others and in remembering those friends we have sadly lost. I hope this philosophy in the Centre will continue for a long time to come. 

And on to the winners: the F. H. Douglass trophy was won by Ian Morgan who covered over 20,000 miles in his Morgan last year – well done Ian; the Richard Thorne Charity Trophy was awarded to Ian Young for his involvement in the Bracknell Charity Classic Car show in aid of the children’s charity Sebastian’s Action Trust – good for you Ian; the Thames Valley Trophy for attending seventy five percent of noggins in his Morgan goes to Christopher Nickless – quite an achievement Christopher; the SGT Trophy was won by our courageous feature writer for our monthly newsletter Thames Valley Centre Today Steve Bridge – well deserved Steve; and the late Glenn Davies Trophy was won by the other Mike Smith - the one who is now the proud owner of Bill Smallwood’s old four/four four seater and lives somewhere down south of the Thames Valley – talent always wins through Mike. Congratulations to all our winners it was an honour to award the trophies and I hope you will be equally thrilled to receive them. As we are now well into 2012 please don’t forget to turn up to our noggins in your Morgan sports cars and get some miles on them and compete for our trophies. I wish you all the best for 2012.

Take care, see you all soon