Burton upon Trent MAG.

Xmas toy run

Sunday 16th December. 2001

    Although Burton is a relatively new MAG group, they did an excellent job of organizing their first toy run.
   By ten o clock a small contingent of hardy Black Country MAG members met at the Port 'N' Ale for the 25 mile or so run up to Burton.

What a bunch of reprobates. 

We set off at a leisurely pace seeing as there was no great rush to be there - we had the best part of an hour to get there.  Just as we hit the main A38 I went to change from third to fourth gear and found the gear linkage had other ideas.  Not wanting to stop on the side of a busy dual carriageway, I called the others past and pulled off the road.  A few minutes furtive wiggling and the gear change was working again.  I really must get round to making some new guide bushes one of these days.


The Beech - Derby Road - Burton upon Trent   

  I caught up with the others at the Beech Inn with plenty of time to spare.
    What a turn out !  Considering it was bloody cold, and not the most pleasant of days, the turnout was excellent, with one brave soul travelling from Scarborough, of all places.   By half past eleven we were loaded up and ready to head for the first of three local "special schools".  The outriders did a great job of keeping the traffic at bay, though I must say most of the motorists seemed to enjoy the procession of trike riding Santas - seems Burton MAG had told the world all about the event.


Would the real Santa please stand up ?    

We offloaded the first batch of toys and spent a while doing the "Santa meets the kiddies" bit, though some of the children were a little apprehensive at seeing several Santas wandering about.
    It was just after this first stop that the gremlins struck again.  I noticed my fuel gauge was showing empty, so I pulled into a garage and filled up, thinking I would catch the "tail enders" before they got to the next stop.  Wrong - by the time I pulled out of the garage, the convoy had vanished, and I had no idea where they were heading for.  Normally, I would have headed back to Beech Inn and waited for them to return, but I happened to have a trailer load of toys behind the trike.  Ah - the good old mobile phone.  It was a pity that my phone decided to turn itself off every time an incoming call was received.  I decided to wait, hoping that someone would return to find me.  As luck had it, another biker, who happened to be a local lad, stopped and told me to follow him seeing as he knew the way to the next drop off point.

Up before the Headmaster - for all the "right" reasons.  

  The final stop was the "main" school for the toy run and the Headmaster was truly dumbstruck at the amount of gifts that ended up in his main hall.   Of course, we all dived for the mince pies and coffee, not to mention a chance to thaw out seeing as it was several degrees colder than when we first set off.
    Having fed and watered, we started off back to the Beech Inn in order to feed and water again.  Thirsty work, these toy runs.   Following a quick pint and a cheese and onion roll, myself and Nigel made short work of the journey back home.


Steve and Deb making a quick exit.    


    Well, what can I say.
    For a first attempt Burton MAG did us proud.  There were at least 75 bikes or more, which considering the time of year was brilliant.   The folks of Burton all seemed to be waving and even the car drivers were joining in the fun - which made a change from the majority of motorists we encounter on the Brum demo.  Ok - so it was cold, but we all enjoyed ourselves and some of the less fortunate children of Burton will have a better Christmas thanks to Burton MAG.............. and when all's said and done, that's as good a reason as any to hold a toy run.

Cheers.

^..^

Lone Wolf

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