Thirlestane Dream Rides 2009

The Sporting Bears were invited back to this event by the Borders Vintage Automobile Club for the fourth year. We now have a good working relationship with them and each year the Rides get better. After last year's disappointing showing – caused by rain on the day – this year was much different. Apart from slight rain in the morning the day was fine and sunny, resulting in a great day for the Bears.
 

As usual we had set up on the Saturday afternoon before the show. This year's innovation was a garage layout from Mike Webber with numbered pegs for the cars. This greatly improved the discipline in the garage and was appreciated by the drivers. We had our usual pitch in front of the Castle. This year we were alongside the Ferrari club display. Someone commented that we had a more interesting selection of cars than them. We had 4 Ferraris; a 599, a 360 Challenge Stradale, a 250 GT SWB Berlinetta and a replica Dino as well as a Porsche 996 GT3, Lamborghini Countach, Lotus Esprit Twin Turbo, Dodge Viper, Cobra AK 427, Aston Martin DB7 Volante, AC Ace Superblower, Lotus Elise, Morgan series II 4/4, Morgan 4/4, TVR S3C, TVR 400, Porsche Spyder replica, Nissan GT-R and last but not least the microcars – a Scootacar, a Heinkel and a Messerschmitt. Members driving on the day were Andrew Carrie, Graham Chappell, Hamish Cubitt, George Dodds, Jeff Ferris, Julian Foster, Martin Kent, Brian Kirkness, James McChlery, Gerry Mulligan, Tony Regan, Phil Roberts, Bob Selby, and Mike Webber.

At the morning briefing the charity representatives spoke to the drivers. Sue McLean, whose son Roddy had benefited from the work of SACHD (Scottish Association for Children with Heart Disorders), thanked the drivers first, followed by Fiona Anderson of the Clowndoctors. Fiona brought along some red noses which raised a smile. After the event several drivers said that they had particularly appreciated the appearance of the charity representatives. We had also set up a display stand with charities' information and club literature. Roddy took part in the Dream Rides ring parade in the Scootacar and later during the day had rides in a TVR and the Spyder. We got a nice message from his Mum the next day saying how much they had enjoyed themselves.

As well as the Rides we were also running our Cool Wall again. It was manned by Martin and James, then Dick and Pat and finally Lorna and raised £150 on the day. Martin and James are both members of the Independent Porsche Club, but due to the last minute substitution of an Ultima by a Porsche there was no Porsche on the Cool Wall which prevented them from biasing the result. However, the result was a walkover with the Ferrari 360 getting twice the votes of any other car. Anyone not taking a ride or buying a vote on the Cool Wall still had to get past Sheila with her collecting bucket.

The Garage was ably run by Brian Kirkness with assistance from Andrew, Mike D and John. Thanks are also due to BVAC, especially Murray the Marshal and his band who made getting in and out of the Castle easy for the Dream Ride drivers.

The drivers were looked after by Mary-Jane, Angela, Megan and David who provided vital refreshments. The rest of the hard working helper Bears were also catered for, if they could find time for a break. Fiona rushed around co-ordinating everything and the team on the booking desk, Helen W, Helen K, Iris, Wendy and Alison kept the drivers busy with passengers.
 

The result was very satisfying. We provided 90 Dream Rides raising a total of £2095 – most of it gift aided. The Cool Wall and other collections raised another £187. The drivers had great fun and their passengers had their Dream Ride memories to take home. One happy passenger managed to take 5 Dream Rides during the afternoon. The general response? “Let's do it again!”