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A Sunny Weekend in Guernsey Home
Last November a party of classic car enthusiasts travelled over from Guernsey to the NEC Classic Car Show. They all, enjoyed the show, stayed at the Hilton and had dinner with Sir Stirling Moss. One took back something extra. Jan Wright had seen the “Bears Dream Rides” feature and was bitten with the idea of a similar event on their Island. She discussed the organisation of such an event with Bears on the stand and even joined the club. Promises were made to provide advice and assistance in setting up the Channel Islands first “Rides” event if Jan was able to motivate enough locals to make it a reality. She did, and this is a mainlander's view of a rather special weekend this summer. With a little help from the Bears Jan and Ian held meetings with Islanders and managed to gather a nucleus of helpers and car owners to make the event possible. They secured exclusive use of one of the major piers in St Peter Port harbour for the Sunday. The group in Guernsey also negotiated with Condor Ferries to bring some Bears and their cars over from the Mainland free of charge, and for accommodation, at a discount rate at a local hotel. And so it began. Poole Condor Ferry Port was the assembly point for the 4 cars and their Bears in time to catch the afternoon ferry. Paul and Barbara Lacey in their new White Mamba, and Don and Boo, in the Cobra, arrived having braved the heavy rain. Steve and Jane Chant enjoyed an uneventful run down from Birmingham. Mick and Diane Bryan had taken the easy way out and dawdled down to Poole the previous day, stayed overnight at a local lodge, and thus had travelled all of ½ a mile to the port that day. Mind you they had time to call in at the local Asda to check for bargains. Would you believe wet suits for sale Adults £29 and children's £23. Ever careful not to set the wrong tone for the ferry they resisted the urge to purchase these amazing offers. The ferry crossing was uneventful. With the Condor Sea Cat moving at around 50 MPH it took just 2.5 hours to reach our destination. All the Bears spent most of the time outside. Paul kept walking to the side where all the spray was and then returning like an ancient mariner covered in seawater. Whilst others just looked around Boo chose to spend her time doing deep breathing exercises and Jane made a close examination of the deck her task for the voyage.
	On arrival the party was met by Jan who led the convoy of cars to the Hotel Hougue du Pommier a very pleasant country style hotel. With rooms allocated the party settled in before meeting with Jan, for a meal in the bar, and a briefing on the weekend activities.
Saturday dawned bright and sunny and we made our way to a local park where the Dream Rides cars were part of a display at the local Donkey Derby event. Whilst most attention was centred on the donkeys and their races a good number of people spent time looking at the cars and being advised about the following days activities at the harbour. Around £80 were raised selling raffle tickets for a Dream Ride the following day. At the end of the racing, and armed with instructions for the following day, the Bears returned to the hotel. Some of the party succumbed to Mick's suggestion that they should dine out that night. He promised a sumptuous gourmet meal, served in the finest way, and at a restaurant setting which offered unrivalled views. They found themselves eating fish and chips out of paper on the sea wall at Cobo Bay. Mind you it was a good sunset and the walk back to the hotel very pleasant.
The weather on Sunday was beautiful. A short run down to the Albert Pier found the area already set out with many of the helpers having been there from 8 am. Much of the advice had been carefully applied and the organisation of Jan and Ian etc was first class. The local radio station “Island FM” had brought their bus along to provide a PA facility Mobile office cabins provided accommodation for the necessary admin. Jane, Steve and Boo helped cope with the first hour of madness that always starts any ride's event. Within a short time calmness returned and procedures set up and running. With Ali & Rose sitting at the booking desk, outside in the sun, they soon had a steady stream of eager passengers.
With 29 cars turning up to offer Rides, they made an amazing sight on the pier, presenting both a visual attraction to passers by and a dilemma for those wishing to choose a ride. With a mixture of modern TVRs, Paul's White Mamba, T series MGs, Fiat Beach Car with wicker seats, Humber Staff car, Porsches, Cobra, a Herbie Beetle etc. there was something for everyone. The Guernsey Bears even managed to take the title of having the oldest car ever to do Dream Rides when the 1901 Du Dion Bouton took part. This was not however their greatest capture. That title must go to the Daimler State limousine, the official transport of the Islands Lt Governor. As the Queen's representative he enjoys the rare privilege of being driven in a car with no numberplates. He agreed to John, his chauffeur, bringing the car along for the day. John matched the car for star value and did 10 rides. The most notable was with 3 members of the local Harley Davidson Owners club in full leathers. Bet they never see that in Guernsey again. The day went well. The local organisation and support aided a little by the Bears from the mainland gave everyone a great day, which was roundly voted a success with several requests for a repeat performance. With a provisional figure for donations of around £1,800 local bears justifiably felt that they had done the Rides concept proud. At the hotel that night there was a celebration dinner when both mainland and Island Bears saluted what was hoped was the first of many such events. And so to Monday, with those returning to the mainland reporting to the port for the ferry crossing. Unfortunately the Condor Cat had developed engine trouble loosing two of the four engines. Not only did this mean that the departure was delayed by 2 hours but the crossing time stretching to 4 hours for the return trip. The one good factor was the sea was very calm. Once again Boo and Jane took deep breaths and bravely thought of England. With arrival back in Poole being some 4 hours later than planned the journey home and eventual arrival there made for a long day. What are the conclusions and memories from this weekend. Well the Bears on Guernsey, Jan, Ian and Co can feel very proud of their first activity. They now have the knowledge and experience to develop the rides even further and raise significant amounts of money for local children's charities. Everyone helped prove that it is possible to run Dream Rides on an Island where the roads are narrow and the overall speed limit is 35 mph. I am sure that next time even more locals will bring cars and the reputation of Sporting Bears Dream Rides will continue to grow in Guernsey. Jane has now declared that she will only help with Dream Rides at the NEC if she can have a giant backdrop of the boats in the harbour, like she had in Guernsey, to look at instead of the exhibition hall walls.

	And finally I can not help wondering about the reaction of the owner of the luxury yacht moored by the Albert Pier. He complained during the day about the noise made by the Music and PA announcements during the Dream Rides. He was somewhat aggressive in his complaints and only partially ameliorated when told that we would be stopping our activity around 5.30. What he didn't know, and we forgot to tell him, was that shortly after we had finished, the local Boys Brigade band was due to give a marching display on the pier. I bet he really enjoyed that!!!