FROM YOUR EDITOR

Thanks to Tony and Iris Woods, Dick and Pat Nortcliffe and Bill and Karen Niven whose donations, along with Sheila Dodd’s £3 refund, mean we can buy 100 stamps, two black and a colour cartridge - so we’ll be OK for another couple of issues. We also need a sponsor (£25) for the club stand at Selkirk - so, if you’re feeling generous, please contact Fiona. Many thanks to Jim and Alyson for some photos from the Isle of Man and to Nigel Atkins for some copy.

--- Helen

PRESENTATION TO ZOE'S PLACE

Brian Short presents a cheque for £500 from the SBMC charity fund to Mark Guidery, General Manager of Zoe's Place.  Brian says "When I went to see him I took my every-day car as I felt it might be inappropriate to turn up to such a place in a 'flashy style'. I am glad I did as he apologised for not being able to show me a round, as in his words ' It is one of those sad days', which brings it home to you just how important these places are! He was however very interested in what we do and asked if sometime in the future some of us could visit again and bring our sports cars? He said that some of the young boys would love to see them. Perhaps we could do that, possibly with a further cheque in the future?"

BEARS LUNCH

Thirty or so Polars turned out to the Otterburn Tower Hotel (joined by Sonia and Hugh Jackson from the Midlands) to partake of a lovely lunch, admire the cars outside and the new flag that Fiona has persuaded out of the committee. After lunch we had the usual raffle and it was Bob and Ann Selby’s turn to win about six prizes - but they were kind and put most of them back! Fiona managed to work it so every couple got a prize and there were so many prizes that several couples went home with one each. £160 was raised and added to Nimal’s £25 donation - so that was a good result. Thanks to everyone for their generosity.
	Then we settled down to the meeting - we are putting on a stand at the Knockhill Motorfair on May 12th and 13th to promote the SBMC and the Dream Rides at Thirlestane. Fiona has 3 cars and 6 people for the Sunday but needs another car for the Saturday. (Post-meeting Note: Martin Whitelaw has since kindly volunteered his Porsche.) If anyone more local can help out, it would save Jeff and Mary-Jane Ferris coming from Coldingham.  Dream Rides at Thirlestane has 25 cars and a good range - including Ferraris - plus Nigel’s lovely vintage Bentley! Fiona also wants to put on an ordinary stand for promotion of the SBMC. Some people felt we might be stretched a bit too thin but it was decided to ‘try it and see’ as we’ll only need two people at a time to man that stand and somewhere safe to leave belongings etc. would be useful. It was decided a sub-committee would be sensible to organise Thirlestane and decide a suitable pricing strategy. Dilston show on July 1st is a promotional, selling bears and social event. We can have a maximum of 12 cars and George has organised the meal afterwards at a place only 3-4 minutes away.
Knockhill Speedfair Classic on July 22nd is a promotional, fund raising and social event for max 10 cars - you’ll get free entry to the show, which is worth £15! Selkirk Show on Sept 16th - we are looking for a donation to cover the cost of the £25 stand. It was felt it might be better to sell bears in a more "low key" manner while still involving members. Highland Fling Tour 33 folk booked - 2 doubles and 2 singles are left.
Charities to be supported - we agreed that REACT would benefit from Thirlestane, funds from Dilston would go to Mencap (recently approved by the committee), the money from raffles and Knockhill would be for St Oswald’s Hospice, Selkirk would support SACHD and the Highland Fling money would be for CHAS. The committee has made £500 available and it was decided that should go to Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice at Middlesborough, which Brian Short had recommended. Since the club no longer has a publicity officer, Mike Norton has improved and updated the web-site so people can access more information. Fiona has A5 fliers to distribute but there are some problems getting regalia at the moment. There was some discussion about getting a new patron for the SBMC and who might be suitable. Next Bears lunches - Auchen Castle, May 20th and Otterburn Tower, September 2nd.

MOTOR NEWS

Brian Short has got himself a 4 year old Porsche Boxster in navy blue - not the sports model - but still very smart, with only 21,000 on the clock. I have to say these Boxsters are incredibly wide across the beam (below), but the dark blue is quite slimming! Angela Kent now has a Maserati.

BEARS ON THE ISLEOF MAN

TV stars??? Bears make plans for next series of Location, Location!

WELCOME

New members James McChlery of Edinburgh, Graham Chappell from Arran and Mike McCormick from Stirling joined this month - thanks to James for the donation. Both James and Graham have offered to do Dream Rides at Thirlestane.

ON THE MOVE

Jim Rodgers, who was one of our most southerly Polar Bears has moved from Lincolnshire to Elgin in Morayshire. He's now one of our most northerly Polars! Hope to see you soon.

CELEBRATIONS

In March, Gerry Mulligan hit 45 and Pat Nortcliffe celebrated her recent birthday with a week in Rome - so it must have been a significant one! Cathy Catchpole, Lee Innes and Ann Selby were also birthday girls and the April birthdays are Ian Lumsden, Iris Woods and Martin Whitelaw.

BEARS’ MEMBER AND SPONSOR GLENN MORRIS DOES IT AGAIN

By winning double Gold at the SIBA National Beer Competition 2007. This time it was Gold for Beijing Black in the Milds category and Gold for Crazy Daze in the Strong Ale category also taking it to Bronze Overall Champion.

PISTONHEADS

Want to find out what is going on in the motor world? Why not register with the Pistonheads website. Nigel (aka Sporting Bear) and now Fiona (aka Mummy Polar Bear) can be found taking part in the Gassing Station pages of the Pistonheads website. This has proved helpful in finding cars and drivers for Dream Rides.