POLAR NEWS NOVEMBER 2006

FROM YOUR EDITOR

A bumper pre-Christmas edition and your next Polar News will be in January when I’ll be asking for sponsors again. Please give what you can to keep your Polar News coming through your letterbox - £11.50 buys enough stamps for one edition and £23 buys 100 stamps, £15 for a black cartridge and £25 for a colour one. We’re OK for paper and envelopes at the moment - but a source of A5 envelopes would be nice. Any contributions welcome! Many thanks to new member Bernie Walker for some photos of the Sporting Bears trip to Le Mans in July and also to Fiona for her info on the Highland Fling. I’ve also added a topical motoring moan in the hope of provoking some copy! --- Helen

WELCOME

Welcome to new members Kevin and Sandy Talbot and Archie and Liz Russell, all from Preston and Harvey and Wendy Cooke from Edinburgh.

HIGHLAND FLING 1

I would like to thank all 22 participants who took part in our first Highland Fling Tour for their enthusiasm and support throughout the entire long weekend. The warmth of our welcome to non-Bears has resulted in 3 of the couples attending deciding to join the Club. A total of £950 was raised – which far exceeded my expectations. Kevin Talbot (below), one of the new members, very kindly donated £50 to make the sum up to £1,000 - fantastic! You were all very generous with your cash and your time on Sunday when it came to meeting the public at the Falls of Shin. For me the highlight of the weekend was the Gala Dinner on the Saturday evening which was indeed a glittering affair. Everyone entered into the spirit of the "country house weekend". As Karen remarked to me "Don’t we all scrub up well!" A fun time – which may be repeated. Watch this space. Fiona Davies

Many thanks to those of you who have emailed me photos of the Highland Fling (like Harvey's photo from the top of Cairngorm below). Mike has produced a souvenir photo CD of the Tour which all the participants should have by now.Fiona

PRESENTATION


George and Sheila Dodds and Ken Tully presented a cheque for £500 to Steph Powton of their local St. Oswald’s Hospice towards the Jigsaw Appeal to build a respite facility for North East children with life limiting conditions.

CELEBRATIONS

Vanda Lumsden and Bernie Walker have a birthday in November and the three December birthday boys are Philip Anderson, Pete Catchpole and Keith Davison, who hits the big 'six O'!

HIGHLAND FLING 2


 


 
 


 

I think we would all like to thank Mike and Fiona for organising such an excellent weekend and Brian and myself had a very enjoyable time - apart from being in a car with no roof and no room, which meant using the matching luggage set - lots of Sainsbury’s bags! On the Friday, we had a blast up the A9, through the rain and made it to Coul House Hotel in time for the absolutely delicious scones and a chat with everyone. A quick look round the cars (2 MGAs, 4 MGBs (one on its maiden trip after a rebuild), a V8, a Scimitar, 2 Mercs and a Porsche) followed by a bath, change of clothes, down to a superb dinner and then off early to bed.

John and Lorna McGregor

Saturday was sunny with showers and involved a run to Moray Motor museum at Elgin, lunch stop at Brodie Countryfayre, guided tour of Brodie Castle and then a run through Culloden and round the Black Isle before getting ready for the Champagne Reception and Gala Dinner. Everybody had glammed up with the ladies in their ‘posh frocks’ and the gents in kilts or black tie - with a prize for the best dressed gent. This was won by John McGregor in his immaculate dinner jacket (with hand-tied bow tie no less) and it was good to see Lorna looking so well. After the gourmet dinner, there was the raffle - with just about every couple getting a prize and the great sum of £170 was raised for CHAS. Pat Nortcliffe with Harriet and Harry from Harrods

 

Sunday was also sunny with the odd shower and we had a run to Dornoch for a coffee stop at Luigi’s, then off to the Falls of Shin for lunch at the ‘Harrods of the North’ where we lined up our cars (with a couple of other MGs from the car park!) and did a spot of fund raising. The public were extremely generous and we collected £155 - plus a bottle of Malt Whisky and a Harrods Bear which were donated by Tim Kent, the Manager of Falls of Shin Visitor Centre. Our Sunday afternoon was a run to Ullapool in glorious sunshine and through breath-taking scenery and then back to the hotel for another scrumptious dinner. George Dodds then auctioned the Harrods whisky (bought by Bill Niven) and the Harrods bear (bought by Pat Nortcliffe) - raising another £55. Fiona then told us how much money had been raised in total and that it was going to the Rachel House At Home Team in Inverness.

Monday dawned sunny but chilly and we had a trip down the A9 to the Cairngorm Funicular Railway before heading for home. Thanks again to Fiona and Mike for all the organisation and thanks to everyone for giving so generously. --- Helen

LE MANS PICTURES

A bird’s eye view of a driver change-over.



Two ladies all set to drive back to Essex in their 1930's 3 litre Bentley with most of their gear tied on with string. Surely the GB stickers are superfluous - they are quite clearly Brits abroad!



Bears tucking into their dinner, with Bernie waving his wine glass.


 

MOTORING MOANS - 4x4s

Next is 4x4 off-roaders and I do accept that there are occasions when you do need a 4x4 off-road vehicle –

  1. you are a farmer and need to carry hay ‘n’ stuff to stock up in the hills.
  2. you are a vet and need to mud-plug up potholed farm tracks to deliver lambs ‘n’ calves in the middle of the night.
  3. you are into horses and need to carry tack ‘n’ feed through the fields to the cuddies (Scots for horses).
  4. you are into hunting ‘n’ shooting and need somewhere to put large muddy gun-dogs and dead pheasants ‘n’ grouse.
  5. you live in the middle of nowhere and have to commute through snow drifts.
  6. you are an anorak and want one of those neat Drovers with the extra set of wheels so it can go on rail tracks and you can go tamping of a Sunday afternoon.
  7. you are going on safari to the Upper Limpopo to study the mating ritual of the lesser spotted tree frog.

But why do we have so many 4x4s cluttering up the city streets? These vehicles have the dimensions of a Dutch barn, the aerodynamics of a breeze block, the acceleration of a tank, the fuel consumption of a space shuttle, the stopping distance of a steam train, the turning circle of an oil tanker with the handling ability of a wheelbarrow and they only go off the road when they are driven over speed bumps too fast or parked on the pavement. So, what is the attraction if they are not fulfilling what they were designed for as in a) to g) above?? Answers on the back of an £1800 tax disc please!!