2006 EVENTS

eFFing the Bridges

Sunday 30th July 

What do Isambard Kingdom Brunel , the River Severn, Moto services, Class F racing driver Martin Wills, the Prince of Wales and the secretary of war during the reign of William III and forty two MGF/TFs have in common ? 

You've obviously guessed it - they are all connected to the MGF Register's charity event - eFFing the Bridges. This year the Register has been supporting Prostate Cancer Awareness and this was our main fund raising event in aid of that charity. 

The forty Two MGF/TFs gathered at the Moto services on the M48 at Severn View ready to sign on for the start for an eighty mile drive into Wales and then the Gloucestershire countryside. 

The cars came from as far afield as Kings Lynn, Rotherham and Southend as well as a large contingent from South Wales including Brian Jones sporting a new grey fox tail on the aerial of his car ....strangely enough called the Grey Fox !. Brian and Dave Morris were also sporting some excellent red welsh dragons on their clear windstops which looked very fetching.

There were all varieties of F/TF on display including one containing two white poodles as well as driver and passenger !

It was not long before all the drivers had signed on and the run got under way heading straight out on to the old Severn Bridge and the toll booth. Unlike the Harley Davison motorbikes who inspired this event with their own "Hogging the Bridges" the Effers had to pay at the toll booth causing some delay and floundering a mass convoy over the first bridge which was expected. Nonetheless smaller groups did emerge as they traversed the River Severn and swooped into Wales heading for the Second Severn Crossing for the return trip to England.

Once over the Bridge we headed into Bristol and over the Avonmouth Bridge on the M5 before leaving the motorway and taking the back roads into Bristol where we went over our last and probably most spectacular bridge - Brunels Clifton Suspension Bridge. Being on a much smaller scale most of the cars managed to keep together and it was fun to see a load of Fs going the other way as we drove down the Portway into Bristol and past the SS Great Britain.

Halfway stop was the Severn Bridge Visitor Centre in the lee of the second Severn Bridge where the cars all regrouped for refreshments and some tyre kicking. It seemed the Bristolians may have been waiting for us as there was a big red and yellow MGF sign en route !

Suitably refreshed the cars headed out of Bristol and past the Moto services again for a country drive through Castle Combe and on to the National Trust house at Dyrham Park. Some cars were spotted in all different directions , the drivers with huge grins as they sailed by in the wrong direction ! They did all eventually mange to get back on course luckily - it's all part of the fun of a tulip rally ! We were welcomed at the gates by the big MGF register banner and our numbers grew having attracted the attention of at least two passing MGFs who knew nothing about us !

We parked up at the far end of the car park in a specially allocated area and found Gary Steele from the Prostate Cancer Awareness Charity and Martin Wills MGOC Class F leading Race driver with his car and a lady wing walker who was also raising sponsorship for the charity.

The cars parked up and out came the dusters ready for the Show and Shine competition. Gary Steele and Martin Wills were chosen to be the independent judges and picked out four cars as the winners.

Well done to :-

Car of the Day   - Adrian Clifford  "Good as Gold"  MGF 

Furthest Travelled - Sean Rankin   Blue TF from Kings Lynn

Modified F/TF - Brian Jones  "Grey Fox" TF

Standard TF - Richard Morris  MGTF Spark

Standard - Tim Morris  Red MGF "JayPeG" 

The proceeds of the day were then presented to Gary Steele by Tim who accepted on behalf of the Prostate Cancer Awareness campaign and told us a little about the disease, treatment and lack of funding. We hope our £500 will go some way to helping them.

At the very end of the day, and after a little negotiation with the NT Stewards,  we were allowed to take a limited number of cars down to the house at Dyrham Park itself for a photo opportunity on the gravel by the front door. The results of which you can see here and provided a fitting end to a great day out .

eFFing the Bridges

Organised by The  MGF Register - Neil Sutton, Tim Morris, Philip Prout

Photo acknowledgements

Tim & Liz Morris (all unacknowledged photos)

*  Neil Sutton & photo in this column

Richard Creese (top photo)

$ Dave Morris

+ Dave Alexander