This time of year, we all get so busy we sometimes forget about those less fortunate then ourselves. Especially, with Christmas being a time for children, about those children stuck in hospital. The annual Toy run from the Ace Café in London redresses that, it is one of the few events that I would dare to say are a must do for any biker, if you had a tick list of things you should do as a biker this should be near the top.
The format is fairly simple, everyone meets up at the Ace Café, brings along a present, and then ride to the two chosen children’s hospitals and dish out the presents. What makes it more fun is the twist that we as bikers like to put on things. It was optional to dress up and to dress your bikes up.
There were bikes dressed as Christmas present’s, as Reindeer and Sleigh’s and there were some that just had far too many soft toys taped and cable tied too. Naturally, if we as bikers all meet up for an event like this, you are gonna get the ‘who had the best dressed bike’ and this years winner was well deserved.
I did think of dressing my bike, but with rain forecast I decided that the hundreds of Christmas tree lights I had ear marked for that purpose might be a bad idea. I did however find a Santa suit, which I wore over my biking gear. I was obviously not alone with this super original thought, and may people did dress up, there were about sixty Santa’s, a few elf’s and even a Christmas angel or fairy not quite sure which.
The weather forecast could not have been more wrong and whilst it was a little cold first thing, the sun was out all day and we enjoyed some of the best December weather that I can remember.
I went with Jo on my bike, as her battery was flat; this problem seemed to set the standard for the day as there were a few bikes that dropped out round the route, and few that didn’t even make it!
As with all good ride outs, the day just has to begin with a full English breakfast and a nice hot cup of tea to get the warmth and feeling back into your fingers. Whilst we filled up on food, the boxes and sack by the stage began to fill up with presents for the children. These were then loading on to the van ready to go to the children.
At about 10:30 the police escort turned up and all too soon it was time to mount up and ride off to the first of the hospitals. The police did a sterling job with the escort, as did the marshal’s form the Ace, but there was no brief and this was reflected in the way some riders new to riding under escort behaved.
It was good to get to the first of the hospitals, which was St Mary’s in Paddington. We unloaded almost half of the presents from the nearly fully filled Van. With a few specially chosen gifts, Santa made his way to the hospital wards to greet the excited children. After a short stop it was back out again under police escort to St Thomas’s Hospital in Vauxhall. The Van was once again unloaded and this time LB’s Hosts Ginger and Shewoolf went up, to take presents up to the kids on the ward.
The ride back to the Ace was again under police escort and involved a trip of once round Parliament Square. Where, one cheeky rider took the opportunity of doing a burn out!! There were however no incidents during the day, however a few cager’s tried flouting the direction of the police on escort, they will no doubt be hoping that there Christmas post doesn’t include a N.I P.
When back at the Ace, there was a quick thanks to everyone, especially to the Police who had taken the time out for this day and then up to the counter for tea, coffee’s and lots of mince pies.
I had a fantastic time taking part in the annual toy run; this was a thoroughly humbling day and well worth doing! I’m itching for the longer days and better weather of spring so we can all get out and do more events like this.
Related Linkswww.ace-cafe-london.com Related Galleries2006 Ace Café Christmas Toy Run2005 Ace Café Christmas Toy Run #22005 Ace Café Christmas Toy Run #1
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