26th International West Kent Run
January Update (1st
January 2010)
(Archive of past Updates)
Happy New Year to you.
Our Chairman, Peter Firth has been quite unwell in the last few weeks and our thoughts are with him and with Brenda at this difficult time.
We have now set the prices for 2010. There have been some rises but we hope that you will still consider the event offers you value for money. Please be assured that we have not just plucked figures from the sky ! We have undertaken a cost analysis and tried to ensure that we are getting best value from our various suppliers. It is interesting to note that we are paying less now for the marquee hire and for the printed programmes than we were when the event was based at Hadlow College. We have also secured a good deal from the pennant supplier and will be paying less for them than last year.
The important changes are as follows. The rider's entry fee will rise to £28 this year and we anticipate a rise to £30 for 2011. The passenger's fee rises to £24. The costs involved for a passenger vary only in that the passenger does not receive a pennant. The £4 difference in the entry fee reflects the cost of that pennant.
The cost of the camping field has not risen so we have not increased the cost of camping. The cost of the rooms has been increased by The Friars and we have increased the cost accordingly - we do not put any premium on the cost of the rooms - what you pay is what the Friars receives.
The cost of the ticket for the Saturday evening meal will rise to £8 per person.
There are no other price rises.
As has been stated already, we shall revert to our 350 entrant limit and cannot take the huge numbers that applied last year. Please enter early to avoid disappointment.
Rooms are booking quickly. There are only 50 rooms so please book early if you wish to stay at the Friars. There will be no problem with camping.
At our December Club night at the Pied Bull pub we were very pleased to present a cheque for £3500 on your behalf, to the British Heart Foundation. The money was the surplus from the Sunday Show gate receipts. The BHF has been running a local appeal to buy a portable heart scanner. This amazing machine is little bigger than a laptop, gives a real-time image of the heart in action (with all the relevant data) and is for use in hospitals and clinics throughout the Medway Towns (Rochester, Chatham and Gillingham) and the wider area. The machine cost £30,000 so you can see that we made a significant contribution to the cost. It is already in service and hundreds of hearts have been scanned by now. We thank you and your friends who supported the Sunday Show and, thereby, this valuable, local cause.
I have been pleased to receive an entry from Bruce Moore. He had a severe fall last year and damaged his back. He is not allowed to ride a bike until later this month and it is good to see he intends to ride with us again. He has even booked to camp on the cold 'ard ground.
Fran Smyth and Clive Bullock are new entrants who have yet to purchase motorcycles on which to do the run ! I shall be advising them on suitable James models....or perhaps they'd like to buy a brace of NVT mopeds.
I've altered the list of riders. I had been highlighting the entries of pre-war motorcycles in yellow. I'm very pleased that there have been such a high proportion but the yellow began to make the list look messy and difficult to read. I'm very keen to highlight the older bikes, however so I've tried to do so in a more subtle way.
Please pass the word about the event to your friends.
Best Wishes for a Happy New Year from Alan Abrahams and the West Kent Run Committee.
westkentrun@hotmail.com