DMR Charity Run - July 2008

[Gismo]

Received this from the charity run organiser:-

Details Available Here (http://www.newminiscotland.co.uk/run_notes/2008/Route_Plan_B.pdf)

Hi Guys, just getting on touch regarding a charity run we are planning for July. You might remember we met last year when we brought the Doncaster Mini Register up to Scotland for a run around which some of you joined us for.

I need your help with this event. We need help planning the route in Scotland. I have attached the rough guide to where we want to go, but we want the best roads so we don't want to just take it from a map.

We are also inviting anyone who wants to join us on the leg of the run close to them to come along.

The run should try to stick to good Mini roads, off motorways unless unavoidable, should try to include a Mini dealership if possible. Contact email for them appreciated, and one or two good photo opportunities.

If you can help please say so and we can get things going.

Regards

Jason, Doncaster Mini Register

[Bumble]

Now that's a mammoth run!!!

[Craig]

Will try and send Jason some details of some good roads. Once he has his route, might try and get along to the Sunday or Monday part of the run in Scotland. :thumbs up:

[Colin]

Three THOUSAND miles :eek: :cool:

[Scottie]

It would be good to do the scotland part of the run

[Jas, DMR]

Just wanted to thank you all for the warm welcome. I wouldn't have expected anything else from you after the weekend we spent with some of you last year. I want to thank you for allowing me space here to promote what promises to be such a worthwhile event.

As far as the run goes, your help is appreciated. We will be in your part of the world on Day 2 and Day 3 of the run.

Day 2
- From the North East,
through Berwick,
( Berwick to Edinburgh route done - thanks Andy ),
Edinburgh,
( Edinburgh to Aberdeen route done - tweak needed to take in Dundee (dealership) - thanks Craig )
Aberdeen,
Elgin
ending the day in Inverness.

Day 3
heads from Inverness to John O' Groats,
back through Inverness to Fort William,
( route from Fort William to Glasgow done - Thanks Craig )
into the Trossachs, ending in Glasgow.


Please note that I have only taken these places off the map. A route roughly following this is what we need.
If you feel that we would be better bypassing these towns, then fine.
You don't have to plan the whole day. For instance, if you live in Aberdeen and want to plan that little bit that is fine as long as it travels in the direction we need to go.
We would like to try to visit a Mini dealer on each day, email contacts will be needed for those we might visit.
Also, please try to include places of interest for photo opportunities but bear in mind time is short so we don't want to go too far off the direction of travel.

Any ideas for accomodation would also be appreciated. We are trying to keep costs to drivers to a minimum, a place to sleep is all we need. Camping is not an option as it is difficult to get the good nights sleep we will need with all the driving. So local B & B's probably best option.

Once again thank you for your support. Time is pressing so ideas to me as soon as possible please.

My direct email is tour-of-britain@fsmail.net should you wish to contact me directly.

Regards
Jas, Doncaster Mini Register

[Scottie]

for any help on the Inverness to Wick to Fort William part then we can give a good few roads that you can consider.

For accomodation re Inverness and bet places to eat I can help you with that just need to know budget.

[AndyP & Lenore]

Jas, email sent.

A.;)

[Gismo]

It would be very nice if your trip could include our sponsor, John Clark's in Dundee :thumbs up:
Initial contact via PM would be JC Parts Dept or one of the sales guys micromachine

[Jas, DMR]

Thanks to Andy for his route from Berwick to Edinburgh. Will look at it in more detail later, but that is the first part of Scotland covered. We still need other areas, so if you can help please PM me.

As far as accomodation is concerned the cheaper the better. As I said we need to keep costs down as much as possible.

And I see no reason not to tie the route into your dealer sponsor in Dundee. Will need some one in that area to tie the run in somehow.

Thanks again everyone.

[The Dogfather]

I'd be willing to meet up in Sunderland and travel on to Berwick, I'd be able to help out with a route unless you already have one in mind.

[Jas, DMR]

Thanks for the offer, we have route from just North of Berwick so if you can plan Sunderland to Berwick on some great roads then that would be great.
We will be doing that bit right at the start of day 2.

And it goes without saying that you would be welcome to join us.

[Jas, DMR]

I have edited my first post to show which parts of the route have been done. Many thanks to Andy and Craig for their efforts, they look good so far.
If you can help in any of the other areas then please get in touch.

Thanks again.

[Gismo]

JC's are keen to have you guys visit, can you advise what day you could be in Dundee??

[Jas, DMR]

Will be there on Sunday ( Day 2 ), we have route from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, so we will need to tweak that a little to take in the dealership.
I am predicting around lunch time, early afternoon arrival time.

[The Dogfather]

There's a dealership in Sunderland just on the A19, I've just bought my Clubman from. There's a large Asda and retail park near there so good for fuel and breakfast. Probably a good meeting/starting point for the day.

Let me know what time you want to leave and what time you need to be in Berwick by, I'll engineer a route to suit.

[Gismo]

Will be there on Sunday ( Day 2 ), we have route from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, so we will need to tweak that a little to take in the dealership.
I am predicting around lunch time, early afternoon arrival time.
Will pass on the info :thumbs up:

[Jas, DMR]

I have had a new route sent to me to take in dealership in Dundee.

As far as Sunderland goes, that sounds an ideal start point. As far as the run goes then we don't want to take too long as we need to get up into Scotland. Taking us a little off the direct route would be fine.

We could end Day 1 at the dealership in Sunderland but not sure what time we will hit that. I feel that we will need to head off too early Sunday morning to start day 2 there.

[Gismo]

I have had a new route sent to me to take in dealership in DundeeOrganising you guys getting fed at John Clarks, will need to know numbers nearer the time :thumbs up:

[Craig]

Jas,

will send you that route from dundee to aberdeen again.. broken link

:cool:

Edit - sent route again..

[Jas, DMR]

Got it, thanks.:thumbs up:

[Jas, DMR]

Hi everyone.

Well, with just a few weeks to go now before this run takes place, I have to say I am a little disappointed with the response from the Mini community.

Initial response on all forums was vary positive, but it seems to have gone a little quiet lately.

Our aim is to raise some decent money for some worthy causes, but also to have a blast on some of the best roads the UK has to offer.

As I said before, I can take the route from the map and plan it that way. But I want to meet up with local clubs and individuals on the way around and get some input from you guys on where we should be heading. So far it is only the guys in Scotland who have planned a route for us.

We also needed help finding accomodation as cheap as possible to help keep drivers costs down.

So I am appealing again for your help. If you can help us to plan a full day ( see first post for details of each day ) or just part of it then please let me know.
If you can help us find accomodation in the overnight places again let me know.
But most of all, if you want to join us for part, or all, of the run, get in touch.

I don't need your help to make this event work, but I do want your help to make it the best it can be.
Thanks again for reading.
Jas

Organiser
Tour of Britain Charity Mini Run 2008

P.S. this is a copy of the post I have placed on other forums. You guys here in NMS have bee great. We still have part of the run in your area to do, and accomodation to find, but this post is aimed more at everyone else.
Jas

[The Dogfather]

Jas

I've sent you an email about route for the run up to Berwick. Let me know what you think.

A68 and Carter Bar Blast (http://www.multimap.com/directions/?qs_1=Sunderland%2C+Tyne+And+Wear%2C+England%2C+SR 1+1&displayName_1=Sunderland%2C+Tyne+And+Wear%2C+Engla nd%2C+SR1+1&lat_1=54.90441&lon_1=-1.38116&countryCode_1=GB&qs_2=west+woodburn&countryCode_2=GB&qs_3=byrness&countryCode_3=GB&qs_4=Berwick-upon-Tweed%2C+Northumberland%2C+England%2C+TD15+1&countryCode_4=GB&mode=driving&optimizeFor=quickest&mapData=858%2C856#map=55.58736,-1.8561|9|4)

[N12 JLK]

For your overnight in Inverness, i can recommend the Lovat Arms in Beauly. I stay there every couple of weeks. Nice staff and nice food and very Scottish rooms:cool:

Give them a phone and see what deals you can get. Tell them Jason sent you http://www.lovatarms.com/

Hope this helps.

[AndyP & Lenore]

Jas, 2 PM's sent regarding the route from Berwick to Dundee.:thumbs up:

A.:D

[Jas, DMR]

Hi Everyone, it is with heavy heart that I have to announce today that this event has been cancelled.

The reason is a general lack of interest from both my own club and the Mini community at large.

Can I just say though that you guys have been great. You have sorted out the route with us, a visit to the dealership etc.
So I feel as though I am letting you guys down.

I am hoping to make your run in August now that this is off. Who knows what the future may bring.

I have added a copy of the text that I posted on my site this morning.
Once again I am sorry everyone.

________________________

It is with a heavy heart that I write this today, but after having lengthy discussions with Darrel, I am informing all of you that the DMR Charity Event is now cancelled.

It has been very disappointing for me, and Darrel, that this event hasn't grabbed peoples attention like we thought it would.
We never expected many people to drive the whole route around. But I did expect more effort to help raise funds which is, after all, the main reason for the event.

As it stands the costs to individuals would be far higher than the money raised, and so it makes it hard to justify the costs against the returns.

We have over 400 users on this site, it is a large forum. I realise that the majority of registered users are casual and hardly make a visit. But I expected 50 people to raise around £ 100 making a total of £ 5000, This plus money collected at fund raising days would have made a decent total.

You only have to look at Darrels recent efforts to see what can be done when a little effort is put in.
http://doncasterminiregister.co.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2713

I am also disappointed that no one has managed to organise one of these fund raising events in their area. I had three planned, Sainsbury's came back to me with the same date as the Lakeside one, and so were trying to get us another. But we could have done one of these somewhere every weekend.

So I am very disappointed with the response from DMR members, but I am far more disappointed with the response from the so called 'Mini community'.

I only asked for individuals / clubs to help us plan the route in their area and join us if they can. The guys from New Mini Scotland have been great. Most of the route up there is done, and their supporting dealer were supporting us by feeding us on Day 2. A big thanks to them.
But for the rest of the UK, nothing.

It is very disappointing. We could plan the route from maps, no problem. But I wanted regional clubs to get involved, and it just didn't happen.

I will be posting on the other forums later to let them know that the event is off, and I will try to put a note in Modern Mini for next month.

All money raised so far will be donated to MacMillan, for their efforts with press releases etc.

This episode has also made me question my commitment to the DMR. I feel that I have taken the club as far as I can go, last year being the highlight in terms of events attended and new members taken on.
Being mentioned in Modern Mini's awards as being one of the best clubs in the UK was the pinnacle.

But I am searching for new things to do, fresh challenges. The charity event being the first of these events. If I can't get this off the ground then I don't know what else to do.
I have had an idea of hosting a BMW indoor Mini show at the Doncaster Exhibition Centre, but feel that this won't happen now either.

I am also tired of the bickering amongst individuals that casts a shadow over the club. I suppose as the club grows tensions can happen as people get closer and then fall out. But it is detremental to the club in general.

So I am now focused on Normanby Hall, our next show in two weeks time. But it might be the last event that I organise. It doesn't mean that I won't be around, I just feel that I have other things in my life which could make better use of my time.

I will confirm my future plans in the near future.

Thank you for reading.
Jas

[AndyP & Lenore]

Jas, that's a real shame.:eek: I understand your reasons, and don't blame you at all for cancelling. I just hope you can rekindle your enthusiasm for events, because it's a shame to see someone so involved in the MINI community becoming so disheartened with your peers.

Best of luck for the future.:thumbs up:

A & L.

[Colin]

Sorry to hear that Jas,:frown: all the best.

[Craig]

Jas,

that is a real shame, not just because the charities are missing out on people's money, but because it would have been an epic adventure. :frown:

You and all the members at DMR are welcome up to Scotland anytime and your very welcome to come up for the Argyll Run in August. :thumbs up: Let me know if you want details of anywhere to stay near the time.

I do hope you don't disappear from the MINI "Scene" as I think you would be missed as you have such an enthusiasm for the club scene.. :D

Craig

[Gismo]

Jas,
Very sorry to hear of the cancellation but fully understand your reasons.
I'm glad that our NMS community made the efforts they did and many thanks to our dealer sponsor John Clark's for their very kind offer to feed you during your event.
I'd like to think that yu'd stay within the MINI community as it would appear you have a lot to offer :thumbs up:

[Jas, DMR]

Thanks for the kind comments.

I hope to see you in August.

Jas