ACE Cafe Xmas Toy Run 2011

Have you ever seen two snowmen riding a motorbike? Or how about Santa sat astride his hog on a Reindeer pelt saddle? Or a 70mph Christmas tree? No? Well you've obviously never been to the ACE Cafe Xmas Toy Run then have you!

Sunday 11th December 2011 saw myself and Jimbo rock up to the ACE along with about a hundred other nutters who braved the forecast, to try and bring a wee smile or two to the faces of London's hospital bound kids this Crimbo.

The ACE Cafe has been running this event for years now but it has been steadily losing attendance numbers as the years have gone by. I heard about it through a post on the facebook bikers group called 2WTT (2-Wheeled Tarmac Terrorists) run by a great lad called Brett 'Mugsy' Edwards.

The idea is simple. You rock up at the cafe armed with as many wrapped presents as you can spare. Once these are divided up into respective groups based on gender and age, everyone then rides to various children's hospitals around London, stopping at each one to deliver some of the presents and spread some joy and festive spirit.

This years chosen hospitals were St Marys, The Royal Brompton, and Evelinas Children's Hospital, so off into the London traffic we went. The marshalling was superb making the convoy of some 100 bikes slip through the streets with veritable ease. We were soon at St Marys and the first load of pressies were delivered to some grateful staff.

After a short break we were all back on the bikes and off to The Royal Brompton Hospital, snaking our way through the congested streets of inner London. I've got to say, the reaction from the public was brilliant as we were clapped, cheered, and beeped our way along the route. The orchestra of bike exhuasts and horns was a joy to behold and not a single incident occured the whole day.

The remainder of the gifts were then delivered to The Royal Brompton and then Evelina's, with equally grateful recipients at each. The original intnetion was to ride as a group around Parliament Square then head back enmasse to the ACE Cafe for a cuppa. However, by the time we'd finihsed at the last hospital time was not on our side so Jimbo and I bid our farewells and headed home. But we still managed to get a lap of Parliament Square in, show our distaste at the layouts still camping there, and to top it all off I managed to 'Big Ben' Jimbo!

Lovely job 😉

Here's a wee vid I made of the day. I'm sorry about the jiggly camera work, it was cold, and I've got VERY shaky hands at the best of times. I'll have a tripod soon so the quality of the vids will get better I promise.

Hope you enjoy it.

Bruce