Hertfordshire Wings
Ready Teddy Go
Hertfordshire Wings took a little time out for charity in October, by having a great ride out to Belgium raising money for Harpenden Phoenix Holidays, (a registered charity that takes severely disabled and terminally ill adults on holidays in Europe).
Ten local companies each sponsored a bear and dressed them for their run out on the back of Goldwings. Some of the costumes caused riotous laughter and ranged from a bear complete with curlers and hairdryer (from a local hairdressers) to a leather clad biker chick with piercings and backpack!
Once the bears had been allocated their drivers we all set off to catch either the ferry from Dover or the Eurotunnel to meet the other side in Calais. It must have been a strange sight to see ten bears riding down the road on bikes and trikes, and several passers-by hung out of car and lorry windows to take photos of the strange spectacle!.
The bears made a trip the following day to The Great War Cemetary near Buissy, and sat patiently while we strolled around marvelling at the immaculate graves of the many unsung heroes of the first world war.
Several of the bears joined us in the bar at the hotel for a beer and chat that evening causing the locals to think that these bikers perhaps do have a soft side after all.
The following day the bears mounted up again for a journey into Belgium to Adinkerke. Irena at Tobacco Alley had arranged to judge the bears upon their arrival as to the best costume and kindly donated some wine and Belgian chocolates to the winning bear to be taken back to the winning company (we haven’t eaten them yet, but it is tempting!). Sparkle, a biker chick bear romped home with the prize (she even had a back pack with her containing scarf, hat and gloves and a teddy to help her sleep at night!) which was indeed well deserved.
The trip raised £1100 for our local charity which will enable a group of disabled adults to go on a trip in spring together with their able bodied helpers, so in all, the event was a great success. The results for the bears was 1st Sparkle (The Two Wheel Centre), 2nd Harrison Phillips (Harp Property Services), 3rd Bubbles (Bubbles Hair Salon), 4th Brownstuff (Brownings Joinery), 5th Raph De Nen (Harpenden Building Society), 6th Boo Bear (Logic Office Automation), and highly commended bears were Roland (Rolands Carpets), Munchie (Weymans Stores Redbourn), Tia (Dickens Hair Salon) and Tedstart (Headstart Recruitment).
There was a bit of shenanigans that must have gone on during this short vacation, as ten bears went on the trip and eleven returned with us as one of the bears decided the single life was for him no more, and brought back with him a rather pleasant French Bear complete with lace undies and garter! So really quite a benefit for European Relations!
