The weekend of 5th and 6th December was very busy for Reading MAG members : The group had about 20 members and friends in Belgium attending the annual St Nics Rally hosted by the MVTO bike club based on Oostende.

Meanwhile other members of Reading MAG rode in and helped with the parking for the annual doctor Barnado's Toy run, it is estimated that 2000 bikers turned up and the convoy has half way to Wokingham  before the final group left the Foster Wheeler car park in Reading,

I was in Belgium although I understand it was a very impressive sight.

I have invited Reading MAG members to submit quotes describing their weekend - We always welcome more quotes which will be published after review.

" It was -7^c last year in Kent, so this time my CBR1000 went in Brian's Renault van which was used to camp (no puddles), cook and store goodies. Excellent ride Saturday via seafront & on to traditional superb hot soup with St. Nicholas. Tony, Lucy, Brian & I traveled back Sunday to Calais via hypermarket for more goodies where we took ferry & tunnel each for happy return."

"Got to Matts for a 9.00 depart. had a bad thought that I hadn't changed insurance details for new plate ooops. Phoned insurence company and done in a couple of minutes. On to bikes ambled down through Bracknell onto M3 in glorious sunshine and a BIG MMMMMMMM (dont get much better than this) for the rest of the weekend."

“Riding down the M2 at a rapid pace along with 5 other bikes in brilliant sunshine, standing on stage in front of 500 bikers presenting a plaque to MTVO to commemorate 40 years of the Rally, having 2 good evenings listening to good music with a great bunch of people – having a good safe ride back arriving dry and warm.”

"Woke up on Sunday morning to the sound of torential rain on my boat roof. Not a good sound when thinking about heading out for a couple of hours on the bike. Luck was on our side though and later in the morning the sun appeared, the roads dried up and the wind dropped, hooray off we go. Met up with Dave, Karren and their son Luke at the marrina and headed out towards Fosters Wheeler to meet for the run out to Dr B`s.

Arived at the meeting point at about 1300 to a very well organised car park. Had a walk around looking at the hundreds of bikes of all shapes and sizes, including a boat and a number of trikes. At about 1400 all of the bikes started up with a roar and headed towards Dr B`s in convoy. It was a great site to see all the members of the public lining the route to cheer and wave as we passed. The route was well covered by marshals and when we arrived the car park was once again well organised.

Dropped off our gifts had a cup of coffee and biscuits, met a lot of very friendly people and waited until the prize giving, speeches and raffle ended and headed home.

A great day out and looking forward to next year, well done to all the organisers and marshals"

The Toy Run

Over 1,000 bikes took part in this year’s Barnado’s charity toy run.  The run goes from the Foster Wheeler building on the edge of Reading (the former Shire Hall, the grey concrete modernist castle you see from the M4) to Barnado’s in Wokingham town centre.  This year, as before, many people turned up in costume including a biker dressed as a Christmas tree, another dressed as a parcel, several reindeer, various fairies and a few snowmen.  The bikes and trikes were also decked out, some bikes even sporting whole xmas trees, and several local people were out on the street waiting to see the bikes pass by and cheer us on.  They got quite a show.  As the first vehicles reached the Winnersh crossroads – roughly half way at the 4 mile mark  - the last bikes were just leaving the car park. The procession doesn’t stop for red lights.

As ever, there is no discrimination about bikers, with machines ancient and modern (including some vintage machinery), cruisers, sports bikes, scooters, mopeds all mixed together

Organised by Christian Bikers it is a good example of how different bike groups can cooperate. Reading MAG members organised the parking at the Foster Wheeler building and helped at the Barnado’s home with Thames Valley Advanced Motorcyclists providing excellent on route marshalling, blocking every junction (it’s prearranged and all legal) to give us a clear run.