Newcastle Toy Run 03

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26th Newcastle Toy Run 03

Sunday morning dawned a bit too early for me seeing as the previous night was spent in Forster partying with the American Motorcycle Club, and getting up at 5.30am after only 3 hours sleep is not as easy as it used to be. Still it was for a good cause so after eating a hearty breakfast and loading the bike up it was off southwards down The Lakes Way and towards very overcast skies and the odds of getting a wet arse.

The weather held good right up to Sandgate and I rode into the markets only slightly damp, so with the bike parked under cover it was over to the canteen for a cup of tea and to say a few g’days before dragging the camera out and taking a snapshot of the lovely ladies manning the collection buckets plus getting a quick photo of Big John, he’s been the man behind this event since its conception 26 years ago and even though this event alone would be more than a plateful for most people Big John is also involved with a dozen or more other fund raisers throughout the year, I reckon they should change his name to Big Heart because of the amount that he does for kids.

It never fails to amaze me as I look around at this particular Toy Run and see the diverse cross section of people that turn up and rub shoulders during this event, they range in age from toddlers in sidecars to blokes and women that have to be pushing eighty years old, there are the patch club members who ride together in brotherhood and weather beaten riders who have ridden more solo miles than they would care to remember, young blokes and sheilas on new sports bikes park alongside vintage and veteran bikes who’s riders could easily have been born the same year as their bikes, and as I watched Vespas and scooters park up alongside Harleys it seemed to me that no one cared who rode what or what they looked like just the fact that they were there for the kids was all that mattered.

So it was with the rain starting to fall again that the run headed off to the foreshore at Newcastle, once again the police, SES and other volunteers did a great job of marshalling and the run proceeded unbroken past hundreds of people who braved the weather to wave us on, by the time we arrived at the foreshore it had stopped raining and as the sun broke out it shone down on a pile of toys that was steadily growing in front of the stage, after allowing a bit of time for everyone to offload their gifts Big John took to the stage and thanked us for coming and then as he was introducing the Mayor and Lady Mayoress and the Salvos I took the opportunity to sneak in early to donate blood to help beat the coppers in this years challenge.

By the time I got out the crowd was thinning out a bit so it was with a final walk around to snap a couple of photos of people enjoying a bit of a rest on the seawall that I arrived back at my bike, fired the old girl up and headed home, all up even allowing for a bit of rain it was a very enjoyable weekend.

Thanks go out to Big John and the Salvation army for bringing us all together in a good cause and thanks also to all the people behind the scenes, you know who you are so give yourselves a well deserved pat on the back.

See you all next year.

- Crusty.