[Bmcu] Fwd: [Spits] Triumph Trans-America Charity Drive 2009 - Announcement at Triumphest by Glenn Merrell

[wbeech]

Andrew,
Just the second finished reading this same email from John, is the BMCU
planning to be involved?
Bill

-----Original Message-----
From: bmcu-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:bmcu-bounces at autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Andrew Lindeman
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 3:13 PM
To: bmcu at autox.team.net
Subject: [Bmcu] Fwd: [Spits] Triumph Trans-America Charity Drive 2009 -
Announcement at Triumphest by Glenn Merrell

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Macartney <standardtriumph at btinternet.com>
Date: Oct 17, 2007 2:20 PM
Subject: Re: [Spits] Triumph Trans-America Charity Drive 2009 - Announcement
at Triumphest by Glenn Merrell
To: Andrew Lindeman <andrew.lindeman at gmail.com>


Hi, Andrew

Here it is....

Glen Merrell wrote:

> I would like to hear thoughts and comments on the presentation for 
> Triumphs Across America 2009 Charity Run I made at Triumphest's Awards 
> Dinner.
> This is quite the undertaking by John Macartney and many volunteers on 
> both sides of the pond.
> So your comments, good, bad, indifferent, wanting to participate, 
> wanting to sponsor, wanting to contribute, wanting to volunteer are 
> all welcome, but we would really like to hear and read overwhelming 
> support for this endeavor.  I will let John respond to the thoughts 
> and comments directly.

Glenn, thank you so much for initially 'banging the drum' in announcing the
event at Triumphest and I hope those who heard and saw the presentation now
have a better idea of what it's all about. As Glenn said, more details will
appear in the next edition of The Vintage Triumph magazine and TRIUMPH WORLD
will be running a series of articles as preparations hot up and the event
gets underway. so, a thumbnail sketch of important aspects of the event.

WHEN - probably from about mid-July 2009 until Triumphest in 2009 where the
event is clearly likely to finish. The fact that the VTR Annual Convention
is also likely to be running in parallel, makes T'fest the obvious place to
end the trip.

WHERE - well, we've obviously got the finish point in our sights, but where
we go to get there is anybody's guess! I feel it's very much up to Triumph
enthusiasts to give their club committees an *ear-bending.* on this matter -
but the general thinking that Blake Discher, Glenn Merrell, Fred Thomas and
I have had over the last few months is this.

1. The event will raise money to be shared in equal parts to one American,
one British and one Canadian non-profit organisation that specialises in the
treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Read my article in the
next edition of Triumph World and you'll get a clue as to why this is
important to me.
2. Fred Thomas has obtained a list of Remedial Help Centres across the US
that treat Veterans from the US Military who suffer from PTSD. While this
event is not, I repeat not, specifically for the benefit of military
personnel, these people are important. Primarily, funds raised will go to
civilians who suffer from PTSD (there are about 7 million in the US alone)
and these will obviously include former military personnel who 'escaped the
de-programming net' before getting their discharge papers. From my research,
a very large number escaped that trawl for many different reasons!! So, we
want one club per VTR Chapter to arrange a British Car Show at a venue that
is as conveniently central as possible to the Chapter. These car shows will
obviously be at weekends and there will be as many car shows as there are
Chapters. I have already written to Chapter Co-ordinators on this matter and
await their responses. As the opportunities arise, at each car show, I plan
to meet as many Triumph owners as possible and hopefully give them a talk
about 'Life at Standard-Triumph' as I saw it, both in Coventry and London. I
foresee each *Stop* lasting three to four days maximum - and then we move on
to the next venue.

There's a wild card here as well. I want the route to take in Canada too. I
know there is a vibrant Triumph community in Toronto, there's another in
Winnipeg and a third in British Columbia. The other reason for taking in
Canada is that I want to visit Regina, Saskatchewan where my Dad spent his
childhood from 1905 until 1915

So, the conclude on the WHERE section is this. We know where we'll be
finishing but no-one has a clue as to where else we'll be going beforehand.
That's a hyper-critical element and it has to be resolved by the end of this
year or very early on in 2008. Until we know the likely route, we're stymied
for arranging for different crews to drive the Stag, though I'll be going
the whole trip in the car I ship to the States. Incidentally, a word on
crews. If you'd like to ride in either car - and possibly drive one or both,
this will be subject to you raising sponsorship to a minimum value - but
more details on that issue will appear on the website.

HOW - Two cars will be taking part in the whole trip and I'm terming them as
the official "Works" cars. One will be a Stag (to be sourced in the US) and
the other will be either a 2000 or 2500 saloon that'll be coming from the
UK. Currently, I'm actively considering shipping over my own 2.5PI. At the
end of the event, the UK car will return to England but the Stag will be
raffled. Tickets will be available fairly soon and income from these will
finance the Stag buy cost and hopefully the cost of parts to repair. The
Stag is very much in Glenn's bailliewick. But guys, we want SPONSORSHIP in
any and every way we can get it from funding to get the cars running
reliably to venues for the car shows to fuel to keep them running, mealsd
and accommodation en route etc etc. More will be said on this on the
website.

ADMINISTRATION - Apart from Glenn, Blake and Fred having done so much so far
in the US, the event is being planned and co-ordinated in the UK and that is
why we need to keep things simple. All PR issues are being dealt with by a
lady, who until recently, worked for the BBC World Service. She knows
virtually every radio and TV station in North America and once the route is
known, will be alerting those stations to what is planned to take place. We
foresee local radio and TV playing a key role in fundraising.

THE CHARITIES (NON-PROFITS) Currently there are three in the frame. The
whole event is operating under the umbrella of THE MACARTNEY CHARITABLE
TRUST.  I formed this recently with the objective of handling and
distributing funds raised from the event described above. It has a current
working capital of approx US$10,000 as an interest-free loan from me and it
will be surrporting Assist UK www.traumatic-stress.freeserve.co.uk and Gift
from Within www.giftfromwithin.org  These are the British and American
beneficiary charities but we still need one for Canada. The Macartney
Charitable Trust has been structured as an award-granting charity in its own
right and it will continue after this event to provide events for classic
car enthusiasts in the UK (together with visitors from overseas) so the
money it raises can be passed to other charities and needy causes. As far as
I know, there is no other charity of that type in the UK and I'm hoping that
as it becomes more widely known, it'll be regarded as 'the classic car
charity.'

Finally, WHY AM I DOING THIS? I'm doing it because I want to. Many years ago
when I was still a young man with a career stretching out before me, I sold
several hundred Triumph sports cars for export to Canada or the US. I vowed
that one day, I too would go there myself. While I've certainly been there
many times on business, that's not the same. In the years that followed
after I left British Leyland, I was fortunate to see much of the world at my
employer's expense and I have many memories. Many are happy - a few are
tragic. It's the tragic ones that have made me want to do the trip so that I
may hopefully in some way help those who so recently helped me. I guess this
whole affair may see me spending the rest of my life in dire penury but if I
can somehow influence people to help me help others, then it'll all have
been worth it.

There'll no doubt be a book about it from me when its all over :)

In conclusion, I know many enthusiasts don't belong to VTR, don't belong to
these lists and don't read Triumph World. I'm preparing a series of articles
for the UK clubs about this trip and if any club newsletter editor would
like to receive the same material for his/her publication, please let me
know.

Sorry for the bandwidth guys - but the cat is now out of the bag and
cruising towards what I think will be yet another *TRIUMPH FIRST* and that
sees an ex-employee driving coast to coast in a 35+ year old car made by his
former employer. I hope to see many.many more Triumphs as we cover the
route; to welcome us to the next venue and 'talk us in' or to 'say farewell
and send us on our way.' There's a huge amount of planning still to do and
I'll try to keep you all updated this way.

Cheers, all

Jonmac

----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrew Lindeman" <andrew.lindeman at gmail.com>
To: "John Macartney" <standardtriumph at btinternet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 11:36 PM
Subject: Re: [Spits] Triumph Trans-America Charity Drive 2009 - Announcement
at Triumphest by Glenn Merrell


> I'd like a copy.
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