EVENT INFORMATION – ASK A QUESTION
Have a question about the event? Please read through this page to see if it’s already been answered; if not, click here to ask a question online. Your question will be sent directly to John.
Here are John’s thoughts:
“During the course of 2007, I’ve corresponded with Glenn Merrell (Chairman, Triumph Stag Club USA) Blake Discher (newly elected VTR President) and my very good friend Fred Thomas who surely needs no introduction to any Triumph enthusiast.At the Valley Forge Convention this year, Fred made a brief presentation to the Main Board of VTR and succeeded in gaining its agreement and support for all VTR affiliated clubs to join in on this adventure – if they want to.
I hope all of them will want to participate because I want to raise a very large sum of money for one American, one British and one Canadian charity. One hundred thousand US Dollars for each charity is what I’m shooting for – and I want to exceed that sum.”
I believe it can be done, if we all work together. Because of time constraints, I plan to visit each VTR Zone (of which I believe there are six in the US) and meet as many people as possible from the different Triumph Clubs in that zone at ONE relatively central venue. Ideally, that venue should be close to a military ‘Veterans Centre’ so that an All-Makes show of collector cars can be organised. There’s no limitation to what origin or make those cars are. So long as they are more than twenty years old and are loved and cherished by their owners, that’s enough. This type of meeting will obviously have to be at a weekend and while I’m present, I’d be happy to “talk Standard-Triumph†to all those wishing to attend, answer questions and try to give attendees a flavour of what life was like at the factory in Coventry and in the London Sales and Service Divisions. After a two or possibly three day stay, it’ll be on to the next venue to do the same thing there – and so on, until I’ve done Canada and the U.S. and the trip will hopefully finish at Triumphest in California. I believe the 2009 Triumphest event will also be combining the VTR National Convention, so what better place for all enthusiasts for me to finish at that location. So, that’s what I’d like to do – and it’s up to you to tell me if I can.
Recognising that North America is such a vast continent, some of you may feel I’m being unreasonable in visiting just one venue per zone. I’d agree, but I’ve got a lot of miles to cover and not too much time in which to do it.So here are our thoughts at this stage.
As already stated, this event has very important financial overtones and the whole trip is planned to raise money for charities specialising in treating people with P.T.S.D –post-traumatic stress disorder. To ensure the charitable nature is upheld from the outset and to give the event total credibility, I have submitted an application in the UK to form a charity called The Macartney Charitable Trust (TMCT). Its structure is to be an award-granting body that will raise money for other charities by the extensive use of old British cars in long distance and one day road run events in the UK and Europe.