BIRD'S EYE VIEW
Page 38
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BY THE HAWK
• The Army bobsleigh team, Britain's top four-man squad for the Calgary Winter Olympics this month, are being sponsored by Wincanton Group. The team is Mark Tout, David Armstrong, Lenny Paul and Audley Richards.
• After all the commotion surrounding Trust House Forte's exclusion of truckers from the company's South Mimms motorway services, it is refreshing to report the opening of a new independent grill and washroom which positively welcomes trucks.
The Penny Farthing Grill opened recently at the Shaftesbury roundabout on the Blandford Forum by-pass.
Proprietor Tony Waugh says there is parking space for ten trucks, but he is considering extending this to cater for demand, Prices are "more competitive than Little Chefs", says Waugh. A jumbo breakfast, for example, costs 22.45, and includes two slices of bread, a mug of tea, two eggs, bacon, a jumbo sausage, double hash, and beans or tomatoes.
Though the Penny Farthing has no showers, its customers are welcome to use the washing facilities to freshen up.
The Hawk says new facilities which are geared for trucks deserve the support of the industry. Their prosperity can only demonstrate to the likes of Trust House Forte the folly of excluding truck drivers.
• £10 million were raised by all those who took part in the Great National Red Nose Day — Comic Relief. Peter Lane Transport in Portbury, Bristol, employs the sort of people any company or circus would be proud of — staff members there donned their red noses and conducted their business as usual. They raised a few laughs, too. • My colleagues are working hard on the organisation of Commercial Motor Truckfest, which takes place at Peterborough on May Bank Holiday weekend (1/2 May).
When one of them went to the showground the other day for a planning meeting, he was surprised to see joint-show organiser Colin Ward sporting a natty new sling on his right arm. Had he been practising too hard for the truck-pulling? my man wondered. Had he been driving in too many stakes to mark out parking slots for the hundreds of trucks we're expecting? Were people fighting already for Truckfest sun-strips?
Alas, no. The man who can marshall a hundred trucks at a time into the main arena, get ten judges to agree which is the best-kept working truck from hundreds of entrants, and escort an army of celebrities through their guest appearances without blinking an eyelid had. . . fallen off his roller skates.
In the best of traditions, Colin is battling on, broken arm notwithstanding — but if you're applying for a slot in one of the competitions (hurry, hurry, entries are flooding in already), try not to ask him to get his skates on, if he's skating on thin ice, or rolling his own. He's heard them all, several times. . . • The Hawk, having been brought up to believe that a football should be elliptical and carried across the goal line, does not have much time for Britain's national "sport". My interest was aroused, however, by the announcement that the Freight Rover Trophy (competed for by third and fourth division football clubs) has been re-named the Sherpa Van Trophy, and will remain so until the 1990/91 season.
I'm all in favour of companies getting publicity and helping sport or the arts at the same time, but somehow the image of 22 allegedly grown men hugging and kissing each other in front of several thousand yobs does nothing to enhance my admiration for the Sherpa as a no-frills workhorse. To me, it's all a bit like painting (as I once saw done) the name "Meadow Pipit" on the door of a heavy truck. Still, if a team like Bristol Rovers or Tranrnere Rovers wins it, there might be some useful spin-offs . .
• We all know about running for buses, but what about running for 'The Buses'? The staff of GM Buses in Manchester are hoping that hundreds will run for the buses, this Sunday (14 February) — and armed with frying pans and pancakes, to boot (or to hand). They've organised a charity pancake run, along the route of the Number 50, from East Didsbury to Manchester centre. The money they raise from entry fees and sponsorship will go to the St Mary's Hospital babycare unit. Entry and sponsorship forms can be obtained from the GM Buses press office, on 061-273 3322.