♫ Oh, come, all ye faithful, Joyful and triumphant! Oh, come ye, oh, come ye to Carrraarroooool's ♫

Here we go again! The party we waited for all year, the Annual BCCCB Christmas Party. The red sled of Ricky and Sharon's ran a tad late and when we arrived at Carol's, we had to park a fair distance from the house, telling us that the house was full and this was going to be one heck of a Party. Entering the house, or should I say, before entering the house, the sounds of merriment filled the air. Inside, the house was filled with people and as we walked through, the greetings of Merry Christmas were shared from one end of the house to the other.

As usual, when we all get together there is no shortage of chatter, or laughter for that matter, and tonight we seemed to be a little more louder and there was a little more laughter. We had a lot to talk about and laugh about, as this was one of the best years yet for the BCCCB. Our very humble beginning started in 2004 as a few of us British car owners gathered for our very first meeting. Still unsure if a club was even of interest, or for that matter if one had time to commit and before you knew it, we made it through our first year. Here, this evening, shows the growth of our little and humble club that started a mere 6 years ago. Here, tonight, it felt more of a family gathering then a club and I am sure others felt the same way.

Tonight entails more then just a party with great friends and to eat some great food. Tonight we recognize those members who went the extra mile in many ways to make our club look good, stand out and help our club.... the BCCCB have fun.  I started the awards ceremony with a little speech to say how these great little cars brought us all together and how friendships quickly formed. This friendship is truly the roots that gives this fantastic club the strength to be so popular amongst it's members and is the reason why, in all these pictures, there is so many smiles. Tonight there are 16 awards to be presented for those who stood out. As I read off the names from our growing list, my lovely wife Paula presented their awards. We started off with an award to those of us who purchased a second, or in one case a third British car. You have to admit, with all the care one British car requires, buying a second, without a doubt deserves an award, an award for bravery. Tonight, Sharon and Ricky, Bonnie and Francis, Peter and Sandy as well as Don, received this award.

Below you have Sandy modeling her award, a BCCCB crested hat for her and Peter's purchase of an amazing looking Morgan. Also a recipient for a new purchase award is Don for his purchase of an MGA that he is restoring. Now there is no photos of Don receiving his award, the hat that Paula is holding ... he is the guy taking the pictures.... thanks for that Don. 

There was awards for refurbishing one's car as well. If your ole British car was showing it's age and you took the time and money to brighten it up, then for sure you deserve an award. If your car looks good, it reflex's on our club. Now not wanting to put down a car that requires paint, that just means you like to drive your car and have fun... and there is nothing wrong with that. Below you see Jean Renzi accepting an award for the great job Joe did refurbishing the under bonnet area of  their rare and great looking Austin Bugeye Sprite. After that Barc received an award for going the extra mile for hosting a "know your car" tech session for some members who wanted to know a few things about their car. Here I think Paula spent a little to long on good ole Barc's lap.

The awards continued..... below Paula received an award for having her Beautiful Pagent Blue B refurbished and looking like new. Next to her, Ricky is accepting an award for going the extra mile when he and Sharon hosted the 2010 Picnic Party at their lovely cabin in Groves point.

For the past few years, on Canada Day, Peter and Sandy went the extra mile hosting a British car Show and shine in the beautiful village of Baddeck and afterwards we are all invited to their beautiful home nestled on the hills of Baddeck for a Canada Day BBQ. This is a Bring Your Own Refreshment event as the Smiths look after everything. This award should be the going the extra 10 miles award Also deserving the extra 10 mile award is Carol for opening her house for both the Lobster boil and the Christmas Party. Folks these awards are small compared to the grand efforts you all put in to making these events memorable..

Barc, a few years ago started the awards and on one occasion I received a shirt for the simple task of taking pictures and sharing them with the club. The shirt had the words official photographer on it under our crest. I still have the shirt and it reminds me of how it's the simple things the make the big impressions. Now speaking of big impressions, at our lobster fest we had an auction and without Bill as our auctioneer I am sure it wouldn't have been so entertaining and without Bill, the auction wouldn't have been so prosperous creating the monies for these awards. So without a doubt, an awarded is well deserved here, Thanks Bill. Also under the category of special mention we had Craig the cook. At our lobster fest this year, the sun shone making it a very hot day and attending two hot pots of boiling water and the BBQ was Craig. While we were enjoying the day on the back lawn, Craig was stead fast looking after the grub. An award is well deserved here as the heat near these pots were extreme.

Ahhh the magic of Christmas. As co chair of any club one has to try and keep things rolling, if you drop the ball everyone notices and when you follow things through, it's the way it's suppose to be. I feel when I go the extra mile, it's the way it's suppose to be but last night I was thrown off my game by a surprise. I feel I do no more then anyone else but last night for my efforts as co-chair I was presented with two awards. the first was from Carol, a small plaque that read "if you don't succeed try it your wife's way. lol words to live by. The second... as soon as the awards were given out, Don walked into the room with a gift and made a small speech about my efforts working for the club and presented me with a very nice Fleece Jacket with our club crest embroidered on it. It fit like a glove and I love it! Not sure of the story behind it but thank you so much.

 All the awards are given out now and there are 9 door prizes to be passed out. There were two hats, a coffee mug, two water bottles donated from Steele's auto group, A key chain donated by Octagon Motors, a gift certificate donated from the Cedar House, two $25 gift certificate graciously donated by Obsolete Automotive. The door prizes were drawn for and Don's name came out of the bag. Don, after winning three awards already graciously declined his prize and it was put back in the sack. That being said 8 of the 9 awards went to members who didn't win awards so a majority of members won something. Now at the end of it all there was still one hat left. Thinking that most of us wanted one I thought a quick auction would be nice to end this segment of the evening. Quickly yelling to Bill to see if he was up to the task to play his part as Bill the Auctioneer he jumped at the chance. Bill's skill as an auctioneer had the crowd in laughter and the bids were rolling in. Bill dropped the gavel at $_ _-- and the winner was Alf Dinaut... Congratulation Alf. All moneys went back into the club coffers.

I kid you not! Carol actually sounded the dinner bell. OH MY GOD THE FOOD! For starters, throughout the evening the were some tasty delight sitting in various spots for one to nibble on but what was set before us in the dinning room was amazing. My count was 36 mouths to feed and there was enough food for 46. I can't even begin to tell you what was available, it would take to long, just trust me, you had to try it all.

And most of us did. We were spread all over the house with plates that were filled with as much as you dare put on them. I did return to the table for seconds but the aroma of hot chilly captured my attention and before it was gone I had to have a bowl.. Man was it good. No one smiling now... well Bill is, as he usually is.. we are all to busy eating. Now this is a party!

As the food trays emptied they were replaced by desert trays. Oh man does this group have talent. The scene before us looked like the Great Canadian Cook Off, an All You Can Eat Buffet, and we did just that, all we could eat. Just look at the cakes, cookies and squares, a feast fit for a king for sure. I have to ask..... do others do stuff like this? All here went the extra mile for sure.... ohh man ...  More awards.

I believed I mentioned Cake in the last paragraph, well feast your eyes on this below. Don and his lovely daughter Jenessa, together came up with  a cake that was to pretty to eat. This is amazing, I swear members were walking by all evening looking at this cake as if they were admiring a great painting hanging in the Louvre. A fantastic job Don and Jenessa, lets see someone beat this idea. Again it's about the little things that make the largest impressions.

Now I have to mention two of our members for showing their Christmas spirit. The lovely Jennifer made her Christmas Dress. Her dress was adorned with various Christmas figures and she ran a string of working light on it to make it complete and for Bill, he arrived with a Santa's Helper outfit on. Now with Bill's personality, this outfit is really true to form. 

Now for the prizes. Due to some extra cash generated from the lobster fest auction  I was able to kick it up a notch. Most of the money went on British Car Club of Cape Breton Crested caps. At the moment there is no official cap color for our club so I tried two colors, green and grey and they both looked great. These great looking caps were purchased at MacSween's Design  in Sydney and they did a super job. Next we had the coffee mugs. Last year these were the awards but some recipients this year didn't get a cup last year so a few of these were purchased from Arachnia Design in design in North Sydney at a unspeakable low price. Thanks Shelly and Travis.

Next the Christmas Bells with a picture of the recipients car on one side and the club crest on the other. These as well came from Arachnia Design for basically a give away price to help out our club and again a big thank you from the members of the BCCCB to Shelly and Travis. Just a note here. I received a few emails concerning these, the idea was very well received and the recipients are sure that they are the only people to have their cars on a Christmas bell. Next Photo is the Club Contribution Award. This award will be awarded each year to the person most deserving. The tote bag was purchased and crested at MacSweens Design and the recipient this year was very modest about receiving the award but the truth be told, if it wasn't for her, the annual BCCCB Christmas Party would be held in a stale hall where we would feel like a club rather then the family that we have become. This years recipient is Carol Miller for continuous opening the doors to her beautiful home to host both this gala event and the lobster fest. Thank you so much Carol.

I mentioned a few times throughout this story about going the extra mile and that it's about the little things that make the largest impressions. Well it is the little things and the extra miles that makes this club and any club strong and a joy to be a member of. A little story of going the extra mile that I have to share. Due to a failure in the cooling system of Jennifer's B, the head on her engine cracked. Don managed to get a head... and I had a head gasket and we went to work. To make a long story short, the head was remover and everything was cleaned up and...... both Jennifer and Alton replaced the head ... that right ... they replaced the head, under our supervision and guidance. The car ran great afterwards and we never thought about it again. At the BCCCB Christmas Party both Don and I were presented with a gift for our help on their car, Totally unexpected and unnecessary but it's people like these who make up the BCCCB and it's people like these who make the BCCCB what it is today. It's the little things.

Now it's time to close the BCCCB book of 2010, a year full of adventures and surprises, a year of new firsts and new members, a year that we all agree on, that it is the best year yet for the British Car Club of Cape Breton. How in the heck can we build on this. The adventures are getting longer and further and I'll be the guy standing at the ready to fire up my old B to take in whatever adventure comes our way. The BCCCB book of 2011 has yet to be written but I foresee many pages filled with chapters of adventures and visits to great destinations and eating at some great restaurants. I am sure there will be stories of breakdowns and misadventures but that's all part of being a member of the best darn British Car Club in existence.

From all of us at the

 British Car Club of Cape Breton

MERRY CHRISTMAS

AND

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Thanks Don and Susan for taking the pictures

Thank you Carol for your hospitality

Thank you Bill for the auction

and thank you everyone for coming