Every year the Berkshire roads reverberate to the sound of the Reading Biker Toy Run. William Gadsby Peet meets the man behind the motorcycles
Andrew Bloomfield
Think of a large group of bikers getting together for a ‘run’, and the mind steals inevitably back to the incredible opening pages of Hunter S Thompson’s gonzo masterpiece, Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Motorcycle Gangs.
“The run was on, ‘outlaws’ from all over the state rolled in packs towards Monterey ... The hard core, the outlaw elite, were the Hell’s Angels ... wearing the winged death’s-head on the back of their sleeveless jackets and packing their ‘mamas’ behind them on big ‘chopped hogs’. They rode with a fine, unwashed arrogance, secure in their reputation as the rottenest motorcycle gang in the whole history of Christendom.”
But if Thompson’s Hell’s Angels were indeed the rottenest motorcycle gang in Christendom, the bikers that perform the annual Reading Toy Run must constitute one of the finest.
Each December, hundreds of petrolheads don festive fancy dress, mount their faithful steeds and ride out from the village of Shinfield to deliver toys to High Close School – a Barnardo’s school in nearby Wokingham – from where the gifts are distributed to Barnardo’s children throughout the UK.
Still, the cuddly image is a hard sell: bikers, for most of us, remain big bearded men riding their Harleys to hell.
“Well, you’re certainly talking to a big bearded man,” concedes event founder Ben Spiller, “although I don’t own a Harley any more!
“That whole image comes from many years ago during the time of Mods and Rockers. It was newspapers going up to people and saying: ‘Here’s ten quid, now go and have a punch-up.’ It was all staged. The media got it wrong in that respect and contributed a lot to the negative picture.”
But if festive fisticuffs are firmly off the agenda, what exactly can we expect from the 32nd Reading Toy Run?
“Absolutely thousands of people lining the roads to watch and cheer,” explains Ben. “The public love it because they don’t usually get to see that many bikes, and we drive slowly, in silly costumes.
“We get to the school and drop off the gifts, and then out the back we have tea, coffee and soup, plus a raffle for motorcycle gear. One of our lads is a reverend, so there’s a little God squad talk for about five minutes, and then everyone clears off for Christmas.”
A long ride away from the “unwashed arrogance” portrayed so vividly by Thompson, back in the 60s.
“When we first started, 32 years ago, we were just a small group of Christian motorcyclists. On that first run we went to the Royal Berkshire Hospital on only 18 bikes, with perhaps 30 people. Over the years it’s grown and grown, to the point where we’re now getting in the region of 2,000 people on 1,700 bikes. It’s the largest toy run in the world – and we have the Guinness World Record to prove it.”
What was it like setting that?
“Nerve-racking!” shouts Ben down the phone, laughing. “It’s tough enough doing the run in the first place, but trying to get the record was hard work.
“The Guinness Book of World Records people explain what you’ve got to do, and you have to carry out the instructions to the letter. If you don’t, you won’t get the record. I think someone in America was planning on trying to beat us, but when they saw how much work went into it they gave up.”
More than three decades of record-setting charity work haven’t gone unnoticed by the community: last month Ben received the major honour, named after Chris Tarrant, at the Pride of Reading Awards. Yet it is neither the praise nor the prizes of men that keeps him coming back year after year. For Ben, the annual Reading Toy Run is powered by faith in Christ.
“For myself, as a Christian, it’s all about love. This is a time when people can show their love to those they don’t even know,” he explains.
“Most of the bikers will never meet the kids who receive the gifts, or see their smiles on Christmas Day, but they still ride anyway. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
More heaven than hell, for sure.
- The Reading Biker Toy Run takes place on December 10. If you’d like to join the run, meet-up is scheduled for 1pm at the Foster Wheeler by Junction 11 of the M4. For more info, call 01189 787 095 or visit: readingtoyrun.blogspot.co.uk
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