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Tour de Brentford - Tropical Zoo Secs Appeal

(This is picking up from a thread elsewhere on the forum)The ride happens THIS SATURDAY!!!! So in the spirit of Bob Geldolf at Live Aid - give me your f***ing money!Seriously, the big message I want to get out there is that the Tropical Zoo is a valuable resource/attraction/organisation at least on a par with the Musical Museum and the Butterfly House.  We must not lose it but there is a chance that could happen.  However, the opportunity to save it is very do-able if we all pull our fingers out NOW. The shortfall of £350K which they need to make the move sounds like a lot - it is - but it comes down to approx. £1.50 per person in the Borough.  Given the Tropical Zoo serves all of West London that should be easily achievable.Please donate at www.JustGiving.com/Jon-HardyOR at the following pubs:The Rising Sun on London Road,The Red Lion, Linkfield Road IsleworthThe Six Bell, London Road, BrentfordThe George and Dragon, London Road, BrentfordThe Magpie and Crown BrentfordThe Weir, Market Place, BrentfordThe Beehive, BrentfordThe Woodlands pub in St. John's Road IsleworthThe Swan, IsleworthThe Griffin, BrentfordThe Coach and Horses, London Road, SyonThe Express Tavern, Kew Bridge RoadDelicacies, South Street Isleworthor on the day at THE FINAL PITSTOP o/s The Treaty Centreor THE FINISH in MarketSquare BrentfordPlease dig deep and give generously: we need to do this now; extinction lasts a long time.

Jon Hardy ● 5509d7 Comments

The ACTUAL FINISHING TIME was 20:25:41 (not 20:45:41 as reported in the Chronicle - mis-read of someone's shorthand that)The bids in the vicinity of that time were:20:17:48 Laura Sinfield diff: 00:07:53 20:18:07 Deepika-Reazario diff: 00:07:34 20:20:00 James Hall diff: 00:05:41 20:20:10 Gresswell diff: 00:05:31 20:20:19 Hany         diff: 00:05:22 20:20:20 J Slade         diff: 00:05:21 20:25:41 ACTUAL FINISHING TIME 20:30:00 Hani Husseir diff: 00:04:19 1st place20:30:02 Barry Wise diff: 00:04:21 2nd place20:30:10 Wilhelmina Kudhail:diff00:04:29 3rd place 20:30:11 Tom Brown diff: 00:04:30 4th place20:30:15 Jennifer Johnstondiff: 00:04:34 5th place 20:30:30 Dave Rod diff: 00:04:49 joint 6th 20:30:30 C Diwell diff: 00:04:49 joint 6thI shall be contacting the winners ( annotated 1-6 above) through the contact details they gave on their bid forms.

Jon Hardy ● 5496d

20 hours: 25 moinutes : 41 seconds I shall be posting the names of the winners later this evening.

Jon Hardy ● 5497d

What was the official time ?

Tim Henderson ● 5497d

http://www.justgiving.co.uk/Jon-HardyDidn't he do well.  Bump! Deserves to be on Page one perhaps!http://www.justgiving.co.uk/Jon-Hardy

Jim Lawes ● 5498d

This is it, as a certain M Jackson once saidTomorrow - or in 7 hours - I set off from Bristol (106 West Town Lane to be exact ) to trikle the 112 miles to Brentford..On line junkies can follow my progress by logging on to Yahoo and signing into the e-mail account TrikeTrek@yahoo.co.uk using the PassWord: TadpoleOpen up the e-mails and click on the Trailguru link to see how far I've got.It may improve your chances in the competition!NB times are in GMTor stroll down to the donation stations at either the Treaty Centre or Brentford High Street by Barclays for frequent updates.Or just make a donation to save the Tropical Zoo - that's what this really all about - at www.JustGiving.co.uk/Jon-Hardy

Jon Hardy ● 5506d

Hi Philip,It's obviously sad that the Tropical Zoo cannot stay within Syon but, in fairness, the main reason they are having to move is a planning condition contingent on the permission granted for the hotel (don't blame me: granted long before my time!)Anyway, the Zoo has to move and I think it is fair to say that the Purdy's (who run the Zoo) so long as everything goes well, are looking at the move as an opportunity to set up a facility as they know it should be (the current facility has evolved ad hoc over the years.The good news is that they have a site to move to and that it is still within Hounslow.  Being adjacent to the Urban Farm there will be some synergy there: apart from a sharing of expertise and the fact it will be a whole day out to visit both at the same time there is already talk of a combined ticket to encourage this.So we have a credible option for the Tropical Zoo to survive within this Borough: all it needs is a little help from everyone to make it happen.  That is why I'm doing the Trike ride: I hope everyone will support it.

Jon Hardy ● 5509d

Its sad to think this may go the same way as the butterfly house but what can one expect from the miserable money grabbing (already extremely rich) folks who own Syon park. I remember when I opened my shop there; I wasn't allowed to sell Cannabis seeds. Then as the Runciman inquiry was published and for a brief period it looked like a change in the laws was about to happen (Prior to the threat by ACPO that they would not work with any new law decriminalising or re-legalising cannabis) a letter went round from the then management company that the Duchess was opening a poison garden which would include Hemp plants and that the concession for 'medical Plants' had been given to her. Which in a nutshell meant I could not sell the kind of plants that was my speciality even if they became legal, because she had sown them up for herself. I left the park shortly after. I heard her on radio four the otheir week talking about her other medical garden in one of thier other big houses, she said that she has opium poppies and cannabis plants but she did of course explain to the children visiting,that her Cannabis plants weren't like 'GM skunk' I e.mailed woman's hour and pointed out that neither modern Hemp or skunk was GM, just the product of simple hybridisation  and whilst the BBC could not stop this idiot mis-informing children at her homes they had a responsibility to prevent her talking crap on the radio, They never responded. Its worth noting she never mentioned that the opium poppies produce heroin!!!! one wouldn't want children getting proper information would we.

Philip Walsh ● 5509d