The Rockers are back in town for a Christmas run to take toys to children in hospital.
The leather-clad motorbike “ton up tearaways” of yesteryear are revving up at the famous Ace Café on the North Circular Road for their 26th annual Christmas toy run to drop off presents to Northwick Park and St Mary’s Paddington hospitals.
They will be roaring up at the café at Ace Corner between Stonebridge and Wembley at 10.30am on Sunday, December 17, to start their run — then back for a cupper and mince pies.
“We’re grateful for anything people want to donate for children aged three to 11,” Ace Café owner Mark Wilsmore said.
“Times are challenging and difficult for so many charities caring for less fortunate children, so any surplus gifts will be distributed later to organisations, childcare homes and voluntary groups. These gifts can make a world of difference to a child.”
The Rockers — as they were known in their heyday in the 1950s and 60s — are appealing for things like Lego, arts and craft sets, Barbie dolls, Spider Man, cars and planes to be dropped off unwrapped at the Ace, ready for the toy run.
Hospitals advise against stuffed toys and sweets because of allergy risks — but nurses may appreciate some sweet treats, we’re told.
Prizes are also up for grabs when the bikers return to the Ace after the hospital run for the “best dressed bike and rider”.
All rocking elves, reindeer, Santas, snowmen and pixies are being asked to check in at the café first.
The toy run is followed by an evening candlelit Christmas carol service at the café at 7pm.
The Ace was famous six decades ago as a Rockers’ mecca for “ton-up” bikers who would race along the North Circular at 100mph — often pursued by police.
The café later fell into disuse for many years until Mark bought it in 1997.
Mark reopened the Ace as the Rokers’ nostalgic meeting place with a guest visit from retired members of the late Bill Halley’s rock band the Comets, all in their 70s at the time.
It was American Bill Haley’s Rock Around the Clock that started the whole rock’n’roll era when the record smashed to No 1 on the Hit Parade both sides of the Atlantic in 1955.
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