In the summer we witnessed the joining in double Holy matrimony of two of the forum's most well known and lovable members, former admin member Marksmini, and his lovely wife Michelle, and minimadjonesy and his lucky other half, Emma. It was by pure coincidence that the two couples, who know each other well, chose to get married on the same day (07/07/07). It was a beautiful day for both couples to experience the happiest day of their lives, as confirmed by all that attended, and I'm sure it will be one that they will remember for the rest of their life sentences happily married lives together. Not only were they not content on getting married on the same day, they then decided, again by 'happy' coincidence, to spent their honeymoons at the same resort on Safari in Kenya!! A fabulously beautiful part of the world, and a grand way to cap off such a joyous occasion!

                

On to probably the most celebrated event in the forums history, being crowned the 'Best Online Forum' by readers of Mini Magazine. The award was part of a larger competition to pick out the best companies and clubs in several different categories, including best parts supplier, best national club, and best online forum amongst others. Each reader was asked to select who they thought was top notch in each category, and then send in their completed application forms to Mini Magazine where they could then tally up the results. The Mini Forum was then crowned the best online forum in the August edition of Mini Magazine, after fending off strong competition from Minifinity. Later in the month we then received a very nice looking trophy at the Mini in the Park show when Mini Magazine hosted an awards bash towards the end of the day. Here’s hoping that we can build on this success to become bigger and better in 2008 and retain the title of the 'Best Online Mini Forum'!

The award from Mini Magazine became somewhat of a double celebration in autumn when we welcomed our 10,000th member on to the forum! In recent months our rate of new members signing up has rocketed from an average of a couple of hundred each month at the end of 2006, to well over 500 a month at the end of 2007. This marks a tremendous achievement to all those involved in making the forum what it is today. Not only to the staff that work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep the cogs turning, but also a huge pat on the back to all the members on the forum, whose good advice and friendly, warm approach mean that the power of word of mouth is bigger than ever and that it now seems we are the biggest Mini forum online in the world!

We couldn't have arrived at this successful base we find ourselves at without the support of our sponsor, Minispares. Not only has Minispares employee Simon been a huge help in providing advice on parts and part numbers on the forum, but he's also heroically been able to juggle his hectic working day around dealing with queries from forum members. Not content with this unprecedented level of service, he's provided the icing on the cake by hosting two very successful group buys on select Minispares products; the first being a superb price on Cooper S disc conversion kits, and then a rock bottom price on the new bonnet gas struts. I can't let on too much at this time, but having spoken to Simon about plans for 2008, we should be offering you a couple of amazing chances to get your hands on Minispares products at very very low prices! And of course, I'm sure we are all grateful for the 5% discount Minispares offer to all forum members.

Our annual trip to the Nurburging was another big success, with over 20 Minis making the journey from our starting point at Brands Hatch, across the continent to the Mecca of motorsport that is the 'Ring! Unfortunately it seems my curse struck again for a second year in a row! After being a passenger in Graham’s Mini last year when it bent a valve, I was then lucky enough to get a passenger ride this year in 'The Stigs' supercharged Mini. Unfortunately we had barely left Brands Hatch car park before we were being stalked by a big cloud of oily smoke! This pretty much set the scene for the rest of the journey to Germany, and not long after arriving it was loaded on to a recovery truck for a piggy back ride back to the UK. A strip down shortly after arriving back home revealed a crack in the cylinder head. Luckily 'The Stig' was let loose on a rental Mercedes A class, and it took no time for him to offer 10 minute “tours” of the 'Ring, with several shrills and shrieks coming from inside the car as 'The Stig' explored the limits of what the tortured Mercedes could do! A great time was had by all, with many of 2007's runners having already signed up to the run again this year. We've decided to mix things up a bit for 2008, so we want to see how the mighty Mini can stand up to the competition against all classic and retro cars! So far we've had everything from Triumph Dolomites, to Peugeot 205s, to old school Vauxhall Astras sign up for this years BH2N Retro Run, and the buzz about the trip is already beginning to build. At the time of writing this, we've already received deposits from nearly as many runners as were on 2007’s run, so this year should be a sell out. If your interested (and if you love cars, adrenaline and motorsport you should be!), then check out www.bh2nretro.com.

With the forum growing to such a formidable size we've had to recruit new talent to help oversee all that happens on TMF and help with things in the background. Firstly I'd like to welcome 'PanelBeaterPeter' to the staff team, who becomes our new bodywork Doc, he'll be responsible for giving advice on removing all that horrible rust and also trying to find the hole grail; a way to stop it coming back, so arguably the most important staff member on TMF! Another massive enrolment for TMF was the appointment of 'Millsmini' to the team, who becomes an overall moderator, as well as the lucky guy who will be in charge of the new shop when it launches very soon. We also created new moderators in 'The Matt' and 'Miniboo', who both have incredible level headedness and maturity, in fact they could probably sort out the problems in the Middle East if required, unfortunately the UN can't have them! In addition to those two, we've literally just brought MiniMadJonesy and MattYoung69 on to the moderating team! Both are very popular with members, and harness a good sense of humour mixed with a dash of maturity and sensibility. And last but certainly not least, the employment of 'Purple Tom' who becomes the latest member of admin. Since becoming a member on TMF he's helped countless people with his vast technical knowledge, as well as being one of the friendliest and most popular members on the forum. In his new role as admin he'll be responsible for general admin tasks, as well as leading efforts to increase TMF's presence at all the major (and most of the less major) shows in the future. I'd also like to personally thank Marksmini, who decided to step down as a member of admin recently in order to devote his time to his family and other ventures he's recently become a part of. Mark was one of the founding members of TMF, so we all owe him a huge amount of gratitude for giving us this fantastic site, and also for his efforts over the many years he has been leading the forum to push it to the forefront of the Mini scene. Thankfully Mark will remain a regular member of the forum, and I for one am looking forward to him finally turning up at a Mini show in a real Mini!!