Call Sign March 2000

Mailshot is your chance to tell the subscribers of Dial-a-Cab exactly what you think. Complaints, compliments or just to write about Call Sign. This is YOUR paper within your magazine....
You can also email your letters to: callsignmag@aol.com

As has become usual before AGM's, the Mailshot page becomes thinner but on we go...

BOB WOODFORD'S SAHARA RUN
Please find enclosed a cheque made payable to Call Sign towards the expenses of Bob Woodford's Sahara run in April. I look forward to seeing his progress via Call Sign Magazine. I knew Paul Bishop well and still can't believe that we won't see him in the Piccolo again.
Ray Whitehead (Y15)

On behalf of the T&G 1/230 branch, please accept the enclosed cheque towards the expenses of Bob Woodford's run in the Marathon des Sables across the Sahara Desert. We wish him and his cause, Motor Neurone Disease, the very best of luck.
Eddie Lambert (V27)
T&G 1/230 branch, London

I would like to donate the enclosed cheque towards Bob Woodford's Sahara run in aid of Motor Neurone Disease and wish him the best of luck in his trek.
D.Raymond (F56)

Please accept this cheque towards Bob Woodford's run across the Sahara Desert in aid of Motor Neurone Disease and also in memory of the late Paul Bishop. Worthy causes indeed.
A.Green (E52)
These are just some of the letters received by Call Sign re the attempt by Bob Woodford (P49) to run across the Sahara Desert carrying a full rucksack in aid of Motor Neurone Disease. His main sponsor is Dial-a-Cab, but any drivers or staff wishing to help swell the fund can send a cheque to this magazine made out to Call Sign. You can also drop it into the Call Sign cubbyhole in Driver's Reception together with your name and call sign...Ed

CANADIAN REQUEST
Some months ago you were kind enough to put a picture of my

grandfather, William George Simonds, in your magazine in the hope that someone would recognise the name or know something about him (Call Sign, Jan 99) Sadly, I did not hear from anyone, but it was certainly worth a try. Can I please draw on your knowledge of London once again? When I wrote to you last, I did not know where my grandfather lived in London, but now I do. His first wife died in their home at 79 Regents Park Road, St.Pancras in 1906 (he came to Canada after that). I have found the street in my A to Z, just north of the Regent's Park Zoo. Is that right? I see there is another Regents Park Road in N3, but that wouldn't be St. Pancras, would it? He had his farrier's business in St. George's Mews, Regent's Park Road. Does this road still exist? The A to Z doesn't show it. Do you know if the numbers on Regent's Park Road would have changed? Where would 79 be near?
Thank you so much for anything at all you can tell me. Oh yes, one final thing, where is St. Pancras Cemetery?
Georgina Harris
London, Ontario, Canada ...via email
Sorry, we couldn't help last time. Regents Park Road is classified as NW1 and is now in the borough of Camden - the area of St Pancras having been diminished in size many years back. Number 79 is situated between Erskine Road and Chamberlain Street. St George's Mews is between number 53 and 55 Regents Park Road and St Pancras Cemetery is in St Pancras Gardens, Pancras Road. Hope that helps...Ed

CODE 3
In the December Call Sign, Brian Rice replied in a letter that the average number of trips completed by drivers was 4 per shift, admitting that this could do with some improvement. Obviously what is needed in an incentive and I feel that the re-introduction of the going-home
scheme (code 3) could assist. Instead of implementing the code after 3 completed trips, why not double the amount to 6? The lure of a lucrative trip home instead of being sent miles in the opposite direction would surely tempt drivers to increase their credit work and the Society would benefit greatly.
Mr. R. G. Connor (G96)
I would assume that your question was answered at the AGM...Ed

DAC TOUR FOR PLAYSTATION WINNER
I am writing to thank you for taking me on a tour of the Dial-a-Cab Call Centre and printing my picture in Call Sign Magazine. My PlayStation that I won in Call Sign Kids is brilliant and for Christmas I got a new game called V-Rally Racing. When I received the letter in the post that I had won one of the PlayStations, I was absolutely thrilled and was planning out what I would do and say when I would go up to London to receive it. When I did get to Dial-a-Cab and received it, I was lost for words! Then after I received the PlayStation, you took my dad, sister and I on a tour of the Call Centre, which was really good and hi-tech. I really enjoyed myself immensely and I would like to thank you very, very much!
Sophie-Beth Aylett
Bracknell, Berks (daughter of Paul Aylett - S41)
Pleased you enjoyed it Sophie-Beth. Doing tours is not something I am encouraged to do but as you had come so far and wanted to see the Call Centre so much, an exception was made. If any driver would like a tour of the Call Centre, please contact Mike Son...Ed

TALK OF LONDON
We recently won in Call Sign, a table at the Talk of London and spent a very relaxed evening there. The food was good. We started with melon and orange, followed by trout with a selection of vegetables, while for dessert we chose apple pie and coffee. Drinks were very reasonably priced. The compare (Carl Wayne) was excellent and on the particular evening that we were there, he conversed and sang to the audience in Dutch, Swedish and Norwegian. He was polished and professional, as was the whole cabaret. Our overall verdict? A good night out!
Shirley and Gordon Poluck (R34)

AND AGAIN...
I wanted to let you know how much we thoroughly enjoyed the evening at the Talk of London that we won in Call Sign. There were four in our party and we all thought that the meal was excellent and the cabaret first class. I would have no reservations in recommending the Talk of London for an evening out to anybody wishing to have a