Next up - Frogs Island 4x4 – Who are they and what do they do?

Frogs Island 4x4 used to be based on an Island in the lovely village of Brightwell, where frogs roamed, quite literally, so the name stuck! Founded 15 years ago, Frogs Island 4x4 started life as a PR2 Allmakes Parts for Land Rovers and grew from a small one ramp workshop on an Island to the premises they are at today on the Milton Park Business Estate in Oxfordshire.

They tell us:
'In the past we have worked on vehicles for Film Crews following Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman and prepared their Nissan Patrols, we have also worked on Rally cars going to the Toureg and Land Rovers travelling around the world.'

'Our skilled technicians and mechanics work on all makes and models of vehicles, and with our 4 ramps and 1 ‘2’ poster there is nothing too big or too small for our dedicated team. As well as servicing and MOTs we also offer a unique range of services for those with slightly more ambition for their vehicles or 4x4’s.'

'Our dedicated parts counter is manned by enthusiastic Land Rover owners and can help give advice on all manner of Land Rover and 4x4 parts and accessories from the Terrafirma Range and also Old Man Emu Suspension, Rock Oil, Superwinch, Front Runner Expedition Gear and Roof racks and plenty more quality manufacturers.'

More from Frogs Island soon! But in the meantime don’t forget to click on their logo on the HUBB UK site.

Most expedition vehicle and motorcycle overlanders will probably not have heard of Danny Bent, and if you are one of those, prepare yourself to meet one of the characters of the world of overlanding.

Let me give you just a taste of this decidedly witty traveller, presenter and author is about. When Danny cycled 15,000 kilometres from the UK to India to raise money for Action Aid, it was a decision that took twenty years and one minute! The one minute was when he was put on the spot by his pupils at school, and declared that the means was by bike, and he was going to India.

What he had signed up for was slogging along roads with trucks bearing down on him, unable to see and choking in the smog; shooting down treacherous descents with 100 foot drops, shaking with cold and too numb to brake; muscle burn and saddle sores; delirium and food poisoning; thirst and malnutrition; foul and insanitary conditions; life-threatening crises; obstructive border guards, crazed dogs and inquisitive passers-by...

A passionate, and at times decidedly outrageous presenter, Danny is completely inspirational. You can check out more on this Danny Bent link. What’s he going to be talking about at the HUBB UK? You have to be there to find out

30 DAYS TO GO!!! And don't forget, if you've not pre registered and paid by the 23rd of May then you lose out on the £10 discount. That'd suck!

It’s brilliant to have Morocco and GPS guru Tim Cullis back with us again. Tim’s past presentations have always gone down a storm and that’s no surprise. Tim’s first trip to this amazing land was way back in 1972 and you could say (with full British reserve) that he’s a repeat offender! Tim is hugely knowledgeable and if you plan a trip to Morocco then you really ought to ignore the bar or any other presentations.

And as for GPS, how many of us have actually done a long road trip outside of Europe using one? This session of Tim’s gives you the chance to be on the road, in control. You’ll know what you need to do to set your kit up and how to take advantage of all the opportunities it offers you. Excellent!

For more on Tim, just click on his link on the HUBB UK Page.

Excellent news last night! Iain and I were talking things HUBB UK through with Grant and Susan - Grant's health is good; they'll both be with us all at Donington!!!!

Volunteering? We still need some

If any of you guys are booked but haven’t signed up to volunteer, could I ask you to have a think about it. If you’ve been before then you’ll know how important people volunteering a few hours is with making the event happen with a friendly relaxed atmosphere.

And those hours are also a brilliant way of getting to know people if you’ve never been before.

If you’ve still to book, you’ll see the place to sign up to volunteer when you are booking in. Pre-Registration for Adventure Travellers - HUBB UK 2013 Donington Park

We are looking for a total of 150 volunteers – many hands make light work. Thanks VERY much to everyone who has given a thumbs up so far.

All we need is for just 20 more people to say yes to helping for a couple of 2 hour slots and the roles are all covered. That’ll be a ‘Phew’ moment.

The Crews we are short of people on are:

The Gate Crew – You’ll be the first point of contact that people arriving will have. As we are at a new venue and as so many people haven’t been before, this crew will make the difference between people being instantly welcome and knowing what they have to do next – or feeling like a square peg in a round hole.

Campsite Crew – This is a new Crew and its happening as a result of the move to Donington Park Farmhouse Hotel. It’s a much bigger site for us to play with and on and there needs to be a centre of information and a base for heading people out in the right direction. HUBB Zone? Presentation Rooms? Vehicle parking? Quiet camping area? And so on… The Real Ale bar too of course!

Raffle Tickets sellers – We have some absolutely brilliant prizes lined up for the raffle – many thanks to everyone who is contributing a prize and I need to say that most are coming from the Adventure Travel companies that are going to be with us and to the ABRAC riders. Thanks all! But the money we collect in aid of Prostate cancer will be down to two other things – How easy it is for people to snag tickets, and how deep we are all prepared to dig! : ) Fancy flogging some tickets? Your help makes all the difference, and because people that come to an HU event are the sort of people they are, it’s not a hard task.

Presentation Crew – Last but not least. If you have really good IT skills and are used to setting up powerpoint presentations and the like then we could do with a few more people on this crew. The one thing is that you’ll be doing a fair number more hours on this crew but the bonus is that you are right there in the presentation rooms when it’s all happening. Many of the presenters are first timers and your job in part will be to help them get set up and make sure things run smoothly so they can concentrate on their presentation.

Fancy a go? Brilliant! Thanks very much! Here’s the Join the Volunteer Crew - HUBB UK 2013 Donington Park

This presentation from John May is going to get you thinking hard.

John’s presentation is on a vital subject that too often doesn’t get thought about in anything like enough depth by travellers in the trip planning stage.

As John says, ‘Before doing a big trip we tend to spend loads of time and energy planning the route, thinking about what vehicle to take, picking the ideal tent and so on. But what scuppers most trips is the people stuff. We tend not to really consider the questions about why we are doing it in the first place and who to go with. Picking the right travelling companions is much more important than picking the right stove!’

This presentation is designed to join a lot of hugely important travel dots! Planning to travel with other people? Don’t miss this!

Hi Folks,

Merv here from Moglanders Travels. We are a couple that are overlanding through South America in a 4x4 truck since last August or so. I'm going to be virtually presenting at the HUBB UK event, and will talk about what it's like to live on 4 wheels in South America. We might chat a bit about Morocco as we spent 3 months there too.

I know when we were getting ready to go on our trip, and even before we decided to definitely go for it, we had a lot of conversations about it and did a lot of research (which means surfing the web for the main part!). I'm sure there are a few folks out there on the edge of normal life, and ready to leap into a vehicle and take to the road and just were wondering about a few things. If you want to PM me, fire me any issues you are wondering about and I'll see if I can address them at the HUBB UK event.

Hi Merv, great to hear from you. Ain't tech fantastic! Really looking forward to the linkup with you guys!!!

__________________
http://www.sam-manicom.com

And another post from me to say thanks to everyone who has volunteered to help since I posted my request. We now need just 7 people! Brilliant. Any takers? It's the best way to meet people and of course you'll get that warm glow that will come from helping for a few hours

You may remember that I posted about Frogs Island 4x4 being with us this year, well I’ve had an email through from them in which they are making some pretty special offers available to HUBB UK attendees.

I would usually have picked out key sections from an email like this to post but there’s so much info I thought, stuff it, I’ll post the lot for you to see! There’s thoughts here for anyone coming to the HUBB UK, regardless of what wheels you use.

Here goes:

We wanted to share some offers with VIP/HUBB UK customers, and also some NEWS. We have launched a new website – Frogs Island 4x4 Landrover Specialists in Oxfordshire, and we hope you like the changes. At Frogs Island 4x4 we are proud of our heritage and our experienced staff, we are always here to talk through any ‘niggles’ with your car, or even a trip or adventure you would like to plan.

As a Valued customer we would like to offer you 10% OFF* your next SERVICE and some of the following deals;
• 15% off EVERYTHING in the Terrafirma Catalogue until 1st January 2014 – including Front Runner racks and Safety Devices Roll Cages
• 15% off all Old Man Emu and ARB products until 1st September 2013
• Adventure Fridge deal of £450 + Vat, including 45L fridge/freezer, cover and adaptor (RRP £700+) – Offer until 1st January 2014
• All Workshop repairs reduction of £10 per hour* (normally £60 per hour + VAT)
• Over the phone parts searching and email copies from MicroCat – helping you fix your car! Access to Genuine Parts and Allmakes PR2 (2 Year Warranty)
• 1-1 Help and Advice by phone or in person
• Adventure Mechanical Training at £30 per hour, which is 1-1 training with our Adventure Specialist Matt the mechanic, who has travelled to Libya, Mongolia, Africa and beyond, this is FREE of charge when you have an overland fit out with Frogs Island 4x4.
• Discounted labour rate on Overland Builds, talk to us for your free adventure consultation.
• We work with all makes and models of 4x4’s

As part of the Allmakes Group of companies we offer a wide range of experience and advice on all makes and models of Land Rovers. As enthusiasts ourselves we want to see you and your members safely on the road, without a burn on your pocket! Your just need to quote your surname and this code ‘VIPHUBB UK’ to claim the above offers.

Come and visit us at the HUBB UK event for your free goody bag and join us for our Bush Mechanics seminars on servicing on the road, the old age debate of Toyota v’s Land Rover and more.

See what I mean! And if you've had a look at the Presentation Schedule you'll have seen that Frogs Island are really getting stuck in with demos and presentations.

See you in a couple of weeks

__________________
http://www.sam-manicom.com

We'll mainly now be posting HUBB UK updates and information in the main 'Events' thread. To make sure you don't miss anything, here's a link to a good starting point....