The Vee Dub Christmas Cruz 2023 – Saturday Edition takes place on the 9th December with well over 100 VW’s out on the roads of Nailsea, Clevedon & Portishead raising money again for The Grand Appeal, the official charity of the Bristol Children’s Hospital! Taking part is simple – just decorate your VW with tinsel, lights, baubles, Christmas trees, Santa Claus, elves, stickers, anything festive! Your imagination (and the laws of physics!) are the only limitations! We will have a Just Giving page set up again this year, we are just waiting for details from The Grand Appeal – as soon as we have them we will update them here and on the Facebook event. As always all VW’s are welcome to join us – vans, cars, air cooled, water cooled, as long as they have a VW badge! Please note that participation in our Cruz events is ticket only and you must register and purchase your ticket in advance – each Cruz has a limited amount of places available.
Following on from the success of last years new start location we will again be setting off from the Tower House car park on Stockway South in Nailsea (BS48 2XX) with the assistance of the amazing Hooke Highways doing the traffic management for us. We have exclusive use of the car park again and arrival will be between 3:45pm and 4:45pm. We will be leaving the car park at 5pm sharp and follow a new route around part of Nailsea before we head to Tickenham, into and around Clevedon and then out to Portishead where we will head up the High Street to The Esplanade on the Lake Grounds. Our team will be at the car park in Nailsea from 3:30pm onwards – please note that all vehicles need to be checked in by 4:45pm.
In a change to last year we will be posting out your event sticker, event information and the route map in advance so there is a slight increase in cost to cover this. We will still be publishing the map and video on the Facebook event in due course. As with last year we will also be doing some great Christmas Cruz merch – hoodies, tees, mugs, travel mugs and more, all printed with the Cruz logo of your choice and posted out in advance – just check out our Christmas Cruz section in the shop. A big thank you to LlamaPrint for making the merch possible!
There will be some road signs along the route to remind you of where to go if you lose the vehicle in front of you or your printed map from your event pack. We are delighted to have the motorcycle escort team from Midlands Bike Marshals accompany us again to help keep everyone as safe as possible along with the amazing team from Hooke Highways who are donating their time and resources for free to help with the traffic management at key points. As with all events please understand that we will only go ahead if we have approval from the councils, Highways and the Police. In the event that we are not able to run, your Cruz ticket fee will be translated into tickets for our Christmas competition and the money will still be donated to The Grand Appeal.
Our Christmas Cruz’s would be much harder to run and less money would be donated to the charity without our three sponsors – Simply Surf Bus, Bristol Detailing Supplies and LlamaPrint. A massive thank you to them for supporting us – please support them by liking and following their social media feeds where you will find links to their websites.
Cruz FAQ’s
Q) Is the entry fee per person or per vehicle?
A) The entry fee is per vehicle.
Q) I want to donate more than my entry fee to the charity, how can I do this?
A) You can make extra donations to our Just Giving Page or we will have buckets at the start & finish points.
Q) I don’t want to cover my Dub in lights, can I still join in?
A) There are many ways to make your Dub festive – exterior festive lights are optional! Tinsel and a Santa’s hat are still festive.
Q) Can kids come along?
A) Kids of all ages are welcome to join in the fun but must be supervised by an adult at all times.
Q) Do I have to wear a Santa suit / Christmas fancy dress?
A) We encourage everyone taking part to get into the festive spirit not just with their Dubs but with their own clothes too – Santa suits, Christmas jumpers, reindeer hats are all optional but actively encouraged!
Q) I don’t have a Dub but would still like to take part – how can I do this?
A) The Cruz is only open to VW vehicles, however we would love you to still come along and spectate along the route. We are also looking for volunteers to help with bucket collecting along the route and marshals to direct the Cruz at key points (what better way to see every vehicle!). If you would like to volunteer, please email info@veedubfamily.org and we will get back to you!
Q) I want to volunteer to help and hold a collection bucket along the route, what do I do?
A) If you would like to volunteer, please email info@veedubfamily.org and we will get back to you!
Q) Can I bring my dog?
A) Yes, dogs are welcome providing they are kept on leads at the start and finish points and are safely secured in your vehicles whilst driving.
Q) What happens at the end of the Cruz – do I need to hang around?
A) When we pull up at the finish point it is totally up to you if you would like to park up or head off home. A lot of members of the public will come to see the vehicles at the finish point.
Q) Is there a drive-by of the hospital this year again?
A) We will run this extra part of the Cruz on the Saturday, however please remember that Clean Air Zone (CAZ) is in place so if you do this section you will need to pay the additional charges to enter the centre of Bristol (£9 per vehicle, payable directly to the council via the CAZ website). This is the highlight for us – bringing lots of smiles to the staff and patients of the hospital whom we are supporting but we also understand that asking people to pay an extra £9 to do this section won’t be for everyone.
