What a day! Such a day needs to be celebrated with cake - and so it was for us when we reached this milestone of 10K subscribers on our YouTube channel!
With gratitude and joy in being able to reach this level before the end of 2021, we decided to host a giveaway to thank all of you that have supported us in our endeavours.
When Ben created the website fifteen years ago, little did he know where we would be now, and honestly, it's been quite a ride!
Back at the very beginning of 2017, our former partner Michael told us that the way forward was YouTube, reviewing cars with an eye to give an informed, honest and - hopefully - entertaining review of a car that you may be in the market for.
With the two of them creating content, and with me running the logistics, we embarked on our first live action review - ever!
We had the chance to look at this Vauxhall for one day only, and it was such an interesting beginning :)
Now, as we started to hone our craft, refine our skills and learn the do's and dont's of videography, we got our break.
When we attended the London Motor Show at Battersea Park in Summer 2017, the team of the MG press fleet decided to give us chance and see what we could do, and we were able to book in our very first press vehicle on review for a week:
This lovely little sporty number was a joy to drive, and as you can see from the review, our presenting skills were coming on in leaps and bounds!
This began our love affair with MG - now, we loved the brand, old and new, and were excited to see where the SAIC owned motor manufacturer was headed.
As we looked into the wider world of car reviews, we knew we needed to get our name out there, and to do so meant attending more of the big shows, covering launches and going on adventures.
One of the biggest and best in the British calendar is Goodwood - Festival of Speed and Revival - and 2017 was the first year we got to attend as press. What a result.
The whole experience is amazing, from start to finish, and we garnered loads of content too, all the while sharing it with the world, and slowly, we began to get subscribers...yay!
Check out me in total fan-girl mode here on stage with Les Edgar (seriously, I couldn't help it)
By this point, we were so happy that we now had over 600 subscribers - it was glorious - and we knew that there were exciting times ahead.
However, life is an adventure, and as with all things, will throw you curveballs from time to time. At one point on our journey, Michael decided his path lay elsewhere, meaning that it was now time for me to step in front of the camera as well...
Now don't get me wrong, I'm no wallflower, but this gig is specialist, so I've been on a steep learning curve ever since...luckily for me, I've got a good teacher!
Now it's been extra tough and challenging for me to do this, as I have mobility challenges thanks to being disabled, however, when you work in such a positive and energising working environment as we do, any challenge becomes a testimony to your ingenuity and desire to succeed - and as always, when you love what you do, it's never a slog, is it?
One of the highlights for us was our first MG ZS EV Road Trip two years ago!
The timing of when we had it on review coincided with Goodwood Revival, and it seemed like fate! What better way to showcase the capabilities of this fully electric car than a road trip of over 400 miles. Crazy? Nope - it was amazing!
What helped make it even more wonderful was the fantastic response we got to our adventures. Sharing them with you all was the cherry on top, and it truly makes all of the difficult bits worthwhile.
One of our last adventures before lockdown happened was bringing Lady Dorothy home. With the change in the dynamics of our group meant she needed to cross the border, and what better vehicle to bring her home than on the back of my favourite pick-up :)
Granted, none of saw the pandemic coming, and it's been a weird - and very stressful - time for the whole world. Even though we aren't out of the woods yet, what has been a source of real joy for us has been sharing our automotive world with you all.
There was a plethora of launches and events to get back to after lockdown lifted here in the U.K. and you were with us each time we went live, and every time we uploaded new content. As we got closer to this amazing milestone, we knew exactly what we wanted to do to say a huge thank you to all of you for joining us on this journey.
The lovely team at MG knew that we were approaching our milestone, and made sure we had a bag of goodies to giveaway. Thank you, MG!
So in conjunction with our latest road trip - this time to Silverstone in the new ZS EV Long Range, we have the chance to share the love and celebrate this 10K landmark with you.
Thank you all, and here's to the next milestone!
Annabelle 😊