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As the first article of the year may I wish everyone all the very best for 2008 and look forward to meeting up with old and new friends during the coming year. December & January Meetings Unfortunately, the bug that is going around struck me down and I was unable to attend the December meeting when we had our Hobbies and collectors night. I understand that it was an interesting evening with Dave Plank’s collection of model cars being particularly outstanding. Due to our annual dinner being the second week of January, we do not hold a formal meeting but several members do meet up at the Crooked Billet for a “noggin & natter”. Thames Valley Centre’s Annual Club Dinner – 12th January Once again we are all grateful to Roger Clark for organising another successful and entertaining Club Dinner. With 58 attending this year the atmosphere was great, we welcomed guests from North London, As Roger promised, the new chef provided us with great food and we are extremely grateful to all the team at Ellesborough Golf Club for making us so welcome. Roger also promised us something new in terms of entertainment, replacing our usual fines with after dinner “celebrities” in the form of “Jethroe” and “Pam Ayres” – a little bit of fun and certainly a change. The Dinner is of course an opportunity to recognise all those that have worked so hard in running the Centre and organising the meetings agendas for Driving Test Taking the new theory part of the test on the laptop proved extremely interesting! One member was outstanding achieving 100% - Bob Hughes being the worthy winner. The rest of us need to improve! Road Run A short run (especially for one member due to a navigating error) around the Marlow area – won by David & Ruth Coulton Concours Night The night when we join our friends from the Motorcycle Club at Maidenhead Rugby Club. This year it should be more apt to have held it at a Water Polo Club – truthfully, the rain on the way there was some of the worst I have ever driven in, in any car, alone an Ordnance Survey Night Why do they make pubs so dark? – not helpful when finding your way around an ordnance survey map to find obscure items and locations. This year’s map exercise was won by a new member – Philip Derbyshire – well done! Model and Hobbies Night Comment was made above regarding the exceptional collection of model cars that Dave Plank brought along (and Roger Clark did not break any!). David was a worthy winner. Best Meeting Attendance Award A remarkable record of only missing one meeting means that there was only one well deserved winner – Geoff Pelling Members Choice Award This is a new trophy awarded to the member recognised by other Centre members for all that they do for the Centre and running various events. As Bob Hughes rightly recognised, when presenting the trophy, Andrew Plank does so much – the Littlewick Show being a major achievement each year. We all congratulate and thank Andrew – as well as Dave Plank, who surely must be a worthy runner-up? February Meeting Our AGM, disappointing to again say that it remains the same 8 stalwarts who arrive on time and participate. We really do need more owners of Following reports from our Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer the offices were re-elected – the only change being that Geoff Pelling replaces Roger Clark as Vice Chairman. A special vote of thanks was given to Andrew Plank for the considerable amount of work he puts in – especially in making our Littlewick Show so successful. Additionally, we all thank Andrew for the Centre’s website; he reports that there have been 4,020 visits to the site since it was started. Roger Clark was again thanked for organising the Dinner, which in 2009 will be on the 10th January – make a note in your diary! Our programme for the coming year was agreed and perhaps I may give details of the first 6 months agendas: April 7th – Car Recognition with Dave Plank May 12th – Road Run to be organised by Paul Reader June 2nd – Ladies Night at Harleyford (from 6.30pm) – we would welcome friends from July 7th – Concours Night at Maidenhead August 4th – Noggin & Natter the opportunity for those who missed the May Road Run to undertake it this evening September 1st – Auction Night Where have we been since my last report? Boxing Day Gathering of Classic Cars and other Vehicles - Sarratt Common I always see this as the first event of the new year’s season of classic vehicle events rather than the last of the old year. What a day it was, great weather, huge numbers of cars, lorries, militaries, bikes, motorcycles and above all, record numbers of people visiting, made this the largest and best ever that I have been to. We even had a Suzuki Jeep converted with what looked like a full Cessna aeroplane fuselage fitted to the bodywork – minus wings! Make a note to see if you can come along this year. North London Centre’s New Year’s Run Again, an extremely well attended run with four of us from Thames Valley Centre joining in – Roger Clark in his Morris 1000 traveller (navigated by Paul Reader) plus Ruth and myself in the Ulster Special. Being such good weather it appeared a good idea to take the open top. The run was great through Herts, Bucks and Beds to the coffee shop. Unfortunately, this is where my car decided it had enough and developed distributor problems. We were sorry we could not complete the run but found a good pub for lunch and enjoyed exceptional service from the RAC, having a very nice lift home! Thank you to Keith and his team at Forthcoming Events I am now putting this year’s event together and look forward to it being as successful as previous years – we are now reaching around 100 cars per year which is a great success. Hopefully, we can welcome old and new entries this year. For those that do not know where Hyde Heath is – it’s high in the Chilterns between Amersham, Chesham and Great Missenden. Recognised as one of the best traditional village fetes around, the day attracts visitors from a wide area. For a great afternoon out with a full programme of events – this year the main arena will have an outstanding falconry display – please do come along. Entry is free, you do not have to book, just come along – cars to please be in place by 13.00. For any further information please contact David Coulton – 01494 775967 Austin 7’s and Friends to The response has been great – anyone wanting info please do contact me. A full report will be provided when we return! David Coulton
March Meeting Whilst a clear dry evening, it was disappointing that only 8 members attended – this compares to 13 for the same month’s meeting last year. Without greater support it makes the organising and running of meetings hardly worthwhile – what is the matter with everyone? Please do make to effort to come along and join in. For our March meeting we did not have a formal agenda being listed as a Noggin & Natter but it was suggested at the AGM that I come up with something, so we had a “40’s Quiz”. Just 20 questions based on things in the 1940’s with a 50/50 choice of answers – the end scores were surprisingly close with a lowest score of 9 and a top score of 12 – the winner being Paul Reader, well done.
April Meeting I am sorry for the delay in submitting our April monthly meeting article. The agenda for the evening was a vehicle identification quiz from the radiator grills of wide range of cars and commercial vehicles. Set by David & Andrew Plank it provided a pleasant and interesting test for the 9 members who attended May Meeting This was our Road Run evening with the route and questions being set by Paul & Gill Reader. It was disappointing that only 5 cars took part – hopefully, a few more will complete the run when the route will again be available at the August meeting. We all thoroughly enjoyed the run of just 17 miles through some great scenery down country lanes that many of us did not know existed. Clearly, Paul & Gill’s rides out into the woods of Burnham Beeches in their youth provided them with good ideas as to remote locations to visit! Congratulations to them both on such a good route – I will not say any more but to the members who did not take part in May, do so in August, it is well worth it. May 10th provided us with the best weather we have ever had for Fete day – sunshine all day and very warm. The weather drew out the crowds with our best ever number of cars – 124. The range and quality of vehicles was excellent. Once again we had self judging with some switching around of classes – this produced some excellent winners. In terms of quality of vehicle few could beat the 1926 4.5 litre Bentley Le Man owned by Malcolm Tearle from Dunstable – winning “Best in Show” and “The car most owners would like to take home”. Voting for this car was far ahead of any other vehicle in any class. The winner of the Austin Class was our friend Keith Wright, Chairman of the North London Centre with his 1929 12/4 Burnham Saloon. This class was very closely run with only one vote separating 1st and two cars in joint 2nd place. The photo shows Keith receiving his trophy from Nick Wells of Heath Motors in Hyde Heath (who kindly sponsored our plaques and trophies). Interestingly, my Ruby got several votes as best Post War Family Car – still it was Post World War I. Other photos show three of the cars – Paul Readers Ruby, Roger Clarks Ruby and my Opal which will be taking part in our forthcoming trip to The day was a great success with entertainments including a All in all a great day, thank you to everyone who came along – please do join us next year. Castrol Classic Oils Personally, I like the Castrol range of Classic Oils but have found them difficult to obtain locally. I am pleased to say that Heath Motors have just been appointed stockists. For further info regarding these oils and availability – contact Heath Motors on 01494 783434 or email heathmotors@aol.com for your requirements – Nick or Ben Wells will be pleased to assist. Forthcoming Meeting Agendas June 2nd – Ladies Night at Harleyford (from 6.30pm) – we would welcome friends from July 7th – Concours Night at the CROOKED BILLET August 4th – Noggin & Natter the opportunity for those who missed the May Road Run to undertake it this evening September 1st – Auction Night Forthcoming Events June 29th – Longclose House, Dave Plank has organised our visit to this great private museum which is probably Please do come along, guests/visitors will be most welcome to join us at the Museum at 11.00am. Contact David Plank on 07802388002 for full details. The 2nd Royal Stubbings Farm, Nr. Maidenhead, You are invited to show your Vintage Car at this great event now in its second year. Entry forms from: HD Fairs Ltd, If you have any queries please contact our section leader: Andrew Plank 07887 845002 or Email: andy@austin-seven.co.uk The Littlewick Show, Rightly claimed as the biggest one day show in the South, it provides fun for all the family from 10.00am onwards. The display of Classic Cars at the 2007 Show was probably the most outstanding I have seen in my time attending Littlewick. There are Classes for all types of vehicles plus static engines. Entries on the day will be charged admission. This is the Centre’s big event of the year and we do ask for member’s support in setting-up in advance and helping on the day. Vehicle entries and further information from Andrew Plank (07887 845002)), Not the usual park and display your car in a field – cars are parked along the main street of the picturesque David Coulton Tel. 01494 775967 Email address: davidcoulton@yahoo.co.uk Dated: 15th May 2008
Next Month: A Trip To France Dave Coulton, Roger Clark and Paul Reader from the Thames Valley Centre drive there Austin Seven Ruby's to France FULL STORY NEXT MONTH
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