Midlands

Below you can find all the Midlands Social Scene reports submitted for the most recent TR Action, in full. If you have any problems with the content then please contact the office. Should you wish to find your nearest group then please use our postcode search facility or visit 'We're Only Hear for the Beer' for listings of all group details. Please use the links below to find your report:

• Birmingham
• Cotswold Vale
• Derbyshire Dales
• Shropshire
• Stoke

Birmingham

Dave Gibson

We started 2012 on a sad note when, at our meeting on 10th January, we learned of the passing, that morning, of former Register member, Graham Hodges. Merv Parkes, a near neighbour of Graham's, spoke about his fraught attempt to rebuild a TR7 with an automatic gearbox, as well as the time when he, a builder by trade, set fire to Merv's roof, while sealing the new felt with his blowlamp. Group Leader Phil Daniels passed on our sincerest condolences to Graham's family.

The Group has been a bit quiet on the Social Scene reporting front recently but attendance at our meetings has continued to impress.

Our December Quiz Night was probably the best attended for the last ten years. Although there were only three rounds, Roger King's quiz comprised some 90 questions and, with bonus points, a maximum of well over 100 was possible. The teams obviously found it quite testing, as evidenced by the results:

TRying Tonight - 55.5
Cat`s Coalition - 45
Monster Munch - 44
Magnificent 6.5 - 43.5
Are we coming out of Europe? - 38
Dipsticks - 33
Uhmmm - 29.5
Route 66-Here we come! - 23.5

Congratulations to TRying Tonight.

January's meeting included our AGM and we again saw one of our largest attendances in some years. During the AGM, Phil reported on a successful year for the Group, including, in particular, the display, at the beginning of May, at the Coventry Motor Museum, our June Concours d'Elegance and our Curborough Sprint. In the absence of any other nominations, Phil Daniels and Dave Gibson were respectively re-elected as Group Leader and Treasurer.

Mid-month lunches were somewhat lacking during 2011, so Phil asked for volunteers to step forward to organise some in the coming year. For our February meeting it was planned that an events calendar would be established, so it should be available by the time you read this. In particular, 2012 is the Group's 40th anniversary and we hope to celebrate this appropriately.

In the meantime, Paul Thetsford has identified a pub with a skittle alley for a return skittles match with CVTR. CVTR have picked up the gauntlet and the rematch will take place at The Squirrel at Alveley, near Bridgnorth on April 14th starting around 7-7:30. The price is £8 a head to include an evening meal. Numbers are limited to 50, so please check before setting off, if you have not already booked.

Following the success of last year's visit to the Coventry Motor Museum, Phil has made arrangements for another visit to coincide with this year's 'FBHVC Drive-it-Day' on April 22nd. We understand that Chiltern Group are also planning to visit on that day so there could be a good turnout of TRs. The Museum has space for 60 cars.

Reiterating Phil's plea at the AGM, if anyone would like to organise a day out, pub lunch, help with the Group's 40th anniversary celebrations or any other event, please contact either Phil or me.

For the latest information check our website www.groups.tr-register.co.uk/birmingham or contact the Group Leader.

Cotswold Vale

Andy Canning

Our final Sunday lunch of 2011 was a feast of Christmas fayre in our usual surroundings of the Fleece Inn barn and twenty one members, including newcomers Maureen and Peter Shaw, enjoyed an excellent prelude to Christmas.

Birmingham Group quiz was enjoyed by fifteen CVTR members but sadly we came away armed with raffle prizes not brain power trophies.

The new year brought with it our annual dinner at the Kings Court Hotel Alcester. Fifty three Cotswold Vale members enjoyed our third year at this venue and under the guidance and organisation of Andrew Racey the evening was again a great success. The annual awards and general banter make this a popular night for many and this year was no exception with nominees once more out stripping awards by a ratio of five to one. For those who follow our annual appreciation for TRs or services to CVTR the results are as follows:

Car of the year: Andrew Racey TR4 GTR Dove
Tony Holland Memorial Trophy (for his TR rebuild project): John Walker TR3A
Friends of Cotswold Vale (given to a group or person outside CVTR): Phil Daniels, Birmingham Group

Special Awards:

Terry Smith/Jackie Bailey: Organising various events including 30th Anniversary and RAF Kemble days
Richard and Meg Durrant: Event organising and launch of Drakes Broughton show 2011
Carbon footprint award: Phil and Sandy Blake for burning up the miles in their beautiful TR5
Sods Law Tropy: Andy Canning for changing the shape of Peugeot 206 rear end, disabling his Volvo and missing Harrogate 2011.

The last award was only obtained by a show of hands at the dinner due to a tie between Andy and Colin Boother who also had a very embarrassing moment in 2011 (ask Lesley for details). Unfortunately for Andy the assembled party who had consumed various amounts of alcohol by the time awards were presented supported Colin with their vote. This unpopular trophy closed the awards and gave Keith Brown our Treasurer the floor whose opening speech gave us an insight into the problems he is encountering with his home plumbing. Keith’s popular raffle received extra donations chiefly from Bob Heppell who added a humorous touch to the evening, bringing a smile to the ticket recipients faces!

In January our Committee of volunteers met to thrash out our 2012 Calendar and with Triumph Marque Day at Prescott in May and the IWE in Malvern we are well aware of our National diary responsibilities, together with our own local social outings in 2012; these will be challenging times for CVTR members but I am confident that we can pull together and make it another year to remember

.

If you wish to familiarise yourself with Cotswold Vale and catch up on our past, present or future then just Google “Cotswold Vale TR” (thanks to our own Tim Walker) and read our Newsletters or view our many photos that are regularly updated. Members articles and all contents are put together by our team, Richard Durrant, Ian Brown and Andrew Racey.

Derbyshire Dales

Maurice Davey

Whilst Club Nights at the Amber Hotel continue to be very popular the TRs remain in hibernation. So I thought I should get out and meet the members as we have a lot of interesting people with so many diverse skills, it would be ideal for others to know who’s who in the Group.

My first stop was the house of Ian, Chris and Ryan Walker. Ian has been a member since the early 90s when he started listening to another member, one Alan Wilkinson who is a business customer. So in 1990 Ian bought a burnt out TR6 from Rimmer Brothers who had acquired it for spares. It was an ex-USA car but from New York so the rust had a firm hold. As a first TR, a burnt out rusty one at that, it brought the expression “baptism of fire” to mind. Undaunted, Ian and his wife Chris set to work to restore the car to its former glory and fifteen months later they had a shiny red TR6 in better condition than it was originally. The bug had really got a hold and they started to have fun and enjoy the car, quickly becoming regular Group members.

In 1995 they bought a TR3A in boxes from Wales. Whereas the car did not have a Registration Document it did have a comprehensive history file from the previous owner with photos of it at early TR Register events. The car was originally pearl white and apparently destined for South Africa but didn’t actually make the trip and stayed in this country. Ian contacted Bill Piggott to ask for assistance in tracing the cars history and after some extensive digging a Heritage Certificate was issued and the car had its old identity back. In the meantime the total rebuild continued and three years later an immaculate TR3A emerged, now in red.

Another addition to the family arrived, their son Ryan. He was therefore born into a TR family and has grown up immersed in everything about Triumphs. This in depth knowledge is much in evidence as Ryan knows all the history of the cars and the detailed records of their experiences over the years. They also owned a Stag for a while which in anyone’s book is an under rated luxury grand tourer.

Ian believes the Club is all about people and no one would disagree. They remember the interesting and fun times they had around the country staying in strange B&Bs with Dave and Linda Smith as well as all the shows they have attended. They are a complete TR family and always attend Club events together. Things are now getting a bit difficult as Ryan is now well over six feet tall and getting three of them in a TR is proving tricky.

When not TRing Ian runs his own metal fabrication and welding company and he is producing, as a side line, stainless items for TRs such as battery clamps, bonnet and boot stays, radiator cowls and exhaust heat shields to a very high standard. At the time of my visit both their TRs were stripped down for resprays which are being done by another member, John Geeve, at his body shop works south of Derby. Our photo shows the beautiful TR3A at a show in Yorkshire.

My thanks to the Walker family for their hospitality and help in agreeing to be featured in the magazine.

Shropshire

Simon Beresford

Club nights at the Red House are going well. The Group’s AGM saw Dave voted back in as Group Leader, Stuart as Treasurer again and myself as Secretary. A range of events are planned including another Shropshire weekend for the weekend of June 29th, based over at Llangollen. Get in touch for more details.

A large turnout of Shropshire members attended the Stoneleigh Triumph Spares show, picking up a few bargains on the way.

The Whitchurch Brigade has been out and about over the winter months making full use of their cars – check out the picture.

The yearly “What’s on” will be with everyone by April. We have the codes for the Cholmondely Pageant of Power in June to get discounted tickets; for more info get in touch. Alternatively, check the website for up to date details.

Bye for now.

Stoke

Simon Beresford

Club nights are still getting great turn out folks, and new. Great to see everyone there.

Quite a few of the group went down to the Stoneleigh Triumph Spares day. There were a lot of people there, a lot of parts and everything and everyone was freezing cold, but it was also great to meet up with old friends from all over Europe.

The Group AGM saw a full house with Area Coordinator Cat there for support. All the usual suspects are all back in office for another year. We also had various discussions on a variety of events and ideas for the coming year, in what is looking to be a very full year. If there are events you want to know more about just email or call me or Chris and we can give you the full details.

The stoketrregister.co.uk website is now up and running alongside the TR Register’s site to keep everyone up to date.

Bye for now.