West

Below you can find all the West 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:

• Brunel
• Chiltern
• Glavon
• Kennet Valley
• South Glamorgan
• Wessex
• Wye Dean
• Y Ddraig Goch

Brunel

Andy Spencer

Our recent Annual General Meeting, professionally chaired by our Local Group Co-ordinator Kevin Warrington, was extremely well attended and our Committee once again re-elected en bloc. The proposed list of events for the year were presented and I think that once again we have a very broad selection of events that should appeal to everyone’s taste and we look forward to another very enjoyable year.

Prior to the AGM we held our "Nostalgia Evening"; always popular and this year culminating in "Reindeer Racing" A bit tricky rounding them up and getting them up the stairs though but much fun ensued, which could have had something to do with the gambling and/or the alcoholic prizes. A good night was had by all; well apart from those who backed the three legged reindeer.

Coming up is the Bristol Classic Car Show at Shepton Mallet where we will be joining forces with Apple County to put on the TR Register stand. Any member coming along, please come and say hello.

We also hope to have a presence at the Standard Triumph Marque Day at Prescott.

Please visit our website for full details of all our planned events and activities in 2012.

Chiltern

Peter Bowden

Half way through April already! At least the evenings are getting lighter, now that British Summer Time is with us, so we can spend more time outside kicking tyres.

Sunday 22nd April is “Drive it Day” and we have an number of cars on the MK Classic Tour taking in the Millbrook Alpine Circuit, Prodrive and the Porsche Experience at Silverstone, while others will be on a run to Coventry Transport Museum with our chums from Birmingham, Coventry, Glavon and Kennet Valley Groups. There will be hundreds of events all over the country to celebrate and promote the classic car movement, so get the TR out and use it! Whatever you have planned, this year will be particularly poignant as Tony Beadle, the instigator of ‘DiD’ and an old friend of the Chiltern Group, sadly died on January 7th. Our thoughts will be with Jennie and the family.

Into May and we have the Abingdon Air Fayre, the Wallingford Rally, Beaulieu Spring Autojumble and the Standard Triumph Marque Day at Prescott. We will be organising a run to Prescott on the Sunday and hopefully the weather will be hot and dry, as it was on our last visit a couple of years ago. This is in addition to our monthly and mid monthly pub meeting, so we are going to be busy this Spring!

There are many more trips, shows and meetings to look forward to in the coming months, details of which can be found on our website at: www.chiltern-trs.co.uk/Events.htm.

If you have not been to a Chiltern Group meeting or event yet, please do come along and meet us. You will receive a warm welcome from like-minded enthusiasts, and we would appreciate your company. You will find our contact details and directions to The Peacock at Henton also on our website

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Glavon

Andy West

December 4th saw a number of Glavon members delivering early Christmas gifts to a home near Stroud which provides a haven for teenage girls who have suffered severe trauma and require specialist care.

On 10th December we had our Christmas dinner and party at the Highwayman Inn between Cirencester and Cheltenham where we all enjoyed a good meal and a number of games ranging from the hilarious to the more sensory where TR parts concealed in bags had to be identified and where a detailed knowledge of TR7s was a definite advantage. This was followed by the annual awards presentation with recipients including Kevin Jones, Robert Harber and Lesley Swain, Andy Smith and Chris Bryant who received the Wally of the year award for failing to apply the handbrake on his van properly, resulting in him returning to find the much modified van embedded in his neighbour’s house!

The pre-Christmas Thursday evening noggin and natter meeting at the Hunters Hall was particularly well attended and a very nice buffet supper was provided.

The very popular new year walk on 8th January was organised this year by Nigel and Jeanna Ind. We assembled at the Rose and Crown Inn at Lea near Malmesbury and were joined by members of Gloucester TSCC. The pub car park was quite full and included four TRs, a Stag and a couple of Spitfires. The walk, in glorious sunny weather took us through some beautiful countryside, past some amazing country houses and twice across the river Avon on our route back to the Rose and Crown for liquid refreshment before heading to Nigel and Jeanna’s house nearby for food. Jeanna had prepared a wonderful selection of hot dishes and Glavon Ladies had brought along an assortment of desserts. We all assembled in Nigel’s garage for this feast, but this is no ordinary garage being fully heated, nicely decorated and with a lovely tiled floor it would put many village halls to shame as a venue. Many thanks to Nigel and Jeanna for their hospitality and for organising such an interesting walk.

The TR party weekend on 20th-22nd January once again saw the Limpley Stoke Hotel near Bath full to capacity and a great time was had by all. Organisation this year was in the hands of Glavon Group and particular thanks go to Lesley Swain and Sally Smith for all their hard work.

By the time of publication, the Sunday 4th February meeting for lunch at the Cotswold Edge Golf Course will have taken place. Other events coming up include Ten Pin bowling at Swindon on Sunday March 25th with Kennet Valley group. On April 1st there will a run to the Welsh National History Museum at St Fagans near Cardiff where there is a wonderful Elizabethan manor house and gardens plus extensive grounds containing numerous buildings of historical importance which have been reconstructed after having been brought from all over Wales. On Easter Monday 9th April Coleford Carnival of Transport takes place and a number of Glavon cars will be among the fabulous collection of vehicles on display in the central part of this Forest of Dean town which is closed to normal traffic on the day. Another chance to show your cars occurs on 29th April at St Roses School car show at Stroud. Glavon members will also be present at some of the big events including Laon Historique, Classic Le Mans, Standard Triumph Marque day at Prescott, Silverstone Classic and of course the International at Malvern.

Kennet Valley

Dave Westwood

Dave Westwood reports the sighting of new KVG TRs on an epic mission: “The February mid-monthly event gave an opportunity to view the recently purchased TRs of Emrhys Barrell and Tina Dines. Unfortunately the new additions to the KVG stable were not to grace the open roads as the plan was to go “TRekking or walkabouts” and work off some the excesses from the Xmas party and Richard Roberts “Big O” party.

Sixteen members turned up at the Crown and Garter, Inkpen, to pitch base camp for an early start to climb “The Highest Peak in the South East of England”, namely Walbury Mountain oops my mistake Walbury Hill, 297metres, nearly 1000 feet! Ropes and crampons weren’t required but we did have the additional pulling power of four fit and eager dogs. It took some effort to extract the party from the new attractions in the car park and it wasn’t any/many miles before some of the group, turned back reportedly “Just to check the cars are OK” - I am sure nothing to do with increasing incline up towards Combe Gibbet! Tina was guide for the assault and she was doing a great job of ‘whipping-in’ the stragglers until half way when the party fragmented some attempting the picturesque “South route” with stunning views into Hampshire, the rest taking the more strenuous ‘direct route’ to the summit. The two teams eventual rendezvous was achieved with the help of some frantic mobile phone calls and the long descent commenced in the face of a stinging wind and signs of snow. Some climbers do it “because of the achievement”; KVG do it because it’s a great social activity and the achievement leads to a lovely Sunday lunch in good company at the pub, afterwards. Thanks, Tina & Toney for a great walk! Our next epic challenge is to beat Glavon at 10 Pin Bowling. I think we had better get in some more training…

We hope to see lots of you for the Drive It Day on the 22nd April when we plan to join other groups for a trip to the Coventry Transport Museum. If you would like to take part or want to find out more details of club activities then please visit KVG calendar at: www.groups.tr-register.co.uk/kennet-valley/future_events.html

South Glamorgan

Spiro Tanti

We ended 2011 with our Christmas dinner at our December monthly meeting. 16 members in all met up. The picture did not really get everyone in – sorry, not too good with the camera!

A big thank you to Mike the landlord at the Barley Mow for his hospitality throughout the year and our Christmas dinner was very good. We did manage a few runs in 2011, not as many as we would have liked but all the same we did a few. Our numbers at our monthly meeting have varied through the year but on average I like to think we did well with some new faces and some old popping in.

We now start to look forward to 2012. Plans for next year for us as a group? Well it is pretty open book at the moment. One idea that has been mentioned is a long weekend drive down to The Millau Viaduct in France as one of our main events, along with our local annual classic car rallies, but of course we need to get winter out of the way first. Do make a note in your diaries though of our area group summer BBQ - 9th June, not to be missed like yours truly did this year!

With it being quiet the last few months and not a great deal more to report, we would like to say a very Happy New Year to all.

Wessex

Nigel Jordan

We have had to swap February and March Club Night events around as we were gazumped on our karting booking for February. This meant we held Roy’s quiz on MGs on February Club Night, and we have re-booked the karting for March. We have booked the Open Team Event which is 90 minutes of non-stop racing - all timed, with up to four people per team, with pit-stops and driver changes, just like Le Mans! It sounds exciting but it will be all over by the time you read this so I will fill you in on the winners and losers next time.

Talking of winners, Julian maintained his impressive tally of quiz wins by winning our February quiz. The subject was MGs but this did not phase him and he scooped top slot with 19 points out of 23 with Peter Spalding in second place with 16. Julian is half way through a ground-up restoration of a TR4 and Peter is also putting the finishing touches to his white TR4 which he has had restored over the past twelve months. We are looking forward to seeing both cars on the road this year, and perhaps they will make their debut at this year’s Clean Car Night? There seems to be a significant proportion of TR4s and TR4As in Wessex Group, which is no bad thing, and this was demonstrated during our February Club Run, There were eight cars taking part, six of them TR4s or TR4As. The only non-Michelotti car was John’s TR7 and the only other non-TR4 was Tony’s TR250, although we were joined later by Brian Gray in his burgundy TR6 at our lunch stop.

John and Liz had arranged a fantastic route to the North of the county, making a wide circle around Winchester through some beautiful countryside and picturesque villages. The sun was shining and we were able to drive with tops down, which is always a bonus in February, and we finished up for lunch at The Osborne View pub at Titchfield Harbour, with stunning views across the Solent to The Isle of Wight.

Coming up in April we have the always popular New Forest Triumph Run where all the local Triumph car clubs get together for a joint run through the New Forest. There are usually 100+ cars and Wessex Group will be out in force supporting this event as we always do. For our Club Night coming up on Tuesday 24th we’re still hopeful of a visit to a local race car engineering workshop, but at the time of writing this has not been confirmed, so keep a look out on the web site or in Wessex News for further information.

See you at Club Night.

Wye Dean

Stephanie Piggott

By the time that you read this in February, Christmas will be long gone, but I am starting this report with details of our Christmas meal at the Three Horseshoes. (Rosy Pugh bet me I wouldn’t start my report like this….)

As always the food was superb and everyone enjoyed themselves, as can be seen from the photograph. Unfortunately Terry and Sue couldn’t be with us - they were on the high seas, crossing the Atlantic in a hurricane! However, the rest of the group had a good time and many people went home with an early Christmas present courtesy of the Secret Santa lucky dip. Thanks must go to Sue for organising the booking and Bev for her organisation on the night.

There were not as many of us at the January meeting, although a goodly number turned up. However there was not one TR in the car park as Irving, (who’s TR is his only car) was not in”297 HOT” because it requires new pistons and liners, so he got a lift with John.

Terry was back with us, albeit with a broken wrist on one arm and a torn ligament on the other, caused when he fell over. This did not occur while he was on board ship in the hurricane but on dry land and Terry was at pains to point out that it happened while he was stone cold sober!

At the meeting, talk turned to a Wye Dean member who has been unwell for some time - Paul Gardner. We send him our best wishes and hope that one day we may see him back at the monthly meetings. We also send best wishes to Dick and Pam who we hope to see at the summer meetings and daytime events, as we realise that night driving is difficult for them.

The members then discussed a couple of changes to Wye Dean Group. One is a major change, in that Terry told us he felt that he was no longer able to provide the support that the group required. Jeff Mason Wenn has expressed an interest in taking over the Group Leader’s position, which Terry was happy to pass on to him, subject to the group and committee agreeing. I’m certain that all Wye Dean members would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Terry who “rescued” Wye Dean when it was moribund a decade or more years ago and has kept it going as our Group Leader since then.

Another, more minor, change is that we decided to purchase a new Wye Dean banner – one of the blue and white “sail” type that many other groups already possess.

Future plans include Wye Dean members attending the Winter Ball in Llandrindod Wells and some of us being involved with planning the International Weekend in Malvern next August. We also aim to send a Wye Dean contingent to the Coleford Carnival of Transport on April 9th (Easter Monday), alongside TR members from the Kennet Valley and Glavon groups.

Y Ddraig Goch

Carey Prior

Spring seems to be almost upon us with the mornings and nights becoming much lighter.

Anthony and Roger are presently putting the final touches to the convoy routes to be used during our Traws Cambria weekend at the beginning of May. A number of the Dragons are visiting Aberaeron this weekend to try out the runs in readiness for the big event. In addition, Anthony is trying to put together a Sunday run on 22nd April (Drive It Day) and anyone who wishes to join in should please contact myself for further details.

Oly has managed to drive his TR4 around his village in Pembrokeshire following his replacement knee operation only about eight weeks ago and should therefore be on top form by May. We look forward to seeing both old and new friends at Traws in Aberaeron this year to help us celebrate our 21st Anniversery (see details in Advert).