South
East

Below you can find all the South East 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:

• Goodwood
• Kent
• London
• North London
• South Downs
• Thames Valley

Goodwood

Robin Cringle

GWTR traditionally hold their Christmas munch before the 25th and this year was no exception, for we returned to the Swan Inn in Arundel town for the equally traditional fare and was of course on the Third Tuesday of the Month Meet on the 20th December. The opportunity to book overnight accommodation was not to be missed for those, like myself who may well just get, well, oiled! ~ A right good bash it was!

Goodwood are the West Sussex TR group at www.goodwood-tr-classics.co.uk and should any new member or non-internet member want details of events and meets just pick up the telephone! Please update me with your email address for 2012 if you changed it in the last three months and of course, if possible, a picture of your TR. Our growing band includes the splendid motors of Steve Young’s TR4A and Tony Thomas with his TR6 - both new ‘regulars’ to our growing band!

When once again the warm sun shines I am sure we will see both at the George Inn in their full roaring glory. Until then it could be sun lamps in the TR garage or would that cause paint colour fade?

As the new GL I would like to thank everyone in GWTR for their support in 2011. Cheers one and all.

Kent

Richard Goddard

Late autumn, early winter is a quiet time as we all know and I for one have put my TR up on axle stands and wooden block so that I can crawl underneath and carry out one or two jobs that I have been meaning to do.

Some five years ago I noticed a clunk at the rear nearside of my TR6, when negotiating a right hand bend especially if the camber of the road put extra pressure on the rear nearside. I had never been able to suss out the cause until now.

Wheels off, and cleaning the trailing arms, shocks and springs I suddenly noticed that the top poly donut on the coil spring was squashed and mis-shapen so that the coil spring when under pressure would jerk into contact with the top metal plate which retains the spring in position. Bingo! Clunk sussed out and New Year run will prove me right (I hope).

Back to the business of reporting and only one event: our Witches Run which took place on Sunday 30th October. The run had been planned and presented by Paul Loveridge, our Group Leader but as he was away on his hols in sunny Portugal the event was run by Paul Mason, who handed out the directions sheet and away we all went from the start point which was the service area at Junction 8 of the M20. It was a reasonably nice day (dry) and our TRs were given a good run ending up at The Britannia Inn, Dungeness. Sunday roasts and fish and chips were enjoyed by those who had lunch and afterwards we all made our respective ways home.

There is an air of change in Kent and next year promises to be eventful in the least with lots to get involved in. Paul, our Group Leader tells me that we currently have 35+ members, family and friends attending our Christmas meal at The Halfway House on Saturday 17th December, so it promises to an enjoyable get together.

On behalf of all Kent TR Group members may I take this opportunity to wish members and families of all our sister groups a belated yet Merry Christmas and a very Happy TRing New Year.

Please keep an eye on our activities at: www.groups.tr-register.co.uk/kent

London

Roger Hogarth

Greetings viewers. I have limbered up my fingers, oiled the keyboard and will set off now to textually enthral you on what has been and what is to be.

October was a busy time. On the 2nd eleven cars set off to Waddesden Manor enjoying some beautiful autumn sunshine and some wonderful country lanes. A good selection of TRs made a rather good head turning display and a welcome to Ann and Ian in their green TR6. Su Cornwell planned an excellent route that took about 90 minutes (I could have done it in 25). The trees were just starting to turn into their golden colours. I conjured up a surprise for the convoy and managed to get priority parking in the front of the house. To get this privileged parking I used my armoury of charm, guile, contacts (actually I phoned the NT and they said OK, but don’t drip oil!!). In late afternoon we departed (before the NT could see the oil drips) and popped round to a local pub for a most enjoyable meal. Many thanks to Su and Bob for arranging a fine day.

Later in the month, on the 23rd, London Group had their bi-annual Conker competition. The venue was a very nice pub ‘The Parrot’ at Forest Green. We had the ideal number of chaps & chapesses, eight of each. Actually we had nine of each but soon got down to eight. The quality of the swinging was very high, the quality of the hitting was, er, interesting. Anyway, after many minutes hitting and missing many bruises were starting to form and conkers being shattered. The ladies eventually (this took a long time) got down to the final two. Who won, I hear you calling. Well, actually it was a draw. The suffering was too much and the ladies tossed a coin for the winner, but I think a draw is the fair result. The men however, being much stronger, much braver, much more skilled, did the same. The final two were doing well, hitting more than missing, damage being done, but the ****** conkers would not break. The odd bit of shell came off, but the nut was untouched. Again a draw was the only way out.

On 5th November we had our firework night. The colours and sounds made a great evening. Many thanks to John and Erica for providing the venue and a lot of hard work to make it a success and many thanks to all that helped provide food and fireworks.

By the time you read this work of art the London Group will have had its Christmas Dinner. This was held at the Ostrich Pub in Colnbrook near Heathrow. Apparently this is the oldest pub in Colnbrook. We were here last Christmas and had a great evening. This year’s theme is ‘cowboys n injuns’.

The programme for 2012 has not been put together yet but will include all the regular Register events plus some special ones of our own.

Calling ‘ALL’ London area TR owners – the London Group meet at the Rose of York, Richmond on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month. Come on down we’ll show you ours if you show us yours.

North London

Mike North

Belated Seasonal greetings and Happy New Year! It’s 2012 and the NLG have another classic year lined up, more of which later.

Well, 2011 was a great year, and we did loads of stuff and the last couple of months were as busy as ever. The NLG film night was a highlight with 30+ enthusiasts packed into the Abbots Langley Tandoori (thank you Sean for arranging the venue) to watch the world premiers of not one but two NLG tour films, Spa & 10CR. Complete with surround sound and, after some technical faults were ironed out, a great club night. Glad to see people booking 2012 Spa tour just based on the film alone!

Next on the list was the NEC, this saw several disparate trips by the NLG, on all three days, different crews went up but Howard marshalled the troops for the main one on Friday, complete with royal visit to the TRR stand, drank same TRR coffee, chatted, walked the stands and even bought a few bits, job done!

As I write this the NLG are getting ready to attend the TRR AGM with a replay of the 10CR, Team Moby (and maybe the bucket if we can start her) will be helping to ferry members first to Mike Fleet’s place for bacon rolls prior to a dash up the M40 to Gaydon. It is bound to have been a great day, made better by team Howard presenting the TRR plans for Classic Le Mans and not one but Two NLG made films to support the presentation, it will have been brilliant (I hope!). Post script: Logistics dictated that neither 10CR cars attended, try again next year! Earlier in the month saw some brave souls venture up to the Hog Roast at TRGB for their annual auto jumble/ spares day, great hog and some spares found. Talking of which, Stoneleigh held their restoration day which is an old favourite but sadly missed again this year by me but I am looking forward to their spares day later this year (March this year as you read this).

The Christmas dinner, complete with the photo CD, ‘NLG, a year in focus’, was also sure to have been a great success. Another year done.

2012 holds in store all the NLG favourites that you have come to expect together with some new twists and hopefully new events as well. This year in addition to our favourites, we have: The TR & TRara tour, Spa tour, Classic Le Mans plus what ever we can think of! THREE tours that include crossing blue water on ferries.... its going to be a great year (again)

TR for now.

South Downs

Ian Squire

Sunday 23rd October was the day of our "Autumn Leaves Run" and what a beautiful day it was. Starting from the 5 Bells in Chailey we wound a magical path through the sun drenched Sussex scenery finishing at the Star in Waldron for Sunday lunch. Most impressive was the fact that we did not lose anybody on the way! Sixteen TRs took part in the run, including a good turnout from our neighbouring Kent group. Thank you Martin so very much for organising such a lovely day.

The annual London to Brighton Veteran car run was blessed with unseasonably good weather, and again we assembled at the Friars Oak at Hassocks to watch the magnificent cars pass by. We were joined by our friends from Thames Valley, Goodwood and Kent Groups and together made up a fine display of TRs. As usual there was a great selection of other cars at the pub including the Rolls Royce Shooting brake belonging to the Rougham Gentlemans Club (including stuffed tiger!) and a fine example of a 3and a half litre Bentley. A most enjoyable day spent savouring our motoring history.

The well attended Group AGM on 8th November was held in the convivial surroundings of the Five Bells, Chailey. All the Reports that were presented, including that of the Treasurer, reflected a very successful year for the Club, with a full calendar of events, shows and meetings. Thanks were expressed to those retiring from the Committee and new Committee Members Graham and John were welcomed. Club members further participated in the Meeting with suggestions for events and activities to add to next year’s program, which promises to make 2012 a great year for our Club.

Future events - January Sunday 22nd lunch at Burwash, this year with a free raffle ticket! Bob and Dawn need to know who is coming before 13th January.

Thames Valley

Mervyn Rogers

Autumn arrived with all the colours we expected of it and seemed the perfect opportunity for Thames Valley Group to enjoy an ‘Autumn Colours’ run on the 25th October. We expected to have fifteen TRs turn up at Ryka’s car park at Boxhill, but on the day we had seventeen TRs covering all from TR2 to TR7. The morning was mild and sunny providing the perfect conditions for the last run of the year. Everyone was provided with route notes before setting off for an hour’s leisurely run through country lanes to Wakehurst Place, Ardingly in Sussex. Wakehurst Place and Gardens is run by the National Trust and Kew Botanical Gardens, they keep the largest seed-bank in the world and is well worth a visit if you have never visited there; it must be also beautiful in Spring.

One of our TVG members, John Andon who races his racing TR4 on a regular basis, made the headline in the Sports Extra pages in the Autosport magazine. It was at the two day MGCC Meeting at Snetterton on 1st-2nd October, the magazine headline read ’Triumph tussle in Snetterton heat-wave’. The event was the Equipe GTS races and developed into an entertaining double header, where John in his TR4 led from the start, then tenaciously resisting the challenge from Pete Foster’s TR4, only for his hard work to be cruelly undone two laps from home. A split engine hose forced him to retire, giving victory to Foster. John’s determination paid off and he bounced back in style in race two, surging up from the eleventh row to second within five laps, before setting a new fastest lap as he whittled down Pete Foster’s advantage. He made the decisive move to claim top spot as the pair surged into lap 15 of 20, and this time made it to the finish. “I could see him hauling me in and was doing my damndest to stop him, but he just had the edge today”, Pete Foster admitted afterwards. The picture shows John leading just after his passing move.

Plans for next year’s TVG trip to the ‘Picos de Europa’ in northern Spain are well underway with our planning meeting on 28th November. The trip will take place mid June.

Our last Sunday in the month meetings are held at The Crown in Capel, but our landlord Rob Long, who recently suffered a heart attack, is retiring on the 30th November; we wish him well for the future. It is still November at the time of writing and our future at The Crown is in the balance. We hope to meet the new landlord/lady at Rob’s farewell on 30 November.

By the time this is published, we will be a week away from our TVG Annual Lunch on 22nd January at The Onslow Arms, West Clandon. The latest TVG information and forthcoming events etc can be found at www.groups.tr-register.co.uk/thames-valley