Kennet Valley Group Social Scene 292
Now settling in nicely to our new monthly club night venue, our second visit in early June to The Angel, Woolhampton was also our Clean Car / Pride and Joy evening, where we saw a great turnout of 15 cars in total, including a rare Saab Sonnet and almost every model of TR, so we had winners for each group.
Winners were chosen by a points system for cleanliness, original features and sensible mods for comfort, handling and speed, history files and photo's, as well as a mileage per annum rating. And the winners were:- TR2/3/A/B was Roy Mitchell, TR 4/4A/5/250 was myself Michael Field, TR6 was Den Carter, TR7 - Dave Rumens, Derivatives was Phil Horsley (Grinnall), and non TR was Gerry Thorne (Stag). The overall winner, with the most points also received the cup, and that was our GL, Phil Horsley. Well done all.
As part of our activities we try and support local and national charities, and many funds for these good causes are raised by either donations or small charges for attending shows, our club raffles, etc. We have received a very kind letter from the Thorneycroft Society who organise the Basingstoke Festival, thanking us for our contribution of £65 on the day. Some had also booked online and made a donation this way, so an estimated near £100 was raised for this event. This included some members from other areas.
We have also received thank you letters from MacMillan Cancer Support and from the Thames Valley Air Ambulance, for our recent donations of £230 to each of them. A special thank you goes to our members for supporting these causes, throughout our fund-raising events, and raffles.
Another event we support regularly, is the local Bloodwise Show, formerly called Newbury Leukeamia Show, and this is to be held on 14th August this year. All money raised is used for blood cancer research, so a worthwhile, and very well attended show. Now held in the grounds of Newbury College, it has raised over £116,000 so far, so please come along.
At least 3 KVG members attended LeMans 24hr, or at least the excuse for a binge, including Peter Main, Richard Owen, and Richard Roberts, who suffered a broken drive shaft on his attempt to return to the UK (but not in a TR). It could only happen to Richard whatever he drives, and it usually does!
Thatcham Rotary Club Classic Show on 26th June was attended by four KVG members, and although it was unusually low attendance by all classics this year, probably due to the threatening weather which did manage to hold off for the main part of the event, a member again walked away with the 'highly commended' rosette - this time Phil (GL) for his newly restored TR250. Two wins in the same month, with two different cars, well done Phil.
Phil Horsley's newly restored TR250 wins 'Highly Commended' rosette.
One of the biggest events being supported by KVG so far this summer was the Flywheel at Bicester Heritage. Six KVG cars attended on Saturday 2nd July, with the numbers rising to almost 30 TRs on display during Sunday. There was a huge range of other vintage and classic cars, especially many period racing cars, who demonstrated what they were built for around a figure of 8 track. Lots of aircraft were on display, including a DC3, a Catalina flying boat, and WW1 aircraft performing a 'dog-fight' display, as well as Sir Stirling Moss signing autographs. Even Dad's Army home guards were keeping in step around the grounds. A definite for the diary for 2017, if you missed this years event.
TR's at Bicester Heritage Flywheel Event Sat 2nd July
July club night was on the 6th, and The Angel kindly put on a BBQ for us at our request, and provided quite a varied menu to choose from, including king prawn skewers - Mmmm.
Our next main event to report on is of course the IWE at Lincoln Showground, and many of us have planned to make the longer trip part of a holiday. More on these in the next issue.
Interested in TR's, car or not, you are always welcome to come along and join us at The Angel, on the A4 at Woolhampton, on the first Wednesday of each month, from around 7:30pm. Full details of our meeting venue and events can be found at https://www.tr-register.co.uk/group/kennet-valley