TR Lincs June/July Report 2019
Hi and welcome to the June/July 2019 TR Lincs newsletter. It has been a busy few weeks with us hosting and attending a large number of events. All the details are for you to read further in this newsletter. I'm pleased to welcome another TR member to the Lincolnshire fold and a warm welcome to Paul Ponwaye who hails from Branston, Lincoln. We look forward to seeing him out and about soon and I'm sure that you will make him feel very welcome. Another item of news is that Phil O'Hara has returned to the TR fold and acquired a 1971 TR6 on which he will no doubt be lavishing lots of attention over the next few months, welcome back Phil!
You will all be aware of the enforced change yet again to our monthly meeting venue and a previous note from me explained how we intend to manage our regular meetings going forward. Just by way of a reminder again, our next meeting on Monday 15thJuly will be at the Petwood Hotel, Woodhall Spa commencing at 8pm as normal. Details of the venue for August will be announced shortly. Please keep an eye on our events page for the latest updates.
I do hope that we will continue to enjoy the good weather and keep running out our cars. There are plenty of events up and coming as you'll see later but as always there is room for more. If you have any ideas for a location, route or theme for a run than let me know. Better still organise one yourself!
That's it for now.
Happy TR-ing
Adrian Lawton - Group Leader
Recent Events and Runs ………
May 12th– Tour of Lincs 100
This year's TOL100 saw a healthy number of TR Lincs entrants on this well organised event in aid of charity. The run based on 100 cars covering 100 miles in Lincolnshire started with a breakfast meet at Pennells Garden Centre in Lincoln. Our route took us up through Thorpe on the Hill, Saxilby, Ingham and out along the B1398 giving us great views across the Trent Valley. On we go up to Brigg with our lunchtime stop at the Humber Bridge Hotel right on the south shore of the Humber in sight of the Humber Bridge. After lunch we headed out towards Humberside airport, passing the Search and Rescue helicopter base that we were lucky enough to visit last year and then a pleasant run down through the Wolds ending just outside Horncastle at the Twin Lakes Events Centre for a very welcome cream tea in the glorious sunshine. This is always a good event and sadly as it is limited to 100 is sometimes difficult to get on. Keep an eye out for it next year and get your booking in early.
May 19th– TR6@50 Picnic at Wroxall Abbey
May saw the 50thanniversary of the launch of the TR6 in 1969. Several of us attended the event organised by the TR Register and the pre-1940 Triumph Club to celebrate this event with a picnic and hog roast at Wroxall Abbey just to the north of Warwick. The day started with us meeting up with other East Midlands groups at Donington Services just off the M1. Derby Dales group had kindly organised a nice motorway free run down through
Leicestershire and Warwickshire to Wroxall Abbey. There was an excellent turn out of TR6 cars as well as a healthy selection of other TRs and Triumphs. There is a comprehensive report of the event on the TR Register website which you can see by clicking HERE.
June 2nd to 7th – TR Lincs Tour of Suffolk
We had 12 TR Lincs cars that took part in our 'staycation' for 2019 to the historic county of Suffolk. We were blessed by good weather for our start which allowed for 'topless' driving all the way down. Due to the numbers we had two rendezvous points. The first at the famous 8 bladed windmill at Heckington, which co-incidentally were holding a steam rally that day. The second was Marriott's Wharehouse on the quayside in old Kings Lynn. Here we all had a hearty lunch and convoyed out for the last leg to Long Melford in Suffolk. All of us were able to get booked into the Bull Hotel, itself an interesting place with not a single level floor in the bedrooms. It all added to the character of the place where we were treated extremely well with even our own dining room. I think they'd heard how rowdy TR Lincs can be so kept us separate from the other guests.
Roger and Ann Clay, who we have to thank for organising the event provided us with some great drives out to visit local landmarks and delightful villages taken straight off the lid of old chocolate boxes. The highlight though had to be the visit to the National Trust reserve of Orford Ness. This spit of land, accessible by small boat, is now predominately a nature reserve with many varieties of birds and plants. However the big surprise is the role that it played throughout the 1stand 2ndworld wars and right through the cold war era with secret research into nuclear weapons and even the American CIA building a massive 'over the horizon' radar to monitor east European and Russian activities during that mad period in the 1960's and early 1970's. We had the luxury of a tour guide that took us around the vast and barren site in not I'm afraid the best of weather. Never the less everyone that attended wouldn't have missed it even though some were wet through to the unmentionables!
Other highlights included an evening meal with our friends from the Abbot and Stour group who are blessed with being able to drive through some wonderful countryside anytime they want and visiting Flatford Mill, the subject of
Constables famous Hay Wain painting. We did try to recreate the scene with a certain Triumph Stag but its' owner was somewhat reluctant to push it into the river Stour!
On the downside though we did have to say farewell to Geoff Kitchen's glorious TR3 that decided that it was time to start boiling water! Hopefully by now Geoff has it sorted and we shall see it out and about again soon.
A really great TR Lincs tour and well organised to see more pictures than click on HERE to see the album on Flickr. Watch out for our 2020 tour and make sure you come along so as not to miss out on the fun.
June 9th – Spalding and East Elloe Classic Run
The 22nd running of this charity event saw us gather at the Waterside Garden Centre, Baston, following a route that took us through Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Rutland once aging being blessed with near perfect weather. The route of around 80 miles was broken with a lunch stop at the Burghley Park Golf Club just south of Stamford.
took advantage of the weather and picnicked watching people try and knock a little white ball down a hole with a flag in it. Apparently, it is almost as much fun as driving a TR, I'm not convinced. The second half of the route took us on a wide circuit ending up in the grounds of the magnificent Burghley House. Here we could wander around the grounds or house, sample the tea rooms and gift shop all followed by the presentation of a number of awards made by the organisers to participating vehicles and their owners. Yet again a really well-run event and the bonus of some lovely professional photographs taken along the route and shared to all that took part.
June 23rd – TR Lincs Bomber Run
With all the interest in the 1944 Normandy Landings anniversary TR Lincs embarked on our own Bomber run. Lincolnshire is synonymous with RAF Bomber Command as is often referred to as Bomber County. Our run recognised the contribution made by those men and women all those years ago by visiting a number of former and current RAF airfields. The run started at the former RAF Wickenby airfield. The airfield is still operational as a private airfield, but the WW2 control tower still remains and luckily houses a nice café where coffee and bacon rolls were the order of the day. Our route, once leaving Wickenby took as alongside the airfields at RAF Faldingworth, RAF Kirton in Lindsey, RAF Hemswell, RAF Ingham, RAF Scampton, RAF Skellingthorpe and finally RAF Waddington.
Each of these airfields hosted many different types of aircraft and nationalities of aircrew. If you would like to know a little bit more about them then click HERE to see the note presented to everyone that took part. Our run culminated with a guided tour of the International Bomber Command Centre on Canwick Hill, Lincoln. This memorial to the Remembrance, Recognition and Reconciliation of all who took part in the bombing campaigns of the second world war was a sombre and yet uplifting experience. If you have never visited it before then you should. Everyone who took part on the run and then joined in for Sunday lunch at the Kings Head in Navenby, including two Derby Dales members, all had a memorable time.
June 30th– Swanton Vintage Day
Each year sees the World Egg Throwing Competition held during the Swanton Vintage Day with competitors from all over the world wishing to take part in this bizarre competition that will result in you getting covered in raw egg.
A number of TR Lincs members managed to find time in their busy diaries and attended the event which of course also stages a classic car show. Due to a previous commitment I was unable to attend, although I am told the event was eggcellent!
July 6th– Visit to Rimmer Brothers, Lincoln
A healthy number of members attended the tour of the world famous Rimmer Brothers establishment at Bracebridge Heath arranged by Graham Scott. Curiously no ladies attended, I know not why. On arrival we were greeted by Andrew Munday the Sales and Marketing Manager who set the scene by giving us an insight into the history of Rimmers and even the history of the site they now occupy.
The Lincoln site is one of only a handful of World War 1 Belfast Stringer aircraft hangers left standing and is now a listed building. History lesson over it was into the deepest recesses of the warehouse we went. Did you know there are three floors behind that counter that we have all stood at over the years that hold more than 3 million parts. As we toured the floors it was like an Aladdin's cave for classic car owners. Hundreds of bins with parts and components in, some you recognise, some you have no idea. It was too much for some who had to run their fingers through boxes of bolts! At the rear of the site was another warehouse full of body shells for MG's (yes, I know, shouldn't have mentioned them) as well as used parts awaiting refurbishment. There was even a large part of the warehouse dedicated to carboard boxes. All in all, it was a great insight into the operation of something we just take for granted and now understand the issues and challenges involved in running a business like this. I think Phil O'Hara will be busy over the next few weeks judging by the amount of stuff in his Rimmers carrier bag as he left.
Up and Coming ………
To make sure you don't miss out on any up and coming events or runs don't forget to check our events page HERE on a regular basis for the latest news.
The big event of course coming up is the TR Register International Weekend which is now an Inter-Club event with the TSSC to be held at Stratford-upon-Avon racecourse over the weekend 16thto 18thAugust. Full details can be found HERE if you wish to go along. I do know that because it is later in the year than normal a number of people, me included, are unable to attend due to holiday commitments. If you can make it then please make the effort as this is an attempt to try and change the format and inject a different feel to the event.