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Monthly Centre News

August 2007

How lucky we were with the weather on the day of the Ripley event It had rained for weeks but the sun shone between showers and we were able to hold our driving tests in the field next to the Fete. There were six entries doing the usual bucket on head and cans on poles etc. The winners were Alan Larby 1st and Jim Robinson (Father in Law) 2nd.As you can imagine a little friendly rivalry. Owing to the weather the entries were lower than usual but still a very enjoyable day.

24 people toured Abbots Hospital on our July Club night. This is a beautiful Jacobean building which was built by George Abbot (Archbishop of Canterbury 1611-1633) to house the poor of Guildford. We were lucky enough to be shown round by the present Master and held our Club night in the Three Pigeons Pub next door.

This Sunday 12 of us met for lunch at a Pub in Bishopsgate intending to walk along the river at Runnymede.

Robin very kindly offered to lead the walk, which turned out to be a marathon. We saw the Memorials of the Magna Carta, John F Kennedy and the Air Force Memorial, which were all very impressive. We should have known by following Robin we would walk through woods and fields and end up scrambling under a fence (see Bev below!)

It really was fun and after an ice cream we returned along the riverbank to collect our cars. Two days later Len and I are still suffering from achy muscles but I expect it shows how unfit we are. We were pleased to see Dave and Mo at this event. They are newcomers to Brooklands and have just bought an A7 after coming on the Spanish Holiday.

We are looking forward to our Film Night in November when Ken and Eileen Cooke are coming to talk about their Route 66 Trip.

Check our Web Site for new articles, which should appear soon, including June Theobald’s account of the Spanish Holiday.

Yours in pain
Judy

July 2007

The Brooklands Asturian Adventure was just that. Some members found it a little too adventuresome I think, but we will, I am sure, find them on the list for next year. We were pleased to welcome Geoff and June and their friends Dave and Maureen, who we hear, have since succumbed to the disease, and bought an Austin. A trip to the Psychiatrist needed perhaps?

We set off from Plymouth, 12 cars in all, after a leisurely trip through Dorset and Devon, where we stayed at the famous Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay. This is where John Cleese and the Python team stayed in 1972, and where he met Mr Donald Sinclair (owner of said Hotel), who was the inspiration for Basil Fawlty. Unfortunately all the staff behaviour was disappointingly normal and the food excellent, but never mind.

By the time we reached Plymouth poor Geoff had been suffering from loose wheel nuts. He had done what most of us have in the past. Replaced something on the car before a trip only to find that the old one was a better fit.

He was sorted by the time we reached the ferry and he and June looked slightly more relaxed as we all enjoyed a calm crossing to Santander.

We spent our first three nights in a tiny mountain village called Cofino.

The Hotel was wonderful and when I awoke on the first morning there was the usual tinkering going on in the car park. Why do you all do that? Do you have withdrawal symptoms if you don’t have a daily tinker or a quick wash down? By the way, besides the fiddling with cars I caught my husband tinkering with Jane and a screwdriver. What were they doing?

Two rest days followed with trips to the coast and interesting mountain roads.

On the way to the next stop poor Geoff was in trouble again.

We pulled in behind a line of our old cars to find he had water in his petrol tank. He was being bombarded with suggestions from dodgy petrol to leaking hoses. So of course they emptied his tank (don’t ask) and with some good fuel, we all carried on. By this time I think poor June was wondering what on earth had possessed her to come on holiday in this heap of trouble called an Austin 7.

The next few days were fun and relaxing except Question: Why did no one tell the newcomers not to travel behind the Morris Cowley? Why didn’t we tell them that Robin would explore every road in Asturia and get in for dinner at 8.55pm?

There were many amusing incidents on the Holiday including:

Jane’s shopping trip to buy trousers. She asked in her best Spanish for a tape measure . First they offered her a belt, Then they gave her some knicker elastic. I wish I had been there. Remember Jane for next time ELASTICO for PANTELINOS.

Stephen had a problem with the Alvis, he called for a grease gun and Jane offered a greasy nipple. Strangely he chose Len’s oilcan. There must be something wrong with the man.

You will probably have noted a few facts by now:

1) We have a lot of fun on our holiday
2) The name JANE features quite a lot.

Len and I left them on the return journey and drove on to France which was super but lacked the laughter and the leg pulling.

Thank you Robin for another superb Holiday, roll on till next year.

Messages from Brooklands:

- Bev, hope you are better soon
- John and Jean Hopwood, ditto and we missed you both
- Jean and Bob it wasn’t the same without you

Click here for June Theobald's write-up of holiday.

Judy

June 2007

How lucky we were with the weather on the day of the Ripley event It had rained for weeks but the sun shone between showers and we were able to hold our driving tests in the field next to the Fete. There were six entries doing the usual bucket on head and cans on poles etc. The winners were Alan Larby 1st and Jim Robinson (Father in Law) 2nd. As you can imagine a little friendly rivalry. Owing to the weather the entries were lower than usual but still a very enjoyable day.

24 people toured Abbots Hospital on our July Club night. This is a beautiful Jacobean building which was built by George Abbot (Archbishop of Canterbury 1611-1633) to house the poor of Guildford. We were lucky enough to be shown round by the present Master and held our Club night in the Three Pigeons Pub next door.

This Sunday 12 of us met for lunch at a Pub in Bishopsgate intending to walk along the river at Runnymede. Robin very kindly offered to lead the walk, which turned out to be a marathon. We saw the Memorials of the Magna Carta, John F Kennedy and the Air Force Memorial, which were all very impressive. We should have known by following Robin we would walk through woods and fields and end up scrambling under a fence.

May 2007

We held the Buttercup Bounce in May. This is a very popular annual event held in the garden of Graham and Betty Currie. We were blessed by fine weather and BBQ’d our lunch before indulging in a few games in the buttercup field. Unfortunately our games Master Nigel was absent, but we did our best to uphold the tradition of “Bucket on Head” and “Cup of water on Bonnet”.

We had seven brave entrants and they all had a thoroughly good time I think. Graham set a proper challenge of parking in garages, which would have impressed Nigel, no end. The winner of the games was Bob Smith who was presented with an out of date can of beer, which was hastily replaced by a fresh one. Many thanks to Betty and Graham for their hospitality.

Our group will set off on Saturday for Spain, so we pray for fine weather and that the Bay of Biscay is kind to us. Robin’s Holidays are always fun and we look forward to pleasant meandering in the mountains.

Please note that the visit to Abbott’s Hospital in Guildford on 25th July has altered slightly in that the visit times have changed. Please contact me if you don’t know your allotted time.

Please email if you want to advertise something on our Web Site Classifieds page. We are keen to make this work and need your support.

Judy - Brooklands Centre

April 2007

Brooklands Centre once again held a very successful Cobham Trial. We were blessed by a beautiful day in the outstanding location of Cobham Park. The entry of 37 cars was the biggest ever and with 36 starters and 22 newcomers we knew we were in for a treat.

Click here for video and here for more photos.

Wendy Coulter - 4th place in 'Sports & Specials' Class 3

For those who haven’t yet attended this event we have a selection of runs from easy to more challenging and progressing to exciting sections in the bluebell woods. There were saloons and tourers Chummies and Ulsters specials and three grasshoppers, one being supercharged. So, a super collection of Austins all getting involved and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Results:

Cliff Bradshaw in a 1928 Chummy won The Roger Boore Trophy for best original specification production car.
Don Skelton in a 1930 Sports won The Mike Featherstonhaugh Trophy for best newcomer to the Cobham Trial.
Paul Noakes in a 1934 RP Box won 1st prize in Production/Saloons Tourers Class 2.
Eddie Williams in a 1928 Chummy Special won two trophies: The Tony Jones Memorial Trophy for best car in SWB sports/specials Class 3, and The Radiator Trophy for overall winner.

Click here for full table of results.

We would like to thank all the Marshalls who helped on the day, especially those in the woods who showed great skill when things occasionally got a little tricky. Thanks also to the people who set up the courses on Saturday, the Scrutineers and those working out the results. It is worth a mention that we did have on site an off duty Ambulance Technician who was prepared to deal with any medical emergency. Our thanks to Karen for that and we will repeat that next year.

Our special thanks to Dominic Coombe , who allowed us to use his land for the Trial. We are very grateful, as it is a wonderful venue.

Our AGM was held in April. 24 attended, 7 of those Committee members, so not a huge turnout. Three stood down and were all re-elected and Richard Perkins was voted on as a proper member. We quickly dealt with the business and then enjoyed a film of the 1997 first Brooklands Spanish Holiday. One of our members is coming for the first time this year and sat through the film, looking decidedly nervous as he watched Robin’s Bullnose being fixed on the dockside in Santander. He then learnt that Len and I also broke down and had to be repatriated which really worried him. Don’t worry Geoff we will look after you. It’s fun HONESTLY.

A reminder. June Clubnight is now a Noggin and Natter as most will only just have returned from Spain, hopefully not c/o the AA.

Please email if you want to advertise something on our Web Site Classifieds page. We are keen to make this work and need your support.

Judy Norman - Brooklands Centre

March 2007

On the 25th March we met at the Greyhound Pub at Eton Wick for a lovely lunch and then drove to the nearby Museum called” History on Wheels”. Apologies for the map which was upside down and showed a very round about route to Eton Wick, however the route took us through Windsor Great Park and Eton College, so was well worth the trouble.

The museum was certainly worth a visit. It has a huge collection of 2nd World War memorabilia and houses a surprising number of vehicles from 1920’s to 1950’s.

We saw commercial trucks and Military vehicles, wheeled and amphibious, half tracked and tracked. The military vehicles were British, American French, German and Russian.. There was a WW2 Dispatch Rider’s Norton and a fully equipped Austin NAAFI Wagon.

One of my favourite items was a 1946 Austin 10 Gown Van, which was used as a travelling Haberdashery around the Bagshot Area.

In the 2nd part of the Museum was a huge collection of bicycles and prams, uniforms and advertising material. I have never seen such a large and varied collection owned by one person.

The owner originally opened a Military Antique Shop, then moved it all into the farm buildings in Eton Wick in 1975. He hired the Military vehicles to the film industry but now concentrates on the Museum. He is a very interesting and enthusiastic chap. The visit ended with tea and home made cakes made by Vera (Mrs Museum).

Our next event was the Easter Egg Hunt, which I am sure Nigel will have reported in this issue. Len and I marshalled at the start and the finish, which was fun. 23 cars took part and they all seemed to enjoy it very much. We were blessed with fine weather so the teams went off happily with their little bag of Easter Eggs to sustain them.

We had to note the Mileage at the beginning and end, either on trip or not, and only one car came back with neither showing! It said 0 both times so I think it may have spent three hours hiding around the corner!!
It was great to see so many different makes of car enjoying the Challenge of this Rally.

Please let me know if you want a place on the trip to Abbot’s Hospital in Guildford. We have been lucky enough to be allowed to go inside and be shown around by the Master so I need firm numbers and need to know whether you want the 7pm or the later visit.

Judy Norman - Brooklands Centre

January 2007

A huge turnout again for our Club Night in January. We met at our usual place the King William IV in West Horsley and were a bit spread about the Pub owing to the numbers, but managed a good Noggin and Natter.

Robin produced a Quiz, which required us to guess car makes, illustrated by drawings of badges obviously missing the names. It was quite difficult I thought, but the likes of Perkins, Maguire and Currie showed us up. To my shame, I failed to recognise the MG badge. Owing to the fact that, as usual, my other half didn’t try very hard, in fact he didn’t help at all, I failed miserably and was teased unmercifully for most of the evening. So, fair game Robin, but there is no need to torture me with it for the rest of the year, thank you.

For February we have a Feelie Night which is always popular. I have a corker this year so hope you will enjoy it.

We have sadly said goodbye to Claire’s Ruby. After ten years it was time to let someone else enjoy her and Len is relieved to be reducing our fleet. He is busy on the Austin 7 special now, preparing that for Sale. He is so pleased to be able to move around the garage more comfortably. By the time this is in print he will have retired so happy times ahead I hope. Think of all the housework he’ll be able to do whilst I’m out with the Ladies who Lunch.

A few of us Brooklands people attended the funeral of our friend Bill Higgins who died in January. It was a wonderful service about the career and retirement of a wonderful man who was very popular in our Club. We have some great memories of trips he and Traudl made with us and we will miss him a lot. We send the family our sincere condolences.

Judy Norman - Brooklands Centre

December 2006

Our Christmas Meal was fantastic, well mine was. 47 people came, old friends and regulars. We were especially pleased to see Ray and Les Bayliss who drove from Essex to attend and, I hope, enjoyed the evening. After a very pleasant meal we held our popular raffle.. As usual, Jane and Roger, with the help of Claire, strong-armed folks into parting with their money. Smashing prizes were won including the famous “BUM CARE KIT” This was won by Graham and Betty Currie for the third time. I think this is rather greedy and that perhaps they should let others have a turn!. Thanks to all those who supplied prizes.

Awards were made to:

John Oliver Trophy - Jim Robinson

Out & About - Graham Currie

Club Member of the Year - Claire Norman

Newcomer - Nigel Curtis