Kennet Valley Group Social Scene 287
Thatcham Classic at Dunstan Green was the venue for the October mid-monthly meeting. Despite the day being rather cold and cloudy it stayed dry and a large number of very interesting vehicles attended. Ten KVG members displayed their vehicles, enjoyed the show and the company. Some people even managed NOT to collapse from starvation in the long slow queues for the one burger van! We were pleased to meet Dave Carter who drove all the way from the Isle of Wight in his lovely dark blue TR5 to join us at this event.
Kennet Valley Group have been learning all about Motor Rallying. For October club night our speaker was Mr Bill Bonney from Hants and Berks Motor Club who gave a very interesting talk about organizing and marshalling rally stages. Bill has acted as Clerk of the Course / Chief Marshall for many rally events and as well as sharing many funny anecdotes about venues, cars and competitors he explained the complexities and difficulties of staging events.
Guest speaker for November club night was Alastair Flack who brought his lovely 300BHP TR7V8 rally car (as seen at Malvern on the Autosolo in clouds of rubber smoke). Alistair gave us an insight into all the modifications and cost of conversions needed to prepare a high performance rally car. Most TR owners have their "story" about ingenious fixes to get the broken TRs home; mine involves a 2 pence coin and a tube of araldite. Alistair related to us how, when he broke the suspension in the middle of a rally stage, he used a trolley jack handle as repair tubing when he welded the suspension back together and went on to do several rallies with that fix still in place.
November club night was also an "Anniversary" celebration for our group. 45 years ago, to the day, was the very first meeting of local TR owners which took place at the Butt Inn, Aldermaston. This group was later renamed Kennet Valley. So we treated ourselves with a lovely cake, see inset photo, which was cut by long standing members - Toney Dines and Richard Owens.
Our mid – monthly event for November was a run to Middle Wallop and the Museum of Army Flying. Five TRs and a Stag braved the elements to visit this interesting museum however, the strong winds prevented any flying displays on the day.
By the time you read this article we will be getting the dinner jackets and party frocks out in preparation for our late Christmas party at Wroxton House Hotel, Banbury. This popular event sees us take over the hotel for the weekend for good food, a little drink and much dancing, or is it much drinking and little dancing!
February club night 2016 - we hope to have a presentation on the Docklands Light Railway development. However, a warning to any prospective new members and for those who may not yet have heard, our popular club venue, The Winning Hand, is sadly to close at the end of December 2015 so please check the TR Register – Kennet Valley Group page for an update on the new location for our monthly meetings in 2016. Wishing all our local members and friends a Happy New Year!