2024 Event Reports

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Select an event February Breakfast Meeting April Breakfast Meeting Stradsett Country Show EATOC Norfolk Run May Breafast Meeting Christshurch Car Show International Bomber Command Centre

February Breakfast Meeting by Giles Cooper

There isn’t much to write about the breakfast meeting, it was a cold damp day but we had about 30 people (not sure of the exact number) come along, and 5 brave people (myself included) brought out the kit cars.

So here are some photos from the day.

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April Breakfast Meeting by Giles Cooper

Unlike the last breakfast meeting the weather was forecast to be mostly dry this time. Well it said mostly…

I met up with Griff, Rachel and Kev at Leverington and we were soon on the road to the venue, during the drive it kept trying to rain and almost succeeded a few times. After covering most of the distance together after being caught with a T-junction I lost the other two completely. Now at this point I didn’t really know where I was going, so I pulled over into a convenient lay-by, checked the address and then dropped that into the satnav to follow it to the venue. I also texted Griff to say I had lost them and would meet them there.

A few miles of back road and I arrived to find the car park with Dom Eaves, Dave Tombling and Andy Dunn already there and no sign of anyone else.

About 10 minutes later Griff and Kev arrived, it seems as though my alternative had been a lot faster than their planned route…

We were joined by Stan Burton (who completed the kit car contingent), Carl, Carolyn and Georgina Lumley, Dave and Jane Sams, Tony and Liz Haggie, Steve and Paula Tuck, and Richard and Meghan Gaze.

Once everyone had arrived we sat down and got on with the important business of breakfast, I was sitting opposite Georgina who for some reason kept kicking my knee…

After we had finished eating most of us decided to go and explore the venue as we hadn’t been before and there was a lot to look at. Now to avoid upsetting people I have decided to not fill the newsletter with pictures of Spiders, 15cm long locusts, Scorpions etc. These will go on the website on a linked page. I will say the bugs in all there forms were very interesting, especially the leaf cutter ants who had a 50M run of pipes and vines to go and collect food, you stood in a room with the main nest in the centre, with vines leading to the wall where clear plastic tubes where mounted in which you could watch the ants going back and forth collecting leaves.

There were also loads of beetles and millipedes in various different buildings, and a room full of mounted Butterflies and Moths.

Outside there was a small pedal powered go-kart track which a big kid (Meghan) decided she needed a go on, and a load of toys for the slightly younger children (i.e. Georgina) to play on.

Meghan also somehow persuaded her Dad to buy her a beetle mounted in resin, even though he was adamant that he wasn’t buying anything for her today.

Finally after a refuel at the cafe (again) we headed off home. The weather had turned out nice and the journey home was made in the dry with the sun trying to come out.

An interesting venue - but probably not for Arachnophobes, Scolopendrphobes, Myrmecophobes or Entomophobes.

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Stradsett Country Show by Giles Cooper

This was very unusual for the show, the day started off when I left Peterborough dry bright and sunny - and stayed that way all day including my drive home.

Well that isn’t much of a report so let me expand it.

Apart from a set of traffic lights near Outwell, the journey down was mostly uneventful apart from cleaning the front wheels also cleaned some of the old glue that held previous sets of balance weights on. I somehow removed enough glue to put the wheels out of balance - this will need fixing before the Norfolk run….

Upon arriving at Stradsett there was some confusion, there were no signs on the A1122 when coming from Downham Market to the show, and also none on the A1122, A134 junction. Considering that Norfolk has been littered with adverts for the event this was a bit strange. Also placing a sign stating exhibitors entrance 500M on the road, and then using the same entrance for exhibitors and public doesn’t help the matter….

Still I made it and parked up at the Tiger stand. On the stand were Paul’s Escort, The new R10 (without a body fitted), an Avon and an Austin Cambridge. When I arrived I busied myself with putting up the club flag and some application forms for the club. I also had to give the dogs a lot of attention (Millie and Milo) who needed their ears scratching.

During the first few hours it was fairly quiet until the punters started coming in. Now the car attracting attention was the new R10. Sitting there without any fibreglass fitted but being fully running, attracted a load of attention - mainly because you can see all the work that is normally hidden away and covering it up with a layer of fibreglass makes it a less interesting machine to look at, it also shows off all the bespoke engineering work that goes into the car.

But that is enough about the Tiger stand, what else was there, well there were a lot of tractors (that is a surprise) so instead of looking at them I wandered round and inspected the other exhibits

There were some interesting cars on display including a 1904 Phoenix (no I hadn’t heard of it) which was made in Letchworth.

A group (pack?) of working Cocker Spaniels which were due to put on a display where basically enjoying loads of attention from the public - wonder why?

There were also the lines of stationary engines sitting chugging away and pumping the same gallon of water out of a bucket and back into the same container - all day…

There were also some strange signs on club stands - you will see what I mean in the photos.

We also picked up a new member at the show so welcome to Thomas Wright.

Before leaving both Jim and Sue arrived so naturally we had to stop and have a chat, whilst we were doing that the Austin Cambridge parked with us left - and managed about 100 yards before coming to a halt with no fuel. Another classic car owner saw the Austin in distress, came across and virtually rebuild the fuel pump contacts to get the owner home, even better when they asked where they lived, they decided to follow them home in case of any further breakdowns. Neither party had ever met the other so it is that sort of thing that keeps clubs and cars on the road.

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EATOC Norfolk Run by Giles Cooper

This was the 11th Norfolk run, which allowing for the two Covid years means we have been doing this event for 13 years now. And yet we still keep finding interesting roads to use.

The day was warm and dry (unlike the rest of May) and we had a total of 13 cars meet up at the factory to start off. There were a few long distance drivers. Michael and Margaret Dewsbury had come over from Birmingham in the VX220 (they stayed locally overnight) just beating Mike Copeman who drove up from Lowestoft that morning (109 v 85 miles) for his first club event. We also had Nick Smith in his Spartan joining us for the first time as well.

Also from the regular members we had, myself, Adrian and Mandy Spriggs, Angus Grooby, Dom Eaves with Dave Tombling, Kevin Greeves, Mike Ramsdale, Rachel and Griff, Peter and Jenny Hinton, Steve Tuck, and Steve and Heather Newman, Richard and Meghan Gaze were in a Vauxhall as Richard had pulled his back working on the Tiger the day before.

To be honest not a bad turnout.

There was however one problem before we left, on the way to the factory Steve Tuck has stopped for Petrol at the nearby Tesco, however he had forgotten to put the petrol cap back on before driving off. So he went back to Tesco to try and find it, we all left and he had to catch up. Fortunately he found it on the roadside and although a bit scratched and scarred he didn’t have to buy a new one.

The restaurant booking was odd, some of us could book tables others not. However we took a chance and for once left the factory at the planned time. Well we left at the planned time and then took about 20 minutes to get out of Wisbech due to the roadworks at Elm High Road, this had the effect of splitting us all up almost immediately.

After that it was a case of a driving down country roads some of which were rather undulating to say the least. However everyone reached the pub with no major problems.

It turned out that instead of having to book the tables there was enough space to get everyone seated inside and after a good lunch, and some refuelling for the cars we were ready to start off on the second leg towards Elveden Courtyard for an afternoon break before the last run back to Wisbech. At this point Mike Copeman said goodbye and headed home. The rest of us continued on.

The second leg was more country (bouncy) roads passing through Thetford forest and making sure not to get in the way of the ponies running wild as we drove on.

Now we finally arrived at Elvedon Courtyard at about 3:20 with the aim of sitting down for a drink and some refreshments.

This wasn’t to be, it turned out the tearooms were only open until 3:30 (last orders 3PM) and the shop was only open until 4PM.

You would have thought that a business involving a tea room / cafe and a shop would have been open until at least 5 - well we would have thought so.

All we could do was grab a drink and a quick snack before they closed. On the plus side Simon and Ali Noble had come over from Littleport to say hello, since they now have a small child it is harder for them to get out in the Tiger, so it was good to catch up with them. However somewhere between the lunch stop and Elvedon Mike had lost a front mudguard…

The last leg was back to Downham Market and then I headed home. All day though my car has had some very bad vibration coming through the steering, so it was a tiring drive.

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May Breakfast Meeting by Giles Cooper

The weather recently has been strange and so on Saturday 1st June, I found myself wearing shirt, sweatshirt, club jacket, and warm lined trousers. And I still wasn’t hot or even slightly warm..

So it was off to endure the cold on the journey up to the Swineshead. The venue was actually quite easy for most of us to find, a few people overshot despite the multiple signs on the road before the entrance.

Now I hadn’t been here before and when someone said it was a farm shop and cafe I was not expecting a barn sized building that could seat probably100 inside and the same outside, along with a sizeable farm shop as well.

We got a good turnout as well. We had 16 people Adrian and Mandy Spriggs, Steve and Paula Tuck, Steve and Heather Newman, Tony and Liz Haggie, Griff and Rachel, myself, Dom and Dave, Jim Danks, and Mike Ramsdale (the only one not in a kit due to a bad back). All of us had a good breakfast, after the breakfast several went to view the Alpacas in the paddock next to the outside eating area.

After a few hours in the warm building we then braved the cold to drive home again. It was a good venue with good food and working heating which is just what we needed on that day.

I was glad we went that weekend as the week after they relaid the road to Market Deeping using the horrible Wet Tar and loose chipping method - which is dangerous in the Tiger.

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Am I the Only Tiger at the Christchurch Show? by Jim Danks

On Sunday 2nd June there was an amazing celestial event; the sun came out! (editors note the previous day was the farm shop visit) After what seemed an eternity of rain and generally miserable weather it was a beautiful morning. Whilst out early with my dog I happened upon an old John Deere 3 wheeled tractor being warmed up by a barn that is rarely opened up.

A quick acknowledgment with the owner and I was made aware of a vehicle show in the nearby village of Christchurch.

Back home a few minutes later and Facebook confirmed there was The Annual Classic Vehicle and Motorbike Meeting at the Christchurch Community Centre, Cambridgeshire. So, as the weather was good, I got the Tiger out of its stable, and, despite it not being cleaned and polished to a high standard, headed off on the 6-mile journey as fast as I dared. Thats about 20 mph on the Fenland back roads.

On arrival I was greeted by friendly marshals who directed me onto the community field. I was amazed. A large totally random selection of vehicles from the expected tractors in this farming community, to classic cars and bikes of all types and conditions: Big American classics, British and European marques, a Japanese sedan, hot-rods, old sports cars and a more modern V8 Biturbo AMG Mercedes. And, of course the latest edition – a Tiger, my Tiger. There can be only one!

I was parked up alongside the most beautiful and fully restored 1958 Fiat 500. Of all the cars there, the little 500 is what I liked most. Whilst I was chatting away with the Fiats owner, who did not do the restoration, I spotted a bright yellow Tiger driving in. I thought I was the only one! It was in fact EATOC’s Ken Leary in his lovely Super 6. I had no idea that Ken lived so close to me. Unfortunately due to our different arrival times we were not parked next to each other.

After a chat with Ken, I ventured further afield to check out the other vehicles. I then bumped into a couple of near neighbours with their Harley Davidson. We’ve been out riding together in the past and see each other frequently walking our dogs but this show was never mentioned. And then someone else from my village turned up in his pink Cadillac. Maybe they don't want me there!

After a good few hours chatting and chilling and consuming delicious burgers it was time to head home as I had another afternoon engagement. Back along the bumpy local roads, reset my back, put teeth back in and check nothing has fallen off the Tiger! The 3 wheeled tractor probably went faster.

The Christchurch Meeting (Show) is how I personally like car shows. Small, informal, run by enthusiasts not big corporate event organisers, with an eclectic mix of vehicles, free and with excellent, inexpensive, food and drink. I would have happily paid an entrance fee if they wanted it though.

Now I know that the show exists I hope to visit it again in the future. That’s if anyone lets me know when it is on!

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International Bomber Command Centre by Giles Cooper

This was a new venue for virtually all of those attending, club member Alan Anderson is involved with the International Bomber Command Centre, and had arranged for a guided tour, special parking area and reserved us seats in the cafe for lunch.

At the previous pub meeting I had arranged to meet Angus at the services on the Market Deeping roundabout, and then Steve contacted me the day before to ask where we were going to meet as he could now come along to the event. This resulted in me spending about 10 minutes looking for a postcode to give him - I knew where the services were but had no idea what it was called or the address of the place.

So on a bright sunny and reasonably warm Saturday all three of us found the services and headed out on the drive to Lincoln, I could write something about the drive but as it is one road there isn’t much to say apart from we were stuck behind a fuel delivery lorry from Folkingham to Lincoln itself which slowed us down a bit.

We arrived to find most of the people already there, for once we drew in a few members we hadn’t seen for a while namely Martin and Jackie Horspole, and obviously Alan who had organised the event. The rest was mostly made of the regulars - myself, Angus, Steve, Griff and Rachel, Mike Ramsdale, and Kevin Greeves.

I will say this and this is not meant as a detriment to the museum but if you plan on going make sure you take one of the guided tours, they really bring the stories and the place to life, and help to explain what you are looking at. One unexpected part of the tour is that the museum sits on a hill 200 feet above Lincoln and so through a large gap in the hedge you look out onto the town and your eye line is about level with the cathedral itself. The other odd note I took from the tour is that the site floods due to the hill’s composition…you would think being 200 feet above a town would sort of negate that.

After the tour we went to get some lunch at which the food was pretty much flawless the sausage and mash with onion gravy was very good and so were the selection of cakes. It might be worth using this a stopping point when doing a run in the future. You have to pay £3 to park which isn’t that expensive.

After lunch a number of us went round the museum (which is an extra charge) but that was well worth paying for, it features a video wall map showing all the bombing raids through the Second World War building up, the number is almost impossible to comprehend when it first runs through, along with a lot more interesting exhibits.

It was well worth a visit even if you don’t come from a military family or background (most of my relatives where either too young or old for full military service in the Second World War and none have been in the military that I know of). It is well worth a visit and a big thanks to Alan for organising the trip there.