We had a newbie today, Kevin Sydes.   He has purchased a part-built Robin Hood 2B, which he has since stripped down and starting again from scratch.  The kit had sliding pillar suspension fitted, something which is generally disliked amongst the Hoodie fraternity  He is changing it to a double wishbone set up.   He is also aiming to change the gaiter bonnet to a fixed scuttle and nose cone.  Look forward to seeing that one on the road.

We were also visited by Simon Kirby, he has just got his Luego Viento through its SVA and awaiting registration so we hope to see that next spring.

We had the usual raffle, for a bottle of wine.  We have had such bad turnouts this year that there are very little funds in the pot for the Christmas do (have to nip to the Pound Shop to buy a few raffle prizes).  Hopefully next year might be better and we can get back on track with making a few pennies to fund the web site and bits and bobs for the club.  We had hoped to buy a decent flag but can’t afford to!  We will have to have some sort of publicity campaign to bring in new members.

Oh, forgot to say, I have now taken over as Area Secretary for RHOCaR!  A woman at the helm!!  Any RHOCaR members will see that there will be no change apart from in name; things will stay the same and John will still be there to help whenever he is able.

All in all, it has been a good year.  We have had fun on outings, even if at times it has just been a small handful (sometimes just the two of us) attending.  We now have adopted the policy: we are going; would you like to join in?  Perhaps next season more people might fancy tagging along to support us.

Thanks to those who continue to support us and hopefully still enjoy our get togethers.

That’s all folks now until February 2009 when it will all start again.  Can someone have a word with the weatherman and order some better stuff next year?

Attendees:

Robin Hood:  Steve King, Helen

Westfield:  Ron Clements, John

Marlin:  Mike Gouldsborough

Quantum Extreme:  Ian Harrison + 1

Jago Jeep:  Richard and Caroline

Sherpley:  Bob and Carol  (sorry Bob for calling you John!  It’s my age)

Tintops:  Kevin Sydes, Bob and Sheila, Simon Kirby + 3, John and Val

On foot: Paul Brown

Bicycle:  Mike Montague

Happy Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Yet another rainy meeting, only one brave soul, John, ventured out in his NG, the rest of us were cowards and came out with tin tops.  No real point getting the kits soaked and dirty and as we have said before, there is no pleasure in driving them in bad weather.  Thanks to those who joined us today, we had a good indoor meeting.  Thinking of selling the kits and having a 'Sunday Club' where we just meet once a month in the pub......Perhaps not ;-)

Attendees:      

NG  John Hamilton-Smith

Tintops:   Chris Brown, Bob and Sheila, Richard and Caroline, Stephen Altwasser, Mike Bloomfield, Dave, Dan and Sarah, John and Helen.

We booked a club pitch for ten cars plus, a little embarrassing when we gave up our space because we only had five cars on the area we had been allocated.  People obviously had their reasons for not coming along.  Not sure we will bother with booking a club pitch next time.  There was some confusion to start with as to where our pitch was, well done Richard for finding where we were to go, the marshalls certainly didn't know where to send us!  It was nice to hear the name of SG7s mentioned over the tanoy as us being one of the clubs attending the show.

Anyway, there were not as many cars generally on show.  In the past it has been hard to find a space but today there was plenty of room.  Some very nice cars on show, both old and new.  Especially nice were the custom finished cars such as the fucshia coloured Ford Focus and a fantastic Corvette.   Always interesting to have a look at the VW Camper Vans, they seem to have quite a good following with their club activities.

  Ford Focus

  Morgan, you either love or hate it in pink!

I spent some time talking to Mike, who is in the process of moving to Bishops Stortford.  He is looking for a project and we chatted a while about building kit cars and the merits of buying a finished car and customising it to his own specification.  Hopefully he will pop along to our meetings and he can chat with other members before making a decision as to which way he would like to go.  All the best to him on his move!

Caroline and I fell in love with the new Fiat 500; 1200 cc engine, alloy wheels, leather interior, air con, all for up to £9,500 with an annual road tax of £35!  Also very keen, not surprisingly, on the new MX-5, in true red with leather interior, air con, heated seats all for a mere £16,500.  One of each I think sounds good to me.  Not sure how the Fiat reliability goes nowadays, in the 'olden days' they weren't always reliable, at least the 126 (Harry) that we owned for a while wasn't the most reliable.  John wasn't sure about the new shape Fiesta, have to wait and see what the two door model looks like.

Thanks to Dan and Sarah, Dave, Richard and Caroline for joining us on such a lovely sunny day.

Line up of cars                                                                               Richard, Caroline and 'Mum' with Richard's newly acquired Jago

Oh crikey, another wet meeting day.  Beginning to really think we should give up this year.  Not much to report really.  Since we had to get away early so we could set off on our holiday to Devon, we decided to just take the MX-5 and the weather proved that to be a good choice.   We were first to arrive at the pub but were soon joined by a few mad folk who ignored the rain and brought out their cars.  It was an indoor meeting but still enjoyable. 

Newcomer this month was Jim Fernie; we met Jim at Knebworth, he owns two Marlins, a Roadster and a Berlinetta, he arrived in the Roadster.  Just as we were leaving Steve Lovelock arrived so only had the chance of a brief hello. Hope to see him again soon.  Richard made his debut appearance with his newly acquired Jago Jeep (one of the nicest we have seen).

We had intended to leave by 12.30 but didn’t realise the time and eventually left at 1pm.  Thanks to Caroline for taking over the raffle, Jim and Caroline won a bottle of wine each.

Attendees
Peter Bell, Rod Lane, Paul Carter, Richard and Caroline, Stephen Altwasser, Jim Fernie, Andy & Conner Barbet, Steve Lovelock, John and Val (arrived after we had left), John and Helen

Let’s hope the weather is kind to us for the next meeting in October!

P S:   we had a great time in Uplyme, near Lyme Regis at a very nice, although rather waterlogged, site on the side of the valley.  It stayed dry enough for us to get out and about but the weather did get very stormy with strong gusts of wind (no not John) at times.  The tent held up very well and we are looking forward to more camping next year. 

Since we didn't take any photos this meeting, I thought I would put three on here from our tenting holiday.

This was most amusing!

                        Note:  No telephone number!!!

Believe it or not, we did have sunshine!

Doug and Maggie had to cancel due to other commitments. 

We had a great time with a good turnout of members.

Sunday morning the forecast was a little more promising; another change in plan, I wasn’t well enough to drive my Robin Hood so another decision was made for me to travel with John in the Westfield.  The journey only took around an hour (some of which I managed to sleep through despite the V6 purring away in the background) and arrived at the show nice and early.  It was a sunny start but in true August fashion, it soon broke down to strong windy showers with bits of sun in between. 

This caught John's eye; fitted with a 7 litre supercharged V8, it has been to France and cost £2,000 in fuel!  7 miles to the gallon!!!!!!!  No wonder the British have a reputation of being eccentric.

The hall is a new feature at the East of England Showground (strangely located almost in the middle of a housing estate).  The facilities are very good and plentiful.  There was a good selection of kit manufacturers present with the usual trade stalls, food bars and for the boys two ‘girlies’ dressed rather skimpily.  I said something to John about their faces to which he commented ‘did they have faces?’  Obviously know where he, and most likely many other lads, had their eyes fixed to!  I don’t know, what are they like?  It is about time they had a few hunky guys there for us ladies to ogle at and take photos of.  Motoring is still very much a man’s world and us poor ladies get left out! 

There were plenty of kits outside with the various clubs.  Compared to Saturday when the RHOCaR pitch had around 12 cars, there was a good turnout today.  After a brief ‘hello’ to Steven and the Robin Hood guys we joined the East Anglian Kit Car Club.  Martin has done a good job in promoting his club, opening it up like the SG7 club to any marque rather than just Robin Hoods is definitely the way forward in bringing in interesting cars and plenty of ‘members’.  Martin is always a keen promoter of events, much the same as us, it is just a shame that the venues are slightly too far away from us here in Stevenage to join in.

We will have to make the effort to get to a meeting with them! 

People we bumped into (not literally…)

Richard & Caroline, Stephen Altwasser, Chris Brown, Martin Pidd, Mike & Lorraine Shearing, Trevor, Big Kev, John Hamilton-Smith, Peter and Linda, Mike Bloomfield, Tim & Sue Norman, Paul Carter, Graham Coles & Family, Andy Petrie & Michaela, Dave Rose, Glyn Rust, Bob & Carol Howes, Nigel & Roz Farrell, Steve Nicholls, Dave & Sarah, Steve King, Swan & Swan Jr, Chris Shilton, ‘SnapperPaul’, Graham Bowden, and no doubt a few more who as usual I may have forgotten to mention.

The show is scheduled to be on next year according to the showground’s web site (8^th and 9^th August) – I think Martin and SG7s might well book a joint East Anglian/SG7s club pitch.  One problem seemed to be people not knowing who they wanted to or should park with.  I will talk to Martin next year to sort out arrangements if that is what he fancies doing.

For a first time event, the show was quite successful and will hopefully grow in popularity over the next few years.  The camping areas are large and can accommodate lots of campers.  Perhaps next year we will get to stay overnight!  That was after all the whole point of me getting into camping so that we could stay and enjoy the goings-on that I have heard so much about.  Have to wait until next year now.

If anyone took any photos that you might like to add to this report, please send some to me so I can put one or two on here.  Thanks.  John Hamilton-Smith sent us this one:

Next gathering is at Knebworth House on Sunday 24^th and Monday 25^th August (we are camping weather permitting).  Hope to see lots of members there; Mal is hoping to pitch next to us again with his TVR group.  The following weekend, Saturday 6^th, is the Buntingford High Street Classic Car Show, followed on Sunday by our monthly meeting at George IV Pub, Baldock. 

If you are off on your holidays, have a great time!

Bye for now

Helen & John

When I woke up, I heard a car go up the road along with the tell tale swishing noise of a wet road.  Can’t tell you how disappointed I was to think we would be in for yet another wet monthly meet. 

Shall we? Shan’t we?  A difficult decision this morning as to whether or not to go to the meeting in either a tin top or kits.  Well, the sun was in and out with the odd shower until around 1015 when the heavens opened and we made the decision to go in the MX-5.  John nipped off to buy some wood and by the time he got back I had decided to go in the kit after all.  John followed suit. 

Steve was already at the pub and for a while it was just the three of us and we began to think that there might not be a very good turnout.  How wrong can you be?  By the end of the meeting we had 16 cars parked up.  There are a lot of mad people out there, thank goodness!

The pub has done some improvements to the grass area beside the pub. They now have a very nicely fenced-off area with climbing frames for the kids (keeps them contained instead of coming up to the cars), which is much safer all round - nice for those members who bring their children with them.  They have published their Christmas menu so that will be coming round to those on my email distribution list in the not too distant future.  How time flies, won’t be long before we are planning next year’s diary of events.

We had apologies from John Hamilton-Smith who had family visiting, Chris Brown and Stephen Altwasser who were otherwise engaged doing the Tan Hill run.  Looks like they had a good time. 

Nice to meet Paul Dancer who joined us today (he was at Kimbolton but didn’t park with us).  Peter and Linda who were also at Kimbolton came down from above Peterborough.  We hope to see them again in the future.  Dan managed to put a hole in his sump driving over a gate keep – guess what he is going to be doing now!

Bob (Sherpley) Howes won the bottle of scotch we raffled today. Since enough people came along, it was worth doing a raffle.  Big thanks to our ‘treasurer’ Sheila for selling the tickets again for us.  Not a job I enjoy doing so very grateful for the help.

The next show we are off to is this Saturday coming, when we are going to the Peterborough show, hoping to camp overnight (if it isn’t raining).  Then at the end of the month we are back at Knebworth for the bank holiday weekend, hope some of you can come and join us there.  We are normally up on the hill overlooking the showground. 

When I got back to Stevenage I was told that it had rained on and off, sometimes heavily, all morning.  We only had a couple of spots of rain at the pub so we were very lucky to have stayed dry.  It was a very enjoyable meeting, we hope others enjoyed it as much as we did. 

Attendees:

Quantum Extreme:  Ian Harrison + 1

Sherpley:  Bob Howes

Locost:  Paul Dancer

Sprite:  Ced & Alan

Jaguar:  Dave

Westfield:  Nigel Cady; John & Val; John

Lotus Elise:  Alan Rowe

Luego:  Peter & Linda

Robin Hood:  Gav & Kev (Super Spec); Peter Bell; Paul  & Linda Carter; Steve King; Helen

Dax Rush: Chris Shilton

Tin Top:

Bob & Sheila; Dan  & Sarah; Richard & Caroline; Lorraine

Bicycle:  Mike Montague

Well done to the area secretaries for getting together the troops today.   We had the usual visit to the show, thanks to Chris Brown as usual for sorting out the tickets.  We had a good turnout of around 28 cars pulling in members of RHOCaR, East Anglian Kit Car Club, Locost Owners and SG7.  Members came from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Northampton, Herts etc. 

It was the usual mix of craft stalls, tombolas, arena events and plenty of modern, classic and kit cars.  The highlight of the day was a fly past by a Lancaster bomber, Spitfire and Hurricane.  What an amazing plane the Lancaster is.  As our daughter, Abby, said, it is quite hard to imagine a whole squadron of them flying overhead on their way to a bombing raid.  Can’t imagine what it would be like, never having lived through such a time.

It was a cold day with sunny intervals and just a brief shower.  Thanks to all those who came along.

Attendees:

Chris Brown; Stephen & Lesley; Glyn Rust; Alan Rowe & Pauline; Bob Rowell, Mike Shearing; Mike Bloomfield; John Hamilton-Smith; Stephen King; Becky and Pete; Martin Pidd; Dave & Sarah; Ian & Jill Millar, Andy & Michaela; Paul & Maria & Nicola Taylor; Peter & Linda; Gary Renouf; Graham Coles; Dan; Dave Rose; Paul Carter; Trevor; Gav & Kev; brief visit by Nigel Cady; Helen; John & Abby, and finally Kev. 

There were a few more present, but I didn’t manage to get their names.  If you are reading this and were there will you email me please so I can add your name(s).

Lots of general chit chat about Le Mans, Newark and other stuff.  Didn’t do a raffle, not enough people to warrant doing one. 

Thanks for those who made the effort to come out in the rain.

Attendees:

Westfield:  John

NG:   John Hamilton-Smith

Robin Hood:  Steve King

Sherpley:  Bob & Carol

Tin tops:

Chris Shilton, Richard, Bob & Sheila, Stephen & Lesley, Paul Brown, Andy & Emily

Sunday 15^th June 2008

We didn’t think anyone else would manage to get to the show but were pleasantly surprised to meet up with some of ‘the gang’ during the course of the day.  It is a much smaller show than the August Bank Holiday Classic Show but very friendly and, we decided, since it is held on one day only, you get a greater concentration of people having a look at the cars.  As always, the kits on display attracted a great deal of attention.  We wonder how many people were looking at photos of our cars on their computers once they returned home!   I did take the Robin Hood up to the arena but there were only three American cars there, making me think I had the wrong group, and no one beckoned me to go up to the line-up (if you can call three cars a line-up!) so I went back and re-joined John.  Had I stayed, I might have had a chance, Chris and Moira’s ex Dax Rush, which was there with its new owners (it now lives in Lincolnshire), went into the ring just as I parked up and it won the group! 

There were a few stalls and the usual food vans, but there were no extra toilet facilities; I always think this is a bit of a cheek when you pay £7.50 entrance fee and the only facilities are those in one block of loos!  I feel a letter coming on….  It was worth pre-booking at £2.50 per car.

Weather wise, when the sun was out it was very hot but when it went in, you certainly knew it.  A real day of jumpers on and off.   At least it didn’t rain!  I suppose that is the best we can ask for. It is June afterall.

Attendees:

Doug and Maggie (Tiger)

Dave (Jaguar)

Dan (Robin Hood)

John (Westfield)

Helen (Robin Hood)

Ian and Robyn Harrison (tintop)- stopped by to say hello

We also had sitting next to us the Porsche Spyder which has been to our meeting at the pub, and, as I said above, Chris & Moira’s ex Dax Rush.

John and Val were going to come but had a change of plan.

                        GIRL POWER!  

After a slow start, we ended up with 20 cars which was great.  Lovely to meet a two newbies.  John posts the meetings on the Locost forum and it is really good that some of the readers of the forum can join us. 

Dave came along with his Mach-1 and Tom Hayden, from Houghton Regis also joined us (we had met Tom before at Graham’s meeting for Beds & Bucks RHOCaR).  It seems to work very well having a multi-marques meeting as opposed to sticking with just the one ‘breed’.  Today Robin Hoods made up almost half of the cars present.  It was good to see so many together.

Some of our friends from The East Anglian Kit Club joined us, Andy and Michaela with their Westfield and Mike and Lorraine in their Luego Viento.   Very nice also to see Doug and Maggie with their Tiger; they have had a lot on their plate so this is the first time they have been able to get along for quite a while.  Mal also put in his first appearance of the year with his TVR. 

A few diary events you may be interested in attending:

15^th June, Knebworth Park, Father’s Day Classic Car Show, www.classicshows.org pre-booking needs to be done by 6^th June

20^th July, Kimbolton Castle, Sporting Bears

14^th September, St Mary’s Catholic School, Wheel Meet Again.  See St Mary’s website for details and form to download   http://www.stmarys.net/sitefiles/MOTOR%20SHOW%202008%20a.pdf

13^th and 14^th September, National Kit Car Show, Stafford Show Ground

Attendees:

Robin Hood:  Stephen & Lesley, Chris Brown, Peter Bell & his brother-in-law, Steve King, Mike Bloomfield, Graham Coles, Tom Hayden, Dan, Helen

Westfield:  Andy & Michaela, John

Luego: Mike & Lorraine

NG:  John Hamilton-Smith

TVR:  Mal

Tiger: Doug & Maggie

Ginetta: Dennis

Quantum:  Ian Harrison + 1

Jaguar: Dave

Mach-1 – Dave

Locost: Kev

Tintops:  Bob & Sheila

Motorbike:  Mike Montague

Another huge thank you to everyone for coming along and making a very successful meeting.  Well done to Peter Bell for winning the bottle of Bourbon!  He seemed very pleased with himself.

Until next time…..

Some 16 or so years ago, John and I went to Manor Farm Camp Site, East Runton (just outside Cromer, Norfolk) with our Alpine Sprite touring caravan and had an enjoyable stay.  Not long after that, we sold the van and until now when we have ventured into the world of camping, have been unable to stay there again since there are no static vans on site. 

The site is huge, situated just on the outskirts of Cromer.  It is hilly with some great views.  Facilities are excellent and still being improved. There is no club house, shop or any other facility other than the toilet/shower blocks which are well presented, clean and nice to use.

We arrived at around 1.30 and were joined at intervals by the other campers, the last ones to arrive being Richard and Caroline.  Once we were all set up we lit the barbeques and settled down for the evening which got colder and colder.  Can’t really complain, it didn’t rain!  We had a good evening chatting and having a good laugh. 

It was a very cold night; I have to admit, I should have listened to John who wanted to pitch next to a hedgerow which might have given a little shelter from the wind.  However, I really wanted a sea view so we parked a little more central on the field.  Possibly a mistake but we all know what they say about hindsight.

We woke up on Saturday, had breakfast and those who wanted to go the Muckleburgh Museum set off for Weybourne.  Muckleburgh is a tank, militaria museum.  The convoy of cars to the museum drew a great deal of interest from the locals.  The museum was enjoyed by all who went.

leaving for the museum

I had arranged for lunch to be at the Red Hart Inn at Bodham, just three miles away from the museum, the idea being that after looking round, a quick drive inland to the pub would mean a reasonable arrival time for the pub staff.  Didn’t quite work out like that, the route taken to the pub involved a lengthy drive via Holt, still arrived in time for food to be served.  They did us proud especially the puddings!  Very friendly and accommodating.

Once lunch was over, we set off for a drive back through Holt to Blakeney where we gathered in the car park briefly.  Some decided to stay n Blakeney whilst the rest of us drove to Cromer, parked in the cliff top car park and went off for a cuppa in the town. 

It is amazing; we create quite a stir when we all rumble into town in convoy.  I don’t think we are posers, but we do enjoy being looked at with our pride and joys.  After the cuppa in Cromer, we set off back to the camp site, five minutes up the road.  Fish and chips was brought in thanks to Martin and Andy and then another evening spent sitting round a barbeque to try and keep warm.  At bed time, it is really strange putting extra clothes ON instead of taking things off.  It was the only way to keep warm.  John slept with a woolly hat on and I had mine on, with matching gloves, and long stripy socks and my coat over the top of me.  Richard and Caroline cheated and borrowed an extra duvet from his sister who has a cottage just down the road in Mundesley!  Perhaps we should have all gone in and shared it!!

  anyone recognise this person?

                who is this?

Certainly missed not having electric hook up with the electric fire, made all the difference when we camped a few weeks ago in Suffolk. 

Sunday morning we all got up quite early, the sun was shining and what a difference it made to the temperature in the tents.  The wind was still very chilly but the sun made it feel better.  As quick as people had arrived, the tents were taken down and gradually everyone drifted away until there was one tent left standing; ours!  Can you believe it, just as we were putting it down, there was a brief sprinkling of rain.  Everyone else had escaped with their tents dry, not us.  Fortunately, it didn’t amount to much.  We were all packed up, waited to say cheerio to Richard and Caroline who had gone for a walk into town. They came back loaded with fresh cream meringues for us all.  Very nice, a nice end to the weekend.

                                    last look under a bonnet

Richard set off back to Mundesley and we set off home.  Many of us went there via Brandon, Swafham, Fakenham; a much nicer route than going up through Norwich.  We had a great trundle home in lovely warm sunshine.

Feedback from those who have written is good, they all seem to have enjoyed themselves and want to do it again next year!  I am already having a look to see what is out there to go and see and find somewhere to stay. 

Those who came:

Martin Pidd, Stephen Altwasser, Bob and Sheila, Bob and Carol, Ced and Lorraine, Roy and Sue, Richard and Caroline, Mike and Lorraine, Steve Nichols, David Dickerson and of course John and me.  Andy and Michaela joined us for lunch and John Hamilton-Smith joined us for the museum trip and lunch on Saturday.

Peter Bell and Glyn cancelled for family/health reasons and Mike Montague sadly had a puncture so had to be recovered back to his home so didn’t make it.

We will be doing it all again next year, most likely in June though to try and catch a little warmer weather.  John Hamilton-Smith is interested in going over to France with his NG, not something John and I would do, but if anyone else fancies a trip over there to camp this is something that could be arranged as well as a trip that we do in the UK.  If anyone is interested in going to France, let me know and I will put you in touch with John H-S.

All as usual, that remains, is to say thank you for joining in and making another successful outing for SG7s.

Look forward to seeing people at the next monthly meeting on 1^st June at George IV.

Hi di Hi campers!

It was a good turnout, we kind of expected numbers to be down; wives will only put up with so much absence at shows and what with Stoneleigh and Old Warden last week, the monthly meet and then the camping trip, I guess somebody has to stay in and do the chores at some point.  As I have said before, John is lucky (I think, he might not agree) that I go to the meetings as well, it means he is allowed out more often.  We do very well at the meetings with wives coming along for a chat; we try very hard to make the ladies feel welcome.

We met Dennis last year who was building a Ginetta.  He brought it along for its debut appearance having just passed its SVA.  Very nice too; in fact, lovely!   We were also joined by Carl Knight who is currently building a Locost, hope to see him on the road.  New members still keep popping up although old ones also slide away from the kit car world.

Good to see everyone again.  Next meeting is on 1^st June. 

Attendees:

NG:  John & Yvonne

Robin Hood:  Steve King, Chris Brown, Stephen & Lesley, Mike Bloomfield, Helen

Westfield:  Paul Brown, John & Val, John & Abby

Ginetta:  Dennis & John

Beach Buggy: Elaine & (can’t remember)

MK:  Kevin

Locost: Dave, Trevor & Nicky

Jaguar: Dave & Dan

Tintops:  Bob & Dave Plastow, Chris Shilton, Carl Knight, Andy & Connor, Gary.

Until next time……

Firstly, an apology for taking so long to put anything on here about Detling.  Been particularly busy one way or another and not had the time to put fingers to keyboard.  Quite surprising how much time is taken arranging shows, camping trips etc. 

Anyway, Detling was about the same as usual.  A few deluges of heavy rain leading to a sudden departure of many of the kits, and generally much the same as last year. 

Stoneleigh however, was as good as it always is.  This is by far the best show for me.  Very well attended by clubs, trade stalls and people.  There were some lovely cars on display including a few hot rod and American cars. 

 Met up with a few SG7 members.  I did go car spotting, see if you were spotted in the photos below. 

We did miss seeing the Norfolk guys but when we spoke later in the evening, it was VERY obvious they were having a VERY good time! 

Old Warden Classic Car Show was good this year.  The weather there is either very wet and a wash out or sunny as it was this year.  A very good collection of cars on display.  Nice to see Sandie and John out in the Cobra, not seen that for a year!  Still gets a great deal of attraction from passers by.  My favourite car of the day was an Armstrong Siddeley   It had been owned by the family since 1974 and was in beautiful condition.

The auto jumble is ok if you have classic cars, which, of course, what the show is mainly about.  I am amazed how much the commentator knows about cars, he just never stops talking!  He talks more than me!   It is quite nice when he stops for lunch!  Hope no one tells him….

Vauxhall Cresta

Attendees:  Mike & Mrs Bloomfield, Sandie & John, Steve King, Dave & Dan, Ron Clements and &wife, Helen & John.

The subject of the SVA test was raised and talked about. Glyn pointed out that the SVA is due to be dropped making it almost impossible for people to build their own cars because the new legislation would be so restrictive. This link taken from the RHOCaR forum will give you a more in depth idea of what is likely to happen: http://www.the-ace.org.uk/loss-of-the-sva-test.html

As you may have read in the last meeting report, Graham Coles has taken over as Area Secretary of the Beds/Bucks RHOCaR (for new readers, the Robin Hood Owners Club and Register).  For his first meeting he decided to invite everyone to go to his home.  He is finding it hard to find somewhere locally to hold the meetings that is a decent drive away from his house, much like John and I, we only have a very short run to get to the Herts monthly meetings.  He is looking for suggestions so if anyone knows of a good pub with a huge car park in the Houghton Regis area please get in touch with me and I will pass it on to Graham. 

John sent out an email to all the SG7/RHOCaR members to invite them to join us.  We had a fantastic response, only two people took us up on the invite;  Stephen and Lesley Altwasser made their own way there and John and Val met up with us at the Three Moorhens in Hitchin.  We waited for a while, and, when no one else turned up, set off to find Graham’s house.  What a brilliant drive.  The road to Barton le Clay is just made for a ride in the kits.  The weather was perfect; nice dry roads, brilliant sunshine and although chilly it couldn’t have been better. 

We pulled up and parked at Graham’s house to find the barbeque on the go with bacon cooking ready to fill fresh rolls served up with hot coffee or tea.  Even better when someone arrived bearing yum yums, doughnuts and caramel slices.  Jenny, Graham’s wife, Gemma (daughter) and Dan (son-in-law), oh and not forgetting 10 month old Aiden, all made us feel very welcome and we would like to thank them for their hospitality.  They had all gone to a great deal of trouble to make the meeting go well. 

There were a few familiar faces from the Thames Valley RHOCaR area, a couple of Bedfordshire guys and us from Herts/SG7.

Some of the attendees:

Graham Coles (of course), Stephen & Lesley, Val & John, Peter Ray, Graham Mintram, Rod Lane, Graham Bowden, Ian Henderson and a few I don’t know.

A huge thank you to Graham and family, it was a lovely idea to have the meeting at their home, and very much appreciated.  We are looking forward to going to future meetings and as soon as we know more details of the venue, we will let you know.  I am looking forward to going in my Hood! It will be back on the road for March 1^st!!!!

(I stole the photo  from Graham’s write up on the RHOCaR forum, sorry Graham!  Hope he doesn't mind....)

Yes, it was 6th, not the 5th as I advised everybody.