Following our request for ideas for future events, I am pleased to announce an ambitious new event. Tim Jones has organised a series of outings to criss-cross the entire navigable non-tidal Thames via various routes with suggested photo opportunities, places of interest, coffee stops/lunch venues, etc. This will take the form of three Thames Valley Tours spread throughout the year. They will be informal events requiring minimum MSCC approval (subject to numbers). Suggested routes and info sheets will be provided at the start of each event and full details including where to meet and end (with appropriate parking) will be provided. Participants will require road maps/satnav and will plan their own routes (with help available at the start). Coffee and lunch stops will be suggested but not provided. There will be a modest charge of £5 per car to cover printing and organising costs. All you need to do is register in advance: then get to the start point in good time with map, money, and fuel. Full details are in the events list.
In addition, Tim is also organising a ‘Double Dealer Day’ with a visit to Richard Thorne’s Classic Cars and then on to Williams Morgan via lunch at Tetbury. This too may be found in our events list.
For this tour we would be at Richard Thorne for coffee at around 10:00 and with Williams for mid-afternoon for a cup of tea. As we will be passing close by, Gill Bevan will be suggesting a suitable lunch venue in or near Tetbury where she lives and is nicely en-route and I am pleased to say Gill will be joining us. Full details will be published soon.
Recently, we have heard from the Head of Design Technology at Pangbourne College in Berkshire, who runs a Classic car restoration activity for their pupils: they are currently restoring a Bond Equipe. Due to the pupils interest in classics they are running a Classic car show on Saturday the 4th June on their picturesque grounds at the college. Their goal is to get the widest range of cars on display as possible, H.R Owen in Pangbourne are supporting the event and will be providing a Heritage vehicle to add to the display. We have been invited to bring our cars to display at their event. The event is completely free and will run from 10am to 4pm on Saturday 4th June. If you are interested please contact me, on
We are planning a Centre visit to the Factory in May for all those that have lodged their interest; spaces are still available. If you are interested please contact me, on
Also, we have had a great suggestion from James Stewart-Smith about a possible visit to the Mike Hawthorn Museum. This venue is open on special days. We will track down the dates and publish a planned visit shortly.
This month we plan to visit West Green House Garden on Sunday March 13th. We are planning to visit the series of walled gardens surrounding the 18th Century house in addition to the grand water staircase, the topiary garden, Persian water garden and the aviary. Please meet at 11.00 am at the entrance, West Green, near Hartley Wintney.
Please remember we are planning to do a review of events at our next AGM on 21st April. So if you have any ideas for things you would like us to do as a Centre, please do bring them along. We always welcome new proposals which we are pleased to receive anytime. If anyone wants to run an event then you can rely on the full support of the Thames Valley Centre Management Committee. Between us we have quite a lot of experience and we would be pleased to help. As I said before, if we all just organised one event a year then we would have more than enough fun things to do to keep us busy. I look forward to hearing from you all soon.
Don’t forget a new batch of the Thames Valley Centre Car badge, as depicted in the logo associated with the Centre’s reports in Miscellany, has arrived. This is the round badge design. The badge comes in a choice of one of five colours: red, white and blue, remember those Minis in the Italian Job movie, plus green and black. If you order a car badge you can choose one of these five colours, but as we can only order a limited number of each colour, choice of colour will be on a first come first served basis. We are taking orders now, please be quick as we feel these badges will be popular. Please contact Mike Aldrich if you would like one. Tel: 01628 676 619. Email: