We had a wonderful evening at Richard Thorne’s Christmas Party where he celebrated his 35 years as a Morgan dealer, on Thursday 1st December. As this was the date of our normal noggin at the Bird In Hand we had decided to move our noggin to Richard’s party. I would like to thank Helen and Richard for their kind invitation. There were lots of fun things to do and several interesting Morgan sports cars to crave over. It was a memorable evening with their VIP visitor Dennis de Roos. During the evening I had the honour of presenting to Richard a handmade wooden representation of a Morgan front bonnet with a white coloured Morgan car version of our Thames Valley Car badge. If you would like to see it, then please visit our website (www.thamesmog.co.uk ). We have it on good authority that Richard has positioned it with pride of place on his desk, so you can see it there also. On behalf of the Centre, I would like to congratulate Richard on his 35th Anniversary; I hope we will have many years of association ahead of us.
The presentation we made to Richard was handmade by our very own David Cleveland. What David put together is very special, he did us all proud. So, also on behalf of the Centre, I would like to thank him very much indeed. I know Richard was very ‘chuffed to bits’ by what you had constructed - great job.
Now we are in 2017, isn’t the Century flying by, please remember that on January 1st there is the Phoenix Inn Classic Car meeting near Hartley Wintney – please see details on our events page. This is always an enjoyable day out.
Please don’t forget our New Year Centre Dinner on Saturday 28th January, Mike Aldrich and David Williams have made contact with Aldon Ferguson and he has agreed to give a talk on the D Day landings, and as mentioned before, this will complement the proposed tour by the Centre of the Normandy landing beaches next year with John Buckmaster. Aldon has a background in Russia and the Former Soviet Union, and British Military Aviation History. All his lectures are fully illustrated with PowerPoint comprising both still and movie images. Tickets for the dinner are available now, so please book your place with Mike Aldrich now. And don’t forget your menu choices please. This should be a great evening – I hope you can join us.
To recover after the dinner, the day after we, will visit and explore the beautiful historic Maidenhead and Cookham Commons. Please meet at 11.00 in the car park, Maidenhead and Cookham Commons, Pinkneys Drive, Maidenhead. SL6 6QD. Hope to see you there.
Moving on to February, we will be visiting Basildon Park. The Basildon House you see today is a re-creation and restoration of the 18th-century mansion, brought back to life in the 1950s by Lord and Lady Iliffe. The collection includes important 18th- and 19th-century paintings and antiques. Explore the four waymarked trails through the historic parkland and gravel paths around the gardens, and park. Basildon Park, Lower Basildon, Reading, Berkshire, RG8 9NR.
We were delighted recently to announce that Steve Morris, Managing Director at the Morgan Motor Company, will be our honoured guest at our AGM on the evening of Thursday May 11th at the Bird In Hand, Knowl Hill. So please put this date in your diary. This will be a great opportunity for Centre members to meet Steve and to look to the future. I hope you can make it. If you can look this far ahead please make contact with Mike Aldrich so that we can make appropriate accommodation. It will also be a special evening.
Moreover, during our enjoyable evening at Richard Thorne’s Party we were able to have a chat with the new Commercial Director for the Morgan Sports Car Company Dennis de Roos. Tim Davies and Dave Cleveland invited him to join us on one of our Centre outings. He is would like to get to know us and will be delighted to come along to one of our events. It will be a wonderful chance to meet Dennis and his wife. Please watch this space. I think 2017 is already shaping up very nicely.
Thames Valley Centre car badges available on eBay - beware
Don’t forget please, as reported previously, a Morgan owner from Australia has brought to our attention that Thames Valley Car badges are for sale on eBay. They appear to be our badges but we would like to point out that these sales are nothing to do with us or our previous suppliers. They are very highly priced, and please remember we can supply Thames Valley car badges new at the nominal club price. If you see, therefore, any regalia out there and are interested please check with us first. I would like to thank our Australian customer for letting us know about these items.
Thames Valley Centre pin badges
We are taking orders for our new super range of Thames Valley pin badges, which are available in five colours, similar to our car badges. Orders are taken on a first come first served basis, as always. Please contact David Mansfield, our Regalia Officer, to order pin badges or our car badges. Orders can be made on his telephone (0118 3769752) or via email at
As this is the January edition of Miscellany, I would like to wish all readers of this column a prosperous New Year. I hope you will all have a peaceful time and above all you will all enjoy good health. I look forward to seeing you all in 2017.