It must have been Post Christmas
Stress Disorder ! The faithful few gathered for the January meeting. It was quite cosy
really. One or two people were known to be suffering from the dreaded ‘flu bug, so I
hope you are all now recovered and that we will see you at the next meeting.
We had a good chat, exchanged tales of Christmas, New Year etc. and had a good
raffle.
Please look at the events list and see what you feel like doing. If you have
ideas of things to do please let us know. Phone numbers of the committee are in the front
of this letter so please tell us.
By the time you read this some of us will have done the Escargot’s
Treasure Hunt AND gone on a day trip to Paris ... more of this later/at the next meeting.
Some of you may now be planning your holidays. One of the major events this
year - if you want to camp abroad - is the French National meeting at Le Mans May 13-16.
If you are unsure of "abroad", then now is the time to be brave. A lot of us
will be there to help you. We will probably all go together and convoy to the site - so
please try to come along. Le Mans is South West of Paris and not too long a drive from Le
Havre. Barry is trying to get a good ferry deal. Let’s have several Madhatters cars
on that campsite !
Gill
Next Meeting
Please try to come. We will not be
trying a Valentine Card/Poem this year as previous responses have been underwhelming. We
WILL have a competition during the meeting with a prize. I know what the competition will
be but for the rest - it is a Mystery Competition !!
Editorial
Well another month, another
newletter. Many thanks to Sandie for her long suffering help with the copying and
delivery. I will do my very best to get the originals to you earlier in the week from now
on.
In the last month we joined the Escargots in a successful Treasure Hunt which
took us on a very pleasant drive through some beautiful Sussex countryside. The route was
excellent along quiet roads so we didn’t upset too many locals as we pottered around
(even slower than usual ?) and came to fairly sudden stops ! The only dampener from my
point of view was the christening of MY HAT ! This was very kindly brought all the way
from Oz by Wessex Duck, Adrienne. The treasure hunt was the first time it has been worn in
public and a local feathered ‘friend’ decided that it needed some extra
‘decoration’ - much to son James’ amusement ! Never mind, it was better
than all over my head and the hat nearly came clean !
Out of the 25 cars who participated the Madhatters were represented by the Macs
and the Harwoods (Dave Shove cheated and came directly to the final destination - the
pub). You can probably imagine our surprise at snatching 3rd prize (despite
covering more miles than we should have). Gill & Bill managed to go one better and
took 2nd place !
Thanks to Sue and Maurice for organising the morning’s fun and games and
to the host of their meeting pub, The Queen’s Head, where much of the afternoon was
whiled away. Good use was made of his letting us have free run of his kitchen to cook our
own snacks etc.
Hopefully there will be some press coverage from the local papers to share with
you next month. A number of photos were taken at the starting point and Sue hopes to have
some copies.
Ham
Mid-Hants Railway - Fathers’ Day 1999 - Update
The Southern Clubs of 2CVGB are holding a one-day event at Ropley Station on the
Mid-Hants Railway. This is in conjunction with the Railway’s Fathers’ Day event
on Sunday 20th June 1999. There will be other attractions for this special day so please
put this date in your diary.
We need a display of 30-40 cars to make good use of the space allocated to us. The
cars will be on display all day. There MAY be limited overnight camping on the Saturday
night.
The entry fee (between £3 and £5) will include 1 day ticket for riding on the
train.
Ropley is on the A31 8 miles east of Winchester and 7 miles Southwest of Alton.
For more information contact :
Andrew Jack on 01276 678888 or
John Rooney on 0411 186128
Southern Clubs Meeting
We met at Ripley on 20th
January. Most clubs were represented and a good discussion/meeting ensued. It was agreed
that Bill (well he volunteered actually) should keep a diarywith club events from each
participating club. This hopefully will mean that not too many events will clash. This,
you may remember, was one of the reasons for setting up The Southern Clubs in the first
place.
Other Ideas.
"Fill a Shuttle". This idea was ‘mulled over’ and it was
decided that Gill would contact the Marketing / Publicity department to discuss the idea.
Fathers’ Day, June 20th - Mid-Hants (Watercress) Steam Railway.
This will be an important event - more later.
Southern Clubs Birthday Camp, Sept. 10th-12th (to be
confirmed) at Headley Country Club.
Discussion started on the suggestion of using Walton again for a celebration
camp for the Year 2000.
Another possibility is to a stand at the London Classic Car show on Sept. 19th.
This is a prestigious showbut also a good fun day out.
Please look for a fireworks site. We need a field where we can have a bonfire,
fireworks and BBQ.
