Dorset Group 2022 Events
Sunday April 3rd 2022. British Made Car Club run
Please click the image above for a slide show of the run.
20 British made classics and 2 modern vehicles turned up at Cadnam Cricket Club car park for the annual British Made Car Club run. A cold start for many but it turned out to be a beautiful, bright, sunny , spring morning. The event was celebrating its 35th anniversary. Apart from missing 2001 due to the foot and mouth outbreak and the previous 2 years due to COVID19 restrictions the very first run was in 1987. Kim had very kindly
taken on the task of organising the route and what an interesting route he chose. At least one 1:4 hill and several fords to navigate. Luckily the fords were dry, but the hill did possess a problem for one or two vehicles. Especially when someone decided to travel in the opposite direction. A welcome coffee break and lunch stop at the Fighting Cocks Inn proved to be very popular.
50th Jubilee Rally Tewkesbury Rugby Club June 2nd - June 5th 2022
Finally, after 2 cancellations due to the COVID 19 epidemic, the 50th Jubilee International Rally was able to be held. And what an event it was. Held in the beautiful town of Tewkesbury in Gloucester the Rally team managed to pull out all the stops and made a superb event for many visitors from the UK and beyond. Below are a few photographs. I'll not put too much detail here for now, as the next issue of Spotlight will hold much more
Please click the image above for a gallery of the Rally.
information. It was great to catch up with a few old faces and meet a few new ones. It was also lovely to see Stan and Marilyn. Stan standing in as his usual post of chief judge in the dog show. Frankie's Ice Cream Van also stood out and made a lovely exhibit. Many thanks to all involved.
Left: Please click the image for gallery 2 of the International Rally.
Things have been exceptionally quiet this year. Despite the risk of COVID 19 decreasing, people are still very wary of being out in open, public spaces. Because of this, many events have been severely down on numbers attending. One event that had bounced back was the Great Dorset Steam Fair. Many group members attended, and the atmosphere was as good as it had ever been. Alas, soon after the end of this year's event, the organising committee have announced that the event will not be held in 2023. Various reasons have been suggested as to why, but hopefully things will be back in full swing for 2024.
This year's November get together saw a fairly good turnout at the Hamworthy Social Club for a short meeting followed by a game of skittles. As many will know, Rob has decided to stand down as Club Chairman. Due to work commitments, he is unable to devote as much time to the Group as he feels it needs. Many avenues were tried trying to find a replacement chairman. But, eventually Rob phoned Kim and asked if he would be willing to come back. Initially Kim was reluctant to take on the role, something that he had done for 30 years previously. But, after speaking with Elaine and a few group members, Kim has said that he will take on chairmanship in name. Kim has stressed that if anyone would like to take on the role, then please get in touch before the A.G.M. in January. Kim has also stressed that he will need help as he will not be able to attend each event and meeting. It's hoped that a small group of members will be able to work together and keep things ticking over. It would be very sad to see the end of the Dorset Group after Alan and Barbara Hilling formed the group around 50 years ago.
It has been decided that the Austin Express will now go back to the old-fashioned form and be printed as hard copies. This has raised a couple of small problems. No one is sure who are currently fully paid-up members. After the International Rally in Wareham, it was decided to give everyone a year free from fees to say thank you for all the hard work. 2021 saw the onset of COVID and it was deemed unfair to charge for something that wasn't really going to happen. 2022 then saw Len retire from the post of membership secretary and Derek kindly took over. Alas the AGM had to be postponed in January and the first Group meeting didn't happen until March.
Elaine Henson is currently trying to contact all members, old and new so that we have some idea of how many magazines to get printed. If you are a member, used to be a member, or are one the members in limbo, then please get in touch with Elaine. She'd love to hear from you. I was emailing just over 40 newsletters each time, but we only had 14 paid up members. Hopefully we'll get back on an even keel soon.