NASC Neil’s Spring Nationals Drayton Manor Friday 12th May to Sunday 14th May 2017

A damper had been put on this weekend before we even started.  A few days earlier there had been a tragic accident leading to the death of an 11 year old schoolgirl in the Rapids which led to the closure of the theme park for several days. Nevertheless the Nationals, which was situated in the camping area just outside the park, went ahead.

With a 3 hour window before the expected rain, we set off early with the top up on the car just in case but we needn’t have worried. We enjoyed a pleasant drive after joining the A5 at Weedon. Shortly after joining this road we stumbled across some nice looking restored commercial buildings so called in and discovered an assortment of delightful little independent shops. We even found the perfect clock for our kitchen.

We arrived at Drayton Manor and went to register at the NASC tent. The atmosphere was eerie with the rides all silent and very few people around. We saw Jacko and friends but not many other cars had arrived. It transpired that most of the weekenders were families with caravans but few had Hot Rods with them. It wasn’t until Sunday that most cars arrived and even then there were only 300 or so.

The Fazeley Inn where we were staying for the weekend was a nice pub and we had a small but comfortable room. It was newly refurbished and good value at £50 per night and only slightly let down by the builder’s lackadaisical attitude towards the finish of the room. We got some really nice fish cake and chips from the Fazeley Fish bar across the road and ate them while we strolled along the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, passing the old Fazeley mill and the marina which popped out close to Drayton Manor. We drove back to the show and spent a nice hour or so drinking and chewing the fat with Mike Payne and Karen at their motor home before returning to Fazeley for a dirty kebab.  We enjoyed eating whilst sitting on a bench where the B and F canal meets the Coventry canal. We finished the evening off at the Three Tuns and listening to a mediocre band play.

 

Saturday morning saw us driving through the pretty Warwickshire countryside avoiding the motorway and clocking the 40 000 mile mark for our third and final visit of the year to the Coventry Transport Museum.
 
We displayed our car at their Coffee and Cars morning outside the museum on what was the last day of their Kool Kars and Kustoms exhibition. We took the opportunity to look around the city centre landmarks- The old and new cathedral, Lady Godiva’s statue and clock (which was broken unfortunately). There were several interesting buildings but most of it is post 50’s, ugly concrete which must have seemed marvellous when it was built to replace the bombed out war sites but now looks like it should be pulled down and started again. The raised inner ring road is undoubtedly efficient but ugly! After the war Dresden chose to rebuild its city to its pre-war look, Coventry chose modernism. I know which I prefer!

We returned to Drayton Manor mid-afternoon. The park was open but several rides were still shut as a mark of respect for the family. I think this was a mistake. It had been closed since Tuesday and how long do you define respectful? Life does go on and I feel Saturday would have been the time to draw a line under it. We went on a couple of rides- The Haunting, Golden Nuggets and Yogi 4D as well as looking around the zoo and Thomasland but avoided the big rides that were open. We’ve been there and done that hundreds of times and finally no longer feel the need.

 

Back at the Fazeley Inn we had a few drinks, a nice meal at the Peninsular Cantonese restaurant, served at break neck speed.  We walked to the Hampton Suite at Drayton and enjoyed an evening chatting to people we knew and watching a decent band singing soul oriented music – surprising for a car show.

 

Sunday was a nice sunny day and a good selection of cars were there for the show and shine. We parked ourselves for most of the day with the NSRA crew on their stand. Last time we came for the weekend was in 2005 and since then the show has shrunk in size. It felt like it should be a Sunday only show. Unbeknown to us, this was to be last one as the NASC folded in January of 2018. The prize winners were some very nice cars including Tim Hammond’s debut car, a tangerine ‘34. 

 

We had another pleasant drive home via the A428 and even managed to get lost in Northampton!

Pre -49 Dambusters Weekend 28th April 2017 – 1st May 2017

After a chilly but pleasant drive (apart from the 30 mile section on the A1 sharing the road with Bank Holiday traffic) via Sleaford and the A143, we arrived at Petwood Hotel in Woodhall Spa, an early 20^th century Tudor style building set in beautiful grounds and at £100 per night including breakfast was excellent value for money too.

Friday was mostly meet and greet our fellow participants with drinks on the terrace, excellent food in the bar and a difficult quiz. That said there was a clue in the weekends’ title, the fact that the hotel is also known as the home of the 617 Dambuster Squadron and there was a whole bar dedicated to Dambuster memorabilia. The hotel was requisitioned in the war by the RAF as an Officers Mess for those serving in the surrounding bases. 97 and 617 squadron still fly over the building to this day.

After a hearty breakfast on Saturday morning, 15 cars set off on a 12 mile journey via Coningsby airfield to the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre in East Kirkby, owned by the Panton brothers. We had our own allocated parking area outside the vast hangar there and our cars proved to be a hit with the general public and the many bike owners who were there on a day trip. We spent a fantastic day there. It still has an operational air strip but is mostly a WW2 museum complete with fully restored control tower and Nissan huts teeming with WW2 memorabilia and airplane relics. A remote control model airplane group also entertained us. The term “model” inadequately describes these planes judging by the size, complexity and speed of the planes. I was particularly impressed by the jet planes.

 

At 1.30pm we watched the Avro Lancaster “Just Jane” take 11 passengers for a taxy ride around the airfield, an amazing sight. It is the only privately owned Lancaster worldwide and only 1 of 3 that move under its own power. I would have felt honoured just to see it at such close quarters but I was lucky enough to go one better and be on the 4pm “flight”. A contribution of £310 towards the plane’s refurbishment secured me my place, money well and truly well spent. It had just undergone a £250000 repaint and looked good as new. We met in a Nissan hut for a briefing at 3pm and I was lucky to get my first choice as Bomb Aimer in the nose of the plane which gave me a marvellous view of the ride, the only downside being I couldn’t see the propellers turning. I had to kneel down on the cushion but had I been a 6’ 3” airman as some of them were I’d have had to lie down. Imagine that- 9 hours in the freezing cold, being shot at and not knowing if you would return. 5% didn’t after each mission and if you did, you had to complete 30 missions before being released by which time you had a 1 in 4 chance of dying. Adding to that fact that most were no older than 24, I had mixed emotions as we assembled at the edge of the airfield with the engine noise increasing and the plane vibrating- excitement but sadness too for all those lives lost. The 11 of us, me being the only woman, were also given a guided tour around the plane. For such an enormous plane, there was very little room to sit or move around but somehow 7 crew managed to fly, navigate, bomb and hopefully return back to base. We also learned that these enormous contraptions were delivered by little ATP girls without a crew!

 

The day went really quickly. We had visited all the museum buildings as well as chilling at the NSRA van where Bob and April kept us supplied with tea and biscuits, enjoying the coolish but sunny day and got to know several of the pre-49ers.

Back at the hotel, we walked to the Inn at Woodhall Spa for dinner where we had a delicious starter but not very good main course. We should have had the fish and chips. Part two of the quiz was all about the Dambusters but we weren’t very good.

An early start on Sunday, this time only 6 miles and 16 cars to Metheringham Airfield, home of the 106 squadron in WW2. The cruise was pretty much in a straight line from Woodhall Spa. Once again we were expected guests and had our own parking area in afield with some classic vehicles. All of our cars were pretty understated and have muted colours. They looked pretty impressive in the line-up and most of them are driven regularly. The attendees came from as far south as Surrey and Durham in the north. The airfield was hosting a 1940’s weekend so we were treated to singers from the era, re-enactment groups and people in uniform giving us all that wartime feel. There was plenty to occupy us and while some just chilled, Dave and I went in the Dakota as well as the 1948 boneshaker coach for a tour around the airfield where we saw the remains of the old runways and various wartime buildings including sick quarters, Station ops, control building and FIDO pump, accompanied by an interesting running commentary. It was originally a farm, requisitioned in 1942 when the occupants were given only 48 hours to leave. The site was known by the pilots as “The Middle of Nowhere”. Afterwards I spent some time in the museum housed in the old rations store reading about its history and looking at the diorama of the site which even had had a fog clearance system. Lastly I attended the mission briefing – a reconstruction of an actual briefing of a genuine mission- as if we were pilots going to Nuremburg. Unfortunately this was not a successful trip as the weather forecast was wrong and also the bombs were dropped short. 11% of the planes failed to return. It was quite a sobering half hour and made me appreciate the sacrifices these young men made.

 

Back at the hotel we had another excellent meal and then we all walked to the Kinema in the Woods to watch “Their Finest”, a new film fittingly set in wartime London. The Kinema is a 1930’s art deco cinema and we even had an interlude with a pianist.

The next morning we had our final breakfast together before assembling the cars in front of the hotel for a photo shoot and saying our goodbyes.

We took a long route home stopping off at Tattershall Lakes for a trip down memory lane. Most of it was familiar from our weekend visits in the late 90’s/ early 00s and the pub is definitely more upmarket these days. We drove cross country using the A15 and then stopped off at Stamford and then the Fox Inn for dinner with Russ and Vicky, arriving home with about 250 miles on the clock for the weekend.

Bicester Heritage - Sunday Scramble on Drive It Day - Sunday 23rd April 2017 - St George's Day

 The previous weekend we had the Easter meeting at Santa Pod. We had already decided we wouldn't be running a full season so were not going to take the season seriously. Despite that Paul got to the final in Pro ET and was defeated by Mike Lacey. Not a bad start!

This was our third trip to Bicester Heritage and once again it was a beautiful day. This time we took my Mum as it was her birthday and Paul and Zoe came along in their mini, the first trip out for many months. It was also Drive It day so the roads were full of classic cars cruising around enjoying the countryside.

This was the busiest event they had there so far. I think the word was spreading but how long it will be before Bicester council or the police get upset about the chaos it causes in the surrounding area I'm not sure and there were several cars boiling over in the queue waiting to get in. Let's not forget that cars couldn't sit for long in traffic in the good old days! We were nice and early so got a good spot for parking and by coincidence the Stapletons arrived straight after and parked behind us. Ricky was in his new car - a black 32 roadster which is so him and very pleased he is with it too. We spent a pleasant morning looking at the other cars of which there was a huge variety and chatted to various people before heading off for lunch with my brother and his family. Mum was riding shotgun so I was in the back and to be honest it's not a fun ride back there. You sit above the windscreen so it's very drafty and the top which was down dug into my back. It makes the front seem like luxury not that Mum thought so - at least she didn't say she enjoyed it in the car so I guess not!

We were pleased we made the headline photo for Petrolicious website gallery.
https://petrolicious.com/articles/gallery-the-bicester-heritage-sunday-scramble-is-an-eclectic-spring-gathering

Photo by Nat Twiss

Lee and Dani's Wedding - Saturday 8th April 2017

We've known Lee since he was a little boy so when he asked if we would let Dani use the car for their wedding we were honoured to accept. The wedding was to take place on Saturday 8th April and we asked Dani on more than one occasion if she was sure about this - the beginning of April can be pretty cold or worse and did she realise that we didn't have windows, heating and the chances of keeping her hair intact were very slim? However she had experienced the worst the weather could throw at her in the back of the car last year in the Lake District but was adamant this was what she wanted. In the end we needn't have worried it was a perfect day 25C, beautiful blue cloudless sky and no wind- one of those days you get once in a blue moon at this time of year. Dave drove the bride, looking beautiful in her white wedding dress, the short distance from the hotel to the wedding venue in Chapel Brampton, Northamptonshire. It was a perfect day for a lovely couple.

Our car, together with Russ's 32 which was used for the groom, best man Paul (the smartest I've ever seen him!) and groom, Ricky as well as Jez's which was used to chauffeur the bridesmaids had centre stage for the photos and made for an original and attractive backdrop for the wedding album.

The day flew by and we all had a marvellous day - praise indeed from me who generally isn't too fond of weddings but this one was great - a good mix of formality and fun with everyone looking lovely and having a great time. Add that to the weird sensation of being able to sit outside at 9pm on an April evening it was the perfect day! I don't think Dave will be volunteering for another one anytime soon as the responsibility was pretty nerve wracking.

Coventry and Southend March 11th to 14th

 

We returned to Coventry Museum to collect the car and was told by Megan Ness, the curator, that the exhibition was a real success and their visitor numbers were substantially up. We moved the car to the outside display area along with around 70 other vehicles as it coincided with their monthly breakfast meet and Open Day which was much appreciated by the locals. The Stapletons brought their roadster along too and we had lunch with them at Nando's before driving home in tandem.

The following day we had to take the car back to Southend to get the radiator changed. We went to the A602’s breakfast meet at The Shuttleworth Collection first. The heaven’s opened and we sat and sat waiting for the rain to pass through but it didn’t so in the end we had to brave it. We took the cross country route via Bishop's Stortford and Chelmsford but 

 it wasn’t a pleasant journey and in the end the roof could no longer contain the water and we were heavily dripped on. At least the radiator held out for the duration. The weather cleared just before we reached Southend (where it had been fine all day!) We had booked a two night stay at the Radisson overlooking the pier at a great Secret Escapes price of £69 per night, while the car was being fixed. It was in need of a little TLC but the breakfast was lovely and the rooms comfortable, quiet with friendly staff so what more do you need?

After checking in we intended to walk along the pier but it was closing so ventured along Marine Parade to our favourite ex Public Lavoratory- the Ocean Beach. The town was pretty busy and we decided on a pub crawl to get us back to our hotel- stopping off at the Borough Arms where the landlord was miserable, then passing by several pubs which were lacking in clientele until we got to"The Hope"and this place was rocking even though it was only 5 o'clock in the afternoon. We squeezed into a seat in an ideal position for one of our favourite pastimes - people watching and we were well rewarded. Everyone seemed to be single, ages varying from twenties to fifties though I suspect some were younger than they looked and could do with an urgent visit to the dentist. I am only mocking gently because everyone was having a marvellous time, they were friendly and harming no one - singing and swaying to the mostly 50's music when the DJ was playing. Then it cranked up another gear when a band came on singing a variety of songs with everyone joining in. My life was complete when everyone joined in to Chas n Dave's "Rabbit". Only in Southend! We finished up in Wetherspoon's which is situated in the old post office and a had been given a nice conversion.
After dropping the car off at Jon's on Monday morning we proceeded to walk all the way to Shoeburyness, at least 7 miles along the coast. (after once again failing to walk the pier- it's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays!), passing some of the posher houses in Southend and marvelling at the old Shoebury Garrison which dates back to the Napoleanic era. All the old buildings have been restored, modernised and sold as housing. Haines Phillips, the architects, should be justly proud of themselves for this achievement.

 

Back in Southend via the bus we sat outside the Hope on this glorious sunny day for a drink before crossing the road to the Beach Bistro and Bar for another before the obligatory Fish and Chips at Ye Old Chippy.

Tuesday was overcast and windy but that didn't stop us walking the 4+ miles the other way along the coast past Westcliffe on Sea to Old Leigh on Sea which is a lovely, quaint old fashioned fishing village and the complete antithesis of Southend. By the time we walked back and had a spot of lunch at the Beach Bistro, it was time for our taxi back to Jon's and a trouble free drive home to Bedford.