held on the 23rd April 2023
The saying is, spend time on your planning and all will be well, but this event was planned in 2020, and what happens the dreaded Covid hit us all. The sad thing is it is still around, and one couple that booked to come along had to cancel due to catching it just before our event.
Our celebration of this day of motoring started at 10.30am from ‘The Sir Walter Tyrrell’ in Brook, just north of the M27 junction 1, where we had our teas & coffees (subsidised from centre funds) and the suggested routes were handed out to 24 car navigators (we had 4 more cars come in just for the coffee stop). This was our first real motoring day this season, so lots to catch up on and members to meet for the first time this year.
The cars were away by 11.30am on a 30-mile run around the northern section of the New Forest and not previously used for such days. Thankfully this proved to be enjoyable, as the weather had forecast a lot of rain and it actually became a bright and sunny day. We had reports that the route used had been new to a few members which is always satisfying feedback.
You may spot a member’s 1948 Austin 16 in the group, this is owned by Damian Trafford who lives in France, and was over here on a visit and joined us with his two grandchildren.
The pub was very busy on the day as the ‘Thames Valley Motoring Enthusiasts’ were also using the venue for lunch at 12.30pm and arrived just before our cars returned from the drive. Our lunch booking was for a 1.00pm, so our cars were parked mainly at the front of the pub and when that was full in the centre of the rear area of parking. This made the car park a great mixture of classics.
Lunch was served, and we found the food to be very good quality and the staff very efficient serving us all in a short period of time. As always, the chatting went on into the early afternoon, and then it was time to hit the road home.
The ‘New Forest Centre’ calendar is already fairly busy, with events for this coming year, and we look forward to many miles of enjoyment.
