For those members who reside in N.Ireland and also for those visiting Motorfest NI has come round again.

The event will be in 21st August 2022 at the Ballee Playing Fields in Ballymena. For further details see poster below

meeting at the gate hangs well syston 17/08/22 from 7pm hope to see everyone there  

Hi Darrell please can you keep me updated on any event in the north west please thanks.

Hi All, it's time for the monthly meeting again, The meet will be held at the usual venue of,

The Old Farmhouse, Yarm road, Darlington DL2 1JZ.

I will be there from 7-00 pm onwards and look forwards to seeing Members and Friends both old and new

Take care and drive safely.

ALLAN

On Thursday 11th of August I am organising a run up to the Jim Clark Museum in Duns on the Scottish Borders. The run will be about 120 miles and we will be having a "gentle" run. We are leaving the Three Horse Shoes NE244HF entrance at 10-30am and we are taking a picnic lunch. If you plan to join us please let me know, Alan

Just to let everyone know that Boston Classic Car Club (http://bostonclassiccarclub.org.uk/)  are holding their annual Classic car show at Orchard Park Field just outside Boston (PE20 3QU) on Sunday 14th Aug. They allways have a good turn out of cars and usually have a refreshment stall and a band playing for part of the event.   If anyone wants to join up contact Jonty Wild (Jonty)

July's meet is on Wednesday the 3rd August at:

Monk's Bridge Farm
Nobel Way,
Dinnington,
S25 3QB
 
Coming eastbound from the M1 J31, take a left at the roundabout by the red lion and proceed for nearly 2 miles, and Monk's bridge is the 4th exit off the next roundabout.
https://goo.gl/maps/TcekDG8AHPQ2

Normal time is 7:30, though some may turn up earlier if eating.

Andy

(I'm extending this out to non-members as I'm not being inundated with interest )

I am hoping to do a week long tour of (mainly) France in June, 2023 and would really like to have some company- a bit less interesting on my own  . If you've not done anything like this before, it is a bucket-list ticker - French roads are smooth and empty and the Alps section in particular is beyond pretty (think Scotland but with sunshine, bigger mountains and no traffic or midges).

Below are some rough details - please let me know if you are interested.

A rough route:

(I'm only using Google maps to get this overall view of the trip but it's too darn clever for it's own good; I think it's taking into account closed mountain roads and current COVID restrictions, so it can't calculate a route for the 2nd half of the trip, hence my roughly drawn thin blue line - I hope you get the picture)

Dates: 10th - 17th June, 2023

Day 1 - ferry to Calais (or Eurotunnel if we can stretch to it) and then a slog, mostly on Autoroutes to Limoges (about 470 miles).

Day 2 - Limoges to just north of Montpelier, via the Millau viaduct (260 miles)

Day 3 - to Cannes along some hopefully nice bits of the French Riviera (230 miles).

Day 4 - possibly a couple of hours in Cannes to see the sights then a short hop up the famous Route Napoleon (145 miles)

Day 5/6 - Hairpin Heaven - typical Alpine roads past famous ski resorts and a brief squirt into Italy (170 miles per day)

Day 7 - Lake Annecy, Jura mountains - last stop near Dijon (190 miles)

Day 8 - slog on Autoroute back to Calais and ferry home (360 miles)

Cost

Around £1,300 all-in (ferry, fuel, tolls, food, accommodation etc).

Rough breakdown:
    Ferry - £100-£200 (more for Eurotunnel, unless you get Tesco vouchers which makes this free!)
    Tolls - £50-£100
    Accommodation - £400 (7 nights)
    Fuel - £400 (I originally costed this out before the current situation, so this may be more, unless prices drop by next June).
    Food - £200

NOT included: insurance and breakdown cover

Format

This is a single, circular route, staying at different places each night. I will be providing sat-nav routes which we can stick together on but you're welcome to make your own, go your own way etc. My routes avoid motorways (except day 1 and 7) so if you're feeling too tired on a day, you can just navigate by the fastest route to the hotel for the night.

Personally, I like the driving (and at a decent pace) rather than sightseeing, although regular coffee stops are a must! I'm not an early riser, so I tend to be up at 7.30am and out by 8.30am (unless you consider that early, I guess?).

A kit is obviously preferred but you're welcome to come along in anything you want.

What now?

Nothing - I will probably start booking things in the Sept/Oct 2022, so there is no rush and I don't need to know numbers yet. This post is just to make you aware, have a think, start saving and begging with the other half/work to let you have the time off.

Should you need any persuading about the joys of mountain roads, have a look at my Alps trip from 2020:

https://zerolifebuild.blogspot.com/2020/07/alps-2020-day-1.html

So, hope a few of you want to join me - watch this space for updates.

PS: I am happy to put a few people up for a night before and after, if you have to come from further north.

Many of you will have noticed in the Area Secretary section of the Magazine that the majority of the posts remain unfilled.  The statistics tell a sorry tale.  Of the 23 areas only 7 have a functioning Secretary and of those, 3 of us are dual-hatted, also filling posts on the Committee.   So that means out of a membership of about 380, a mere 9 people are helping to run the Club.   And despite numerous requests for volunteers to fill the positions, only one person responded.

The Club cannot continue with this situation, so we are proposing to make some major changes.   We still believe the Area Secretary system is essential, providing a link for members to the Committee and organising local events.  However, as it is obvious we will never get enough people to fill the 23 Area Secretary posts we have decided to simplify the whole system.  So in the future, rather than having areas based on counties we are going to go for simple geographic areas, breaking the UK up into 11 areas.   This map shows the new areas and their new secretaries, including their forum name:

These are defined as:

Scotland                         Presently Unfilled
North East & Borders     Alan (alantoon)
North West                     Darrell (Darrell)
Yorkshire/Lincs              Andrew (Grim)
Wales                               Presently Unfilled
West Midlands               Richard  (richyb66)
Central Midlands             Andi  (Andi)
East Midlands                  Alan  (alanrichey)
South West                              Presently Unfilled
South Central                   Tony (apgodden)
London & South East       Neil  (nelmo)

So now we have set up a new structure it is up to you, the members and community users, to make it work.  The limitations of GDPR prevent us from giving your details to the Area Secretaries so it is up to you to notify them of your intentions.   If you would like to be involved in meeting up with other owners in your area then you have 2 choices.   First, add your location to the forum Member Map which will confirm you are happy for your location to be shared and for the Secretary to contact you.  Secondly, notify your local Secretary and give them permission to pass your username and town to others on their list.   If you feel strongly that you do not want to be involved, then you can also tell them, although if they get no message from you they will assume you are not interested.   If you cannot work out who is your best secretary message me on the forum system and we can discuss it.

Al (Membership Secretary)

hi guys what was the show like ? as never been was hoping to get Saturday but a little misunderstanding between my ankle and my motorbike last Tuesday stopped  me walking about for a few days did i miss a good show or not ?