Events:

WWM Monthly Report May 2009

Introduction

I would like to thank Pauline (RO Co-ordinator) and Ray Frost for attending the WWM monthly meeting at the Bulls Head on 17th May. As some of you know there have been a number of conversations taking place in the background during April and May regarding the venue of the WWM monthly meet and the format for an additional get together.

Concerns were raised that this would dilute the attendance of the main monthly meet at the Bulls Head, Meriden.

As we all know being a member of a club provides a platform by which things can decided in a democratic manner, taking into account the wishes of the majority of the membership as such I think it is important that WWM members are made aware of the following agreement to prevent confusion:

The Agreement - Pauline Frost TVRCC RoCo
The meeting on the 1st Sunday of each month will come under Steve’s RO authority and can therefore fly under the WWM’s TVRCC banner and be advertised in Sprint/ Region Page/Region Website and Regional Forum.
Steve has also agreed that 200 words from his monthly Sprint report allocation will be given over to the new gathering. Obviously being a busy region and reporting on the many events that have taken place; every report word is considered precious. But on a less busy events month I’m sure that it can be discussed and a bit of leeway given if column space allows.
Keith has said that he will continue to organise events for the WWM’s region as he has so successfully in the past. A fact that has contributed to the growth of the region.
There was some reluctance by myself and Steve for another Sunday Meet given the possibility that it may well dilute events for the region.
However, Keith and Dave (Sportie) have assured us that they will run all prospective events through Steve to add to the TVRCC WWM’s calendar and to check for clashes.
Most importantly, there will be no events arranged which will clash with the Bull’s Head Meet on the 3rd Sunday.
It was made very clear to me on my visit that the majority of people want the Bull’s Head to remain as the official WWM’s TVRCC Meet and that many would indeed still continue to attend the Bull’s on the 3rd Sunday.
Obviously there may be some national and regularly attended local events that may clash with either Meet, but this is accepted by both parties and WWM are extremely lucky to have people who are willing to get involved with the organising of events and can therefore offer a choice on such occasions that clashes take place.
That all being said this new arrangement will be on trial for the next three months leading up to RO Nomination time in September.
I am hopeful that in this period the new arrangement will have time to settle and the Membership of the region will benefit from an added regular event and feel happy with what’s going on.
Keith has made it quite clear to me that he has no aspirations to become RO for WWM. He is happy to be able to organise events as that is what he enjoys best.
The situation will be reviewed in September and hopefully any small issues can be sorted and if all is well at this point Keith would support Steve at RO Nomination time.
However, if this arrangement breaks down and Steve/Frank/Keith/Dave or the Members feel that insurmountable problems still exist, then in September Steve will stand for election as RO with Frank as his deputy and Keith may stand for RO with Dave as his deputy and if there are two nominations the region will vote in a democratic way.
I would once again be involved for the election and most certainly after, given that the RO elected may well wish to make changes. But let’s see what the next three months bring before we pre-empt.

3rd May Duxford - Frank Smith

Kieth and myself decided to organise this event as we are keen aviation enthusiasts, Duxford were holding a classic car and motorbike show so it was natural that we should attend and fly the WWM TVRCC flag.
Eight Tivs and two classic Porsches met up at Toys R Us Walsgrave for the run down to Duxford. Once again I was selected to lead the convoy, we were joined by Esso, Paul Arnold, Lee and Antony Snookes at the first layby on the A14. After a few miles I received a radio message that the two Porsches had broke off for a comfort stop, perhaps the pace was too progressive, that’s my theory anyway?

Arriving at Duxford just before 10 o’clock we found our pitch just in front of the Ford Thunderbird display, being adjacent to the dirt road that all the display vehicles had to use to gain entrance the cars were completely covered in a sandy dust within minutes putting pay to everyones hard work prepping the cars. Keith decided that this was “not on” and hot footed it to confront the organizers and try to get us moved to a more suitable location. Needless to say, Keiths charm worked and having already sorted out a better spot, got the agreement to move. This turned out to be a great result as we were parked on a bank overlooking the runway and had a grandstand view of the aircraft. By the time we were all parked up we had 6 Chimaeras, 5 Sagaris, 1 Cerbera and 1 Wedge which created quite a bit of interest from the passing public.

The museum itself is fantastic and there just was not enough hours in the day to see everything, there was too much on display. The American museum had a superb display of aircraft including a B17 Fortress, Liberator, a B52 bomber, a U2 Spyplane, and hanging from the roof the mach 2 Blackbird.
By about 4.30pm, Crispian left with a few others to call in on a nearby relative for tea, must have been quite a shock for their neighbours when their drive and road was filled with TVRs.

Stuart Dixon, Paul Hunt and myself left a little later on and apart from Stuart stopping to check his oil level, we had an uneventful drive home.
All in all, a great day out and I can thoroughly recommend the Duxford museum to anyone who is into aircraft.

16th May TIVs n RIBs - Gandalf

Despite the somewhat unpredictable weather our motely crew of TIV n RIB stalwarts, along with a few virgin (to the event -not in any other political, moral or socio-economic way) members met up at The Transport Cafe at Quatford before setting off to Beaumaris on the Isle of Anglesy. And after hot brews allround (plus the odd bacon butty by one or two members!) it was a convoy of 2 Griffs, 4 Chims and 3 Wedges that set out for the Ponderosa Cafe at the top of The Horseshoe Pass for our breakfast stop where we met up with yet another Wedge belonging to Simon Longworth who was our token North Wales member for the weekend.

After a hearty "Full Welsh" we all set off for yet more stunning roads including an anti clockwise circuit of the EVO Triangle were the lying surface water on various sections led to a few "happy slappy" moments at times. On the plus side the wet conditions had kept the bikers at home so we had these roads pretty much all to ourselves. We traversed Snowdonia via Llangurig, Betsw-y-Coed before descending into the car park at The Liverpool Arms which was to be our overnight stop.

After getting ourselves checked in and partaking of some much needed refreshment from the bar I called the skipper of our boat to see if he was still prepared to take us out to sea given that there was a force 5 blowing up the Menai Straits and from the warmth of the liverpool Arms bar all you could see was a steel grey sea with white horses to the horizon and a sky that threatened to unleash a torrent of icy rain at any moment so I was a little concerned when the skipper said yes he was happy to take us out but could we drive to a sheltered bay approx 5 miles down the road as conditions at the pier in Beaumaris were way too dangerous to pick us up from there! Notwithstanding that 10 brave souls downed their drinks, donned their waterproofs and set off to sea for 2 hours of fun and frivolity up and down The Menai Straits.

The evenings, and what turned out to be, morning entertainment was supplied by Snookes who went to great lengths to prove just HOW good a certain anti-theft device is! I guess that`ll be the last time he leaves his keys at home.

Sunday started with another great "Full Welsh" before we returned by yet another set of superb roads over Snowdonia and Lakes Trawsfyndd & Vyrnwy before arriving back late afternoon at Bridgnorth - At the time of writting TIVs n RIBs 2010 is in the first planning stages and I promise it will be the biggest and best yet.

17th May Monthly Meet Bulls Head Meriden

Despite the somewhat unpredictable weather we had a very healthy turn out of WWM members with and without their cars. Ginny and I would like to thank all of the members that turned out to provide support and opinions giving Pauline RoCo a flavour of the feeling within the region.
Thanks again to those that expressed opinions, hopefully we are now back on track, back to my normal rubbish next month then!

Coming Up Next Month

05th July 2009 Black Boy Meet Knowle midday onwards
10th – 13th July 2009 Bowgie Run 2009 – Steve G
19th July 2009 Monthly Meet Bulls Head Meriden midday onwards