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[ S V V S Evening
Meeting - The Plough, Bletchingley - July 2005 ] ::
The
Plough (7) on the A25 in the
village of Bletchingley has been our most popular venue for an
SVVS evening meeting. Not this time! The following text is based on the SVVS Magazine
report by Chris Cuss and photos are by Bozi Mohacek.
Please click on any thumbnail picture below to see the full size
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Normally we are blessed with reasonable weather for our meetings. The
sun may not always shine but at least there is some brightness even if
dampness occurs for some of the time. I can never remember as bad a
night as we suffered for our ever-popular meeting at the Plough in
Bletchingley. Normally our best attended meeting, this time we achieved
a record low as most members and spectators decided to stay at home.
There was steady light rain and very low cloud. Coupled with a high
degree of humidity everything became very wet indeed.
I was very tempted take the modern but in the end the Riley Kestrel was
pushed into service. En route I met up with Harry Scott, John Manvers
and Brian Lloyd Jacob all of whom decided to leave their proper cars
tucked up and opt for a ride with me. The narrow track Kestrel is not
the most spacious cars so it was a tight squeeze; the more so on the way
back when we added an air compressor to the load. To add to the problems
the speedo had gone on the blink, which coupled with very wet roads and
every oncoming 4x4 driving on fog lamps meant it was one of the
trickiest journeys that I can remember.
All things considered there was a reasonable turnout of members many of
whom had come in moderns. The wet weather meant that the pub was much
quieter than normal so we were able to spread out inside in the dry. It
was a pleasure to meet Alan Milbank again who was attending his first
meeting for three years. Alan has sadly not enjoyed the best of health
over the past couple of years and as a result has sold all but one of
his cars. Martyn Powell had accompanied Alan on his trek up from the
Isle of Wight.
Moving to cars David Woodburn had brought his Star and the orange Gwynne
now owned by his daughter was also present. Derek Wright was using his
Rover 110 whilst Tony Tester's just-back-on-the road Chrysler 75 Phaeton
was all but hidden by a tarpaulin. Mike Erroll had parked his pale blue
1952 Jaguar XK120 on the grass slope as had Chas Moody with his 1928
flat nosed Morris Cowley. Dave Kilner decided to leave his M.G. TD on
the tarmac alongside my Riley. These two were then joined by Alan Reid's
1935 B.S.A. G35-14 motorcycle - a truly brave rider to be out on such a
grim night.
Others on the tarmac were Bryan Pooley's 2 litre Alfa Spyder plus an M.G.
Y type not on my list and a Ford Capri. Further back on the grass were a
trio of M.G.B GT's, again none appear on my lists. Later arrivals were
Bob Drew in his Minor 1000 and that well-known Bosnian ice cream vendor,
Mr Mohacek in his 1932 Rolls Royce 20/25 shooting brake. You would have
thought that a designer of damp detecting equipment would have noticed
that it was raining before setting out with a van load of cornets and
come in something more appropriate. ( Ruddy cheek - Ed. ) By 9 o/c we were ready to head back
home. Hopefully our next meeting will be drier.
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