:: [ SVVS Evening Meeting - The Six Bells, Horley - June 2007 ] ::

The following text is based on the SVVS Magazine report by Chris Cuss and the photos are by Bozi Mohacek. Please click on any thumbnail picture below to see the full size picture. To return to the thumbnails please click the Explorer "Back" arrow (top left of screen).  Being evening, photos were taken with very little light so have been  lightened for easier viewing.

     

Rain and flooding had dominated the news for the previous two days so, not unexpectedly, it another wet evening. However vintage cars owners are a hardy bunch and a reasonable number of our members journeyed to Horley and spent the evening dodging in and out of the pub to avoid the showers. The Six Bells is one of the better type of hostelry and must date back some centuries. Add the proximity of both a river and a country church plus a good size surfaced car park and a more ideal venue would be difficult to find. All that was needed was a dry warm evening but one cannot have everything. Some of us went exploring around the church and found a number of First War graves. The puzzle was that the dates of the deceased were from 1919 rather than earlier. We wondered if there had been a hospital nearby and the departed had finally died of their wounds after peace was declared. Tony Simmons noticed that the pub was roofed with Horsham stone slabs.

     

Moving to the car park we can report that for the second month in succession MGs had the largest turnout. Oldest was Roger Chamberlain's 1948 TC Midget followed by Dave Kilner's 1952 TD. More suited to the weather was Derek Bashford's 1956 Magnette saloon as were four MGBs . The 1967 model was owned by Alan Pratt and the 1971 model by Alan Rothwell. The other two appeared to be visitors. Second place in the attendance stakes was taken by Riley. Oldest here were Michael Brown's 1930 tourer in trials trim complete with rope for when it gets stuck in the mud and John Manvers' Monaco saloon of similar vintage. My 1935 12/4 Kestrel saloon made a similar pairing with Brian Lloyd Jacob's 1935 Lynx tourer. Oldest vehicle present was John Kirkby's1924 11h.p. Humber saloon followed by Chas Moody's 1928 11.9 h.p. Morris Cowley. Tony Tester's 1928 Chrysler 75 Phaeton of hot rod appearance was the next oldest being built in 1929. Other pre-war cars were Simon Bishop's 1935 Singer Le Mans Special Speed model and Ron Turner's 1934 Wolseley Hornet Special.

     

Tim Ralph brought his 1969 Triumph Spitfire Mk 3, Gary Lowsley exercised his 1961 Austin Healey Sprite whilst Mike Gorman arrived in his 1971 Austin Sprite. Rovers present were our chairman, Derek Wright's, 110 and Raymond Hobbs 2000TC. Bozi Mohacek was driving the older of his two Jaguars, the V12 powered XJS. Graham Appleyard had a damp drive in his very open Land Rover Special, having to rely on aero screens to keep off the rain. More sensibly Desmond Peacock left all his Amilcars tucked up in the dry and chose to drive what he described as a medium sized Peugeot. Sadly the weather did not encourage much kicking of tyres. At least the bar was open unlike last year when police activity had closed the pub.

     

 Let us hope the weather improves before the nights draw in. Damp with taperecoder !

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