:: [ SVVS Evening Meeting - The Skimmington Castle, Reigate - May 2006 ] ::

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 artificially lightened to be viewable.



Our summer evening sessions usually get off to a good start at the Skimmy and last month was no exception. Our ever cheerful host was marshalling the entrance to the car park using a walkie-talkie radio to keep in touch with his assistant who was in the car park itself. Such supervision was essential as the welcome dry evening had brought out our cars in droves. The landlord reckoned to have counted 75 in although my tally was somewhat less. As so often happens we had a large number of visitors and their cars. After an exceptionally wet May, although the ban on using hosepipes to wash cars still applied, the pleasant dry evening obviously encouraged everyone to enjoy some motoring. 

       

Chas Moody had been busy during the winter months producing a custom made SVVS magazine dispensing stand brightly finished in yellow and complete with badges. Despite the tag on the pencil imploring members to print their names in BLOCK when taking magazines the usual scrawls continued to appear. Special mention must be made of John Sheldrake who managed to bring his NG TA to the meeting in spite of the illness that is taking an even greater toll on him. Eric Hall also deserves a mention for not allowing his blindness to deter him from arriving in his very original Healey Silverstone piloted by a loyal friend.

       

Terry Mistry's 1947 Triumph Roadster had recovered from the broken clutch linkage that occurred at the Black Horse earlier in the month. Not content with having his picture in the local paper on the occasion of a visit to Buckingham Palace as part of the Queen's birthday celebrations, Terry managed two appearances in the latest edition of Classic Car magazine. Other Triumphs to appear were Jon Quiney's 1940 Dolomite roadster; Chris Hewitt's 1953 Renown saloon and Roger Horstman's 1968 TR5. 

       

As darkness fell local resident Michael Doughty had to pop into the pub to purchase a box of matches before he could light the lamps on his 1910 Renault charabanc to return home. Fraser Clayton and Linda Malings were in their 1938 14/56 Wolseley saloon. Leo Smith has recently rejoined the society after which his son Julian also became a member. Julian brought his magnificent 1923 Willys Knight. Jaguars were out in force. J. W. Maxwell had his immaculate and rare XK150S drophead coupe; Dave Keen his 1949 Mark IV saloon; Peter Smithson his 1954 roadster; Don Westcott his fixed head XK140 and Lionel Higginson his 1963 E type roadster. In addition there were a Mark II saloon and an XK120 that do not appear in my records. 

       

I counted at least 14 M.G.s of all ages. Those that I could identify were the Alderton's 1948 Y type saloon; Brian Daley's 1933 Magna Special; Robin Smart's 1947 TC; Mike Gooch's 1931 Montlehry Midget; Tim Ralph's 1938 TA; Karen McBride's 1982 MGB roadster; Alan Pratt's MGB GT; Bert Batten's 1951 TD and the 1972 MGB roadsters of Graham Child and Alan Rothwell. Unidentified included a Z Magnette saloon, a TF, a BGT and several of pre-war appearance. 

       

Returning to my listings there are ticks for the 1956 AC Greyhound owned by Roger Bishop; the 1953 Alvis TA belonging to Chris Geary and Desmond Peacock's 1923 Amilcar Petit Sport. Only one Austin was recorded this month, the 1953 A40 Somerset driven by Colin Fytche. Edward Lake was in his Austin Healey 3000 series 1 and Tony Tester brought his 1929 Chrysler 75 phaeton.

       

Graham Brown arrived in his Daimler SP 250 and Hon Tres was in his 1937 Ford 7W with the drop-head that rarely drops. Our very own white metalling man John Kirkby brought the largest of his three Humbers, the 1924 11 hp saloon. The usual pair of Jowetts attended in the shape of Alan Benewith's 1936 Jason saloon and Bill Ray's special bodied 1953 Jupiter. Oldest Morris of the evening was Chas Moody's 1928 Cowley saloon whilst the Oxford Six of Frank Hayter and the 10/4 of Mike Gorman both dated from 1934. Bob Drew's Minor 1000 was the youngest being built in 1971. 

       

The Riley brigade was led by Tim Harding's 1929 Monaco saloon parked alongside the writer's 1930 tourer. The third 9 hp car was the 1932 Gamecock owned by Robin Vince who was delighted not to have been doing the write-up. Brian Lloyd Jacob was airing his 1935 12/4 Lynx and Tony Simmons his 1952 RME saloon. The latter suffered from a lack of illumination on leaving the car-park and so kept Lloyd Jacob and Manvers amused for some time fiddling with lengths of wire.

       

Douglas Wright arrived in his magnificent Hooper bodied1936 Rolls Royce 20/25 whilst Derek Wright was in his Rover 110.  Mr. Mohacek had brought the yellow garden shed more politely called a 1932 Rolls 20/25 brake. Other Rovers were the 2000TC owned by Raymond Hobbs and the P6 belonging to Danny Matthews. 

       

Simon and Jackie Pearce arrived majestically in their 1933 Siddeley Special. Scattered around the above vehicles I also noted a late model Lotus Elan similar to that owned by the Eric Parsons; a brace of small sporting Wolesleys; a post-war Borgward and a Derby Bentley that I felt that I should have recognised. Clive Bracey brought his hooligan's Cobra replica and visitor Graham Appleyard arrived in his home built Land Rover Special that he uses to give white knuckle rides along the Brooklands banking. During the evening I chatted to Will How and Vernon Nowell although neither had brought their proper motors. 



The previous day I had advanced the ignition timing on the Tourer with the result that although it ran better at speed there was a tendency to stall and a reluctance to start. At the Banstead crossroads it died on the way home. Luckily it is downhill and when the lights changed I managed to push it, jump in and then bump start it when enough speed had picked up. I noted that a small M.G. had stopped to assist, I think that it was Brian Daley, but having started I did not want to stop again. So if it was Brian - Many Thanks and sorry for appearing a bit off-hand.

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