Winter road run - 13/10/2008

We were blessed with reasonable weather, a good start and finish location (Gatcombe Farm, by kind permission of William Butler) and above all with an excellently planned out run, the result of a great deal of hard work by Mick and Sheila Chapman. The 40-odd tractors in attendance travelled a good mixture of small lanes and off-road sections and the participants were kept on the straight and narrow by a small army of stewards, to whom grateful thanks is due. A very welcome mid-morning coffee and cake stop was held at Failand, courtesy of Colin Waite and his family - many thanks to all who put so much effort into this. We ended as we had started at Gatcombe Farm and those who opted not to eat at the restaurant missed out - the carvery was excellent!


Lined up for the start ((c) John Liddle)


Coffee break at Colin Waite's ((c) Jamie Sparey)

More pictures will appear on the photographs page ASAP.


October meeting - Talk by Neil Armstrong of Butcombe Brewery

This was a well attended meeting and Neil showed some videos of the Butcombe brewery, followed by an explanation of the ethos behind the brewery. The brewery was started by Simon Whitmore who had a long career in the industry and took the opportunity to set up on his own when he was made redundant. He had a passionate belief in keg beer and so set out to produce real beer of high quality in relatively small amounts (compared to the "big boys") and supply it to a local market, both through clubs etc. and through the brewery's own pubs. The brewery has changed hands, but the new owner shares the same beliefs.

Neil then took a variety of questions from the floor and provided members with samples of the brewery's products he had very kindly brought along, which proved very popular!



September Meeting - Video night and arrangements for Club Weekend




August Meeting - The world-famous Morgan Rogers Quiz Night

Once again, Morgan had set us some challenges, one or two of which actually confounded the members in attendance. The picture below shows the level of intense study which was expended on the "Where and what is it" section of the quiz!



I'm not sure what the collective noun is for a group of puzzled vintage tractor enthusiasts - all suggestions welcomed!

Any quiz such as this requires a great deal of thought and planning and we are grateful to Morgan for providing another evening's good entertainment.



July Meeting - Visit to Dave Stuckey collection

This was an absolutely superb event. Dave and Chris Stuckey (and their familes) had arranged a feast of machinery to look at and provided excellent refreshments for the considerable number of members who attended. It was clear that a very great deal of effort had gone into preparing the yard and arranging the collection to show it to its best advantage. Everyone was impressed with the range of equipment on show and our grateful thanks go to Dave, Chris and their families.



Mini Road Run

A fine evening and a pleasant excursion to Clevedon. Grateful thanks to Brian & Maggs for the provision of the coach service. I can't add a great deal more since, for various reasons, the Liddle family arrived at Clevedon just as the coach was leaving to return to Redhill!

If any other club member would care to pen a few words and forward them to "Webbie", I would be grateful.



Annual General Meeting

This was fairly well attended considering the exciting nature of the event. The meeting was necessary to bring our year into line with the National Club and to submit the audited accounts to the members for approval. The Treasurer provided an aggregated income & expenditure sheet, together with a balance sheet. These were  approved on a show of hands.

The meeting then continued with a showing of a DVD using the new projector and sound system the club has acquired. The picture and sound quality were both excellent and the system will doubtless be used to good effect at future meetings.

When we were packing up, we found these two old coves amongst the seats at the back of the hall - could they be the next "Chair" men?






North Somerset Show

The weather was kind (apart from one shower near the end), the crowds were enormous and we had a very good display of vehicles in our arena. Many thanks to all those who brought along their tractors, vans, lorries etc.

Even greater thanks go to Sheila Chapman and her team of volunteers in the tea and cake tent, who laboured throughout the day with no let-up in the numbers of folks streaming through the door. I think that the word has spread about the quality of the tea and cakes and we are victims of our own success!

Both the tea tent and MIck Chapman's "Name that tractor" draw made a substantial surplus, all of which will go directly towards our donation to Bristol Oncology at the end of the year.

Spring Road Run

A superb day - Mick Chapman and Roy Hill did us proud, with plenty of off-road work and somehow they also managed to persuade the rain to stay away!

After gathering at the Patch's, we were treated to a hot drink and some delicious cakes courtesy of Sheila Chapman and her assistants Audrey Patch and Ann Weaver.

The run itself comprised a good mixture of on and off-road sections, including a lengthy tour round the perimeter of a large field system, with an interesting steep grass descent near the end of it.

Just over 40 tractors took part and we finished at The Crown at Regil, where we had a very good roast Sunday lunch.




Some more photographs here.

David George - Land speed record

There are not many people who have had the privelege of attending (and assisting at) land speed record attempts, but David George is one such. He has been an enthusiastic supporter of the UK attempts on the land speed record for many years and as a result, he was able to give us a much more detailed insight into the fund raising, organisation and conduct of the Thrust record attempts than we had received from the press and TV at the time.

David's close contacts with the team allowed him to observe the quality and determination of all the designers and constructors and not least of the driver, Andy Green, whose cool, collected and utterly professional approach earned him respect from all sides.

The achievement of the supersonic record was a fantastic demonstration of the engineering ability present in this country and one which David (and the rest of us) felt should have been given rather greater emphasis in the promotion of British engineering. JAL

Mike Horler - Wheelwright

Another fascinating talk. Mike Horler fell into wheelwrights work when he could not find anyone to refurbish the wheels of a small carriage he had acquired for his children. Being a carpenter, he decided to do the work himself and so began a long journey into what is now a vanishing field.

Mike illustrated his adventures (all over the world) with examples of tools, details of the subtle design features of spoked wooden wheels and photographs showing the various stages of construction. All of this was accompanied by an amusing narrative which kept us all engrossed. I think we all learned quite a lot about this skillful art.
JAL

John Britton - The Concorde story

This was an absolutely excellent meeting. John Britton (brother of club member Mick) was the senior design engineer appointed by BAE to develop and implement the remedial programme for Concorde after the crash in France.

With the aid of stills and video footage, he was able to lead us through the fascinating process of determining the cause of the crash, developing the technical solutions to satisfy the authorities that such an incident could not recurr and overseeing the implementation of the remedial work.

John's lively and very informative talk kept us enthralled - I have never known the club members so quiet during a presentation!
JAL