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A number of our members attended the National Rally at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon and this report is by Stephen Winkworth. Photos are by Stephen, John and Matthew.
“It was my second National Rally, this time at Gaydon despite it only seeming a few months since the last one in West Bromwich. We left a day before the rest of the team, so that we could spend a day at nearby Blenheim Palace. The journey was fine, subject to a diversion from the A14 due to a traffic warning, so we took the scenic route to Banbury, our Branch Headquarters for the next three days. I can report Rosie, my Traveller, easily met the task with no issues despite her being 60 this year.
The rest of the team, Chris and Marion, Carolyn and John and Mat and Claire arrived at HQ on the Friday night.
Saturday morning we travelled to Gaydon, where we joined a large number of Minors and owners from all parts of the country and a few from mainland Europe. We set up our stand in fine weather and we were off. The set up was different from last year in that there were two significant car collections to see; the British Motor Museum and the Jaguar Heritage Trust, which housed so much more than Jaguars. Whilst some Branch members stayed at the stand selling charity squares, based upon various car models housed within the Museum, I went round the various Branch stands photographing and adding to my database of registration numbers.
There were every variety of Minor you could imagine; saloons, pick-ups, vans, Travellers, convertibles, Millions, modified, dual registered, Young Members, all with very proud owners. There were many of the cars that have been featured in Minor Matters, such as Wilbur, DBP 162B with its wrap finish and Minor saloon GGK 803C, that gleamed in the sunshine and a great pick-up with a great paint job. As well as the cars there were various autojumble pitches and memorabilia stands selling just about everything associated with the Morris Minor from conception to its last car.
The Museum told the history of the motorcar, the personalities of those involved and production methodologies employed. I have far too many photos, but I took an early Minor, the next restoration project and one of the first and last Minors together.
Sunday was an overcast and much colder day and in fact at Gaydon there had been heavy rain and wind, which destroyed our Branch stand overnight. After running repairs there was more viewing of the array of Minors and of the Museums. Two of our members, Claire and Chris entered an ‘Egg and Spoon’ type challenge, consisting of driving a Traveller with a ball on the bonnet. It wasn’t until we saw the results of this competition in the next Minor Matters that we learnt Chris had come second. Mid-afternoon we dismantled the stand and departed for home, as by then it was quite cold and we were Minored out”.
The winner of our squares competition was Sharon Holding who won £20. Sharon very kindly donated £10 of that back to our charity fundraising for the National Coastwatch Institution. Sue Akrill, our Branch Liaison Officer kindly drew the winning ticket for us. Another of our members Amanda Hazlett did well over the weekend with winning three trophies for her black cabriolet. She won Best Custom Paint, Visitors choice Custom and 2nd Convertible, which she was later told was a mistake and should have been for Best Custom. So well done to Amanda and Chris.
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