Social Scene - Feb 09

Not having to worry about organising the Christmas Party for the first time in years, only added to my enjoyment. Forty eight revellers made the most of the festive carvery and the after dinner disco served up at the Rochford Hundred Golf Club thanks to Pete and Mandy Leslie. Our Piston Broke award this year was presented to Trevor Parsons who used to restore Mini Mokes for a living. Most of you will remember those – doorless, roofless minis – not much to restore really! Anyway, he adapted his skills to his TR6 when he decided, for whatever reason, to reduce the number of doors by 50%. The moral of this decision is – don’t have your door open whilst reversing through a gate and perhaps more importantly, don’t get into a position where you have to repeat the manoeuvre in the opposite direction to extricate yourself.

The seasonal celebrations could have been just that little bit better though had John Blumsom and Micheline been able to attend. That said, John is now home and alternating twixt bed and chair. Indeed, thanks to the motive power provided by Steve Greenall, John was able to enjoy a trip in his wheelchair to his local pub where we had organised a meal on our “spare Thursday” in January.

A committee meeting was held on 20th January and a much fuller Events List is now available on our website at www.eastsaxons.com. Please visit the site as Webmaster Chris Russell really does put a lot of effort into recording the Group’s activities and providing an informative and entertaining site.

So, what have we got to look forward to? Personally, I have to choose whether to spend money sealing the roof of my garage or to spend money knocking out the end wall and collecting fees by using it as a drive-through car wash. That aside, a small group of us will make our third trip to Llandrindod Wells for the Winter Ball at the end of March – an opportunity to bring out the ball gowns although I believe John Clark will be wearing a DJ for a change this year.

Then, later in the year, May and September, the Group visits Harrogate and Rhayader for our spring and autumn weekends away. In between, several of us will make our annual pilgrimage to La Belle France – Normandy to be precise. The problem for me will be which of the events on our list to forego, it just wouldn’t be practicable to attend them all – what we’ve tried to do is offer members something to do most weekends throughout the season plus a few midweek outings for our retired TRers.

Now, a final reminder, a few days after this magazine arrives, our AGM will take place. The date is this Thursday 5th March at the Farmhouse Inn, Monk Street, nr Thaxted. We’d be delighted to see you there, especially those members who have yet to reveal themselves. I might even buy you a pint, or whatever your tipple may be.