Suffolk & Norfolk TVRCC

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Future Events

The next 5 events in our regional calendar:

Date: 17/08/2008
Event Name: Monthly Meet at Stonham Barns

Date: 06/09/2008
Event Name: Big Northern Gathering

Date: 21/09/2008
Event Name: Run out to Wyken Vineyard

Past Events

Below is a list of previous TVRCC events:

Date	Time	Event Name	Description & Venue	Contact
03/08/2008	10am - 5pm	Festival of Classics & Sports Cars	We plan to once again return to Helmingham Hall's Festival of Classic & Sports Cars having missed it last year as it clashed with Rockingham. In previous year's there have been some very interesting cars on display and there are always plenty of other attractions for other family members to enjoy. Entry forms must be returned to Helmingham Hall by 18th July. I suggest we go for Option 2 which gives free access for the driver and one passenger. Alternatively, if you really want to show off your pride and joy then Option 1 gives you prominent parking in front of the house, an information display board and cream tea all for £25. For those that are exhibiting we will meet in the Little Chef Car Park at the junction of the A14 and A140 (IP6 8LP) at 10:30am and convoy in to the event, which should hopefully mean that we can park up together.	Simon & Helen Evans 01986 798338 ro@tvrcc-suffolk.co.uk
20/07/2008	11:00	Picnic in the Park	This year's Picnic in the Park will be held at Somerleyton Hall, north east of Lowestoft. As with previous years we have arranged for dedicated parking in a prominent position. There is plenty of choice of things to see and do, including the house, garden and maze. You can eat at the tea room or pub on site or take a picnic with you. In addition we have also arranged discounted admission to both the house and gardens. At the moment we plan to meet at Somerleyton at 11am and will hand out the vouchers on arrival. If there is enough interest we will try and arrange a convoy but it really does depend on where people are coming from in order to plan a decent route.	Simon & Helen Evans 01986 798338 ro@tvrcc-suffolk.co.uk
15/06/2008		The Metcalfe Arms, Hawstead	As expected there was a reduced turnout for the June meet, what with it being Father’s day and Le Mans. A few hardy regulars made the trip and had another enjoyable meal. It was good to see Martin (Puffsorted) make a flying visit to his first Suffolk & Norfolk meet with his Griff having defected from Mid Essex last year. We also noticed a mysterious yellow Cerbera leaving the car park whilst we were eating. Apologies that no-one came to greet you but we didn’t know you were there until you left! Please pay us another visit soon.
30/05/2008		Field Trip to France	Despite lots of interest being shown only 3 cars made the trip to France: Peter & Viv, John & Jules and ourselves; all in variations of Tuscan. The journey down was particularly painless. We met Pete & Viv at Ashford before boarding the tunnel and then hit the autoroutes straight to Honfleur arriving in time for a nice cooling beer or two by the pool. Soon after we arrived a couple of French registered BMW Z1s arrived in the car park and the owners were clearly as intrigued by the TVRs as we were by the Z1s. By the time we sat down for dinner there was a collection of 8 Z1s and it seemed that this was the French Owners Club out on a jaunt. Given how few of these cars there are in the UK, we were even more surprised so see that by the following morning there were 20 Z1s crammed in to the car park. On Saturday Pete & Viv decided to take it easy and headed into Honfleur for a lazy morning. Not long after leaving the hotel they found a stranded Z1 by the side of the road with a broken fan belt – who says TVRs are unreliable – and did their Good Samaritan bit by bringing the wife of the owner back to the hotel to contact the breakdown service. Meanwhile we and John & Jules headed off to Pegasus Bridge to learn a little more about the 1944 Normandy Landings. In the afternoon we took a drive along the coast and back to Honfleur before meeting Pete & Viv at the hotel for the evening meal. The next morning John found that someone had left a present on Pete’s car. It seems that the Z1 owners were so grateful for Pete & Viv helping out that they popped back to the hotel to leave a small gift along with their phone number. Today it was Pete & Viv’s turn to do the Normandy Beaches whilst we took a 2 hour blat across country to see the water lilies at Monet’s garden in Giverny. This was a very pleasant excursion with the journey as much fun as the destination! The weather over the weekend had been brilliant with the roofs off all the time but come Monday morning the temperature had dropped and the drizzle set in for our journey home.
18/05/2008		Shotley Marina	Unfortunately since our last visit to Shotley Marina - in May last year - Andy Beaumont lost his battle with cancer and sadly passed away. Andy was the General Manager at the Marina and a Chimaera owner hence it seemed a fitting tribute that we should pay a return visit. Once again there was a good turnout for this event with the regulars joined by new members: Ian with his Griff and Mark with his early Tasmin 280i. In addition there were also a number of “old” faces making this their first meet of the year: Mark & son (Chimaera), Mick (Cerbera) plus Keith & Karen in their new Tuscan. This was also the first outing for Mike & Rosie’s new ’08-plate Tamora. It seems the opportunity to get one of the last new TVRs that David Gerald had for sale was too good to miss. All in all it was a very pleasurable day out, despite the circumstances, and the management at the Marina were very keen to see us and made us very welcome. I’m sure we will return again, especially now that they’ve improved the access road so there is no chance of falling off into the sea!
05/05/2008		TVRCC Challenge Cup	Rounds 3 & 4 of the Dunlop TVR Challenge took place at Snetterton on Bank Holiday Monday along with a whole host of "support" races. A hard core of race go-ers met at the Little Chef at the bottom of the A140 for the obligatory fried breakfast and then took the scenic route up to Snetterton. We had managed to arrange with the circuit to have some (informal) dedicated parking on the inside of Coram Curve and by the time we arrived there was already a good collection of cars parked up. With additional members from Mid Essex and South East London North West Kent arriving throughout the morning we soon reached 40 TVRs parked here and a few others dotted around the circuit. The grids for the series are once again increasing in size and with a good selection of models represented from the orginal Tasmins through Griff, Cerbera and T350 to the ex-Tuscan Challenge cars. Look out for a full race report in Sprint or on the website.
20/04/2008		Boating on the Broads	Seventeen hardy souls met at the Fineway Leisure boatyard early on a dreary Sunday morning for our day out on the Broads. After signing the appropriate forms our flotilla of 3 boats was on its way. We headed out from Wroxham and slowly started to remove more of the covers as the drizzle eventually eased off. Even at this point you couldn’t class it as a warm day with Helen and Jules sitting at the back of a boat under a travelling rug. The weather didn’t dampen people’s spirits though and the usual banter and frivolity soon set in. Chrissie had come prepared with supplies of coffee and shortbread on board her boat. The sight of them standing on the back of their boat wrapped up in duffle coats eating provisions gave the impression of East European immigrants who had stowed away. This sight of extra rations was too much for the occupants of the third boat who dived below to return shortly after to show their true colours. Paul emerged on deck in his pirate’s outfit and Mark made a bee-line to intercept the Immigrants. After a short pursuit they drew alongside and made off with their bounty, the box of shortbread. The pace of the morning slowed and we settled in to some gentle cruising as we headed to Ranworth Broad for our lunch stop at The Maltsters. Even at this speed our novice captains had a number of different obstacles to contend with and all successfully negotiated the racing dinghies, a traditional wherry and a paddle steamer. We moored up at Ranworth and were promptly joined by 12 more people who had made the trip out for lunch, including Dave and Steph who should have been on the boats but had overslept! After lunch the sun was well and truly out and we could really appreciate the day. The boys set to racing the boats whilst the girls lounged out on deck sipping gin & tonic (thanks Rachel) and eating yet more home made cakes (thanks Chrissie). It was an excellent day and many thanks go to Dave Smith for helping with contacts at the boatyard and the pub. More pictures from the day can be found on the forum.
05/04/2008		Ufford Classic Cars	Informal classic car show held at the White Lion pub in Lower Ufford (just north of Woodbridge). Last year 147 cars attended, mainly pre-war cars, with some magnificent Bentley's, Talbot's, AC's etc. The Pub does an all day BBQ and serves Adnams straight from the Barrel.
16/03/2008		The Metcalfe Arms, Hawstead	Unfortunately we were unable to attend the March meet ourselves as we were away on holiday. However, John and Julie Roper stood in for us and Jules has sent me the following text about the meet. “The members at the March meet were: us, Pauline & Ray, Phil, Jes, Paul, Mark & Amber, Roo & John, Debs & Simon, Anya and Paul & friend. A chap also turned up in a blue Tamora while we were having lunch but only stayed about 10 minutes and unfortunately we didn’t get to speak to him before he left again. In total 7 TVR’s plus the quick appearance of the Tamora. It was a yucky day!” Thanks to John and Jules for holding the fort and let’s hope that’s the end of the bad weather for a while.
17/02/2008		The Metcalfe Arms, Hawstead	Another very good turn out for the February meet at the Metcalfe Arms, helped we are sure by the glorious weather. In addition to more new members from Suffolk and Norfolk making it to their first meet we also had a larger collection of Mid Essex members making the trip over the border. If anything the turn out was too good – if such a thing is possible – as four times as many people arrived as had let us know. As a result poor Anne was run off her feet in the kitchen and we managed to eat them out of house and home! Now, we are clearly very happy to see so many of you at the meets but we really would appreciate it if you would let us know that you are coming. That way we can let the venue know how many people to expect and make sure you are all catered for. One of the couples that did let us know was Dave and Diane Smith. They were previously the owners of a well known yellow T350C which they sold last year in anticipation of some life-changing plans. These plans are unfortunately taking longer to come to fruition than they hoped so in the mean time they decided that another TVR was required. The day before the meet they made the long trip over to Warwickshire to pick up their new Chimaera. Dave is known for his love of yellow TVRs so there were a few surprised looks when people saw that the new one is blue. Regardless of colour it is a truly stunning car and in excellent condition. No wonder he had a sleepless night with excitement before picking it up.
20/01/2008		Seaside Run to Aldeburgh	As we arrived early at the Orwell Crossing Lorry Services there were already half a dozen cars in the car park but no people as they had all made their way inside. After 10 minutes we thought we had better go back outside to see if anyone else had arrived to find the car park area full of TVRs. By 11:30 there were 16 TVRs and 1 Ferrari ready to head off to Aldeburgh. This year we consciously took it easy with the convoy as we were keen not to repeat last year’s trick where we lost a few along the way. We pulled in to the car park in Aldeburgh with the convoy still in tact to find another half a dozen cars parked up already. We didn’t manage to get a final tally but we reckon it was around 25 cars which is an excellent turn out for our region and even more encouraging given the time of year and weather. As is traditional we headed off to join the queue for the chippy and proceeded to eat our food sitting on the sea wall. Despite the large turnout only 5 hardy (or is that mad) souls volunteered for a paddle. So let’s hear it for Diane, Chrissie, Jacqui, Jez and Simon – yes, the RO went in this year.
15/12/2007		Christmas Meet and Meal	We had an excellent turn-out for the December meet as all 43 people who had booked for our Christmas Meal turned up on the day. This meant that unfortunately we were unable to accommodate any of those on the reserve list as there really was no more room at this inn! There was a wide choice of good quality food at reasonable prices. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves as we sat around talking between and after our meal, eventually to be kicked out by the staff who wanted to lock up for the afternoon and prepare for the evening onslaught. In addition Richard and Lou had prepared a light hearted quiz with questions on both TVR and our region. This was won by Ray with 8 out of 10, despite him getting the question about the 0-60 time of a Sagaris wrong! Well done Ray. Second prize went to John & Jules with 7 out of 10. Jason and Vince from Scole Engineering attended the meal with their families which gave us a chance to thank them not only for providing first prize for the quiz but also for everything they have done for club members throughout the year.
18/11/2007		The Metcalfe Arms, Hawstead	November’s meet was a reasonably quiet affair (well apart from the noise from a couple of exhausts!) back in the thoroughly enjoyable company of Nigel and Anne at the Metcalfe Arms.
21/10/2007		The Metcalfe Arms, Hawstead	This month we tried out a new venue, the Metcalfe Arms in Hawstead, nr Bury. We were invited along by the new owners, Nigel and Anne, who are also club members. Previously they were in the envious position of having 4 TVRs between them but since buying the pub are now down to just the 2! Once again it was a glorious day with sunshine all day. Given what a rotten summer we have had in general we seem to have been very lucky with the weather for our events. This probably helped the turn-out with 27 people in 14 cars making the trip. Jes made a welcome reappearance after a couple of months off but unfortunately not in the T350, which is a little sick. Instead he turned up in his Dare which he’s had since new and caused a stir in the car park as most of us hadn’t seen one in the flesh before. Phil and Tracey also caused a bit of a stir as they turned up in Phil’s newly acquired Tuscan. We knew he was looking at them but didn’t realise how imminent a change was with his Chimaera going in part exchange. There was also a flying visit from Mike in his Tuscan who lives in the next village and thought he’d come along for a quick look. Everyone really enjoyed themselves, thought the venue was great and loved the cooking, so our thanks go to Nigel and Anne for hosting us and we hope to use the venue again in the near future.
16/09/2007		Run out to St Peter's Brewer, nr Bungay	There was another good turn out at the Sorrell Horse for the September meet with a number of people popping along for some food and a natter even if they weren’t able to join the run out to the brewery. Paul Barker was first to arrive with his uncle from the US for a quick bite to eat and to show him another selection of TVRs before heading off to a local steam rally. Paul Wisbey also turned up in his latest toy, an immaculate Ferrari 360 that he had only collected on the Thursday before. After eating, seven cars then set off on a scenic run to St. Peter’s brewery on the other side of the county. This was almost immediately reduced to five cars as the other two were following Terry in his black Cerbera. Unfortunately Terry was one of the people not going on the run and nearly had to explain to his wife that there would be 3 more for Sunday lunch. Everyone managed to reach the brewery in time and here we were met by four more couples, three of whom had been at the brewery for some time! Health and Safety guidelines mean that they no longer do tours round the brewery itself but have replaced it with an informative talk followed by the most important bit, the tasting. They don’t skimp on this element and we were able to taste half a dozen of their beers with the drivers carefully gauging how much of each to try. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and have requested that we do something similar next year but visit a vineyard for a change.
01/09/2007		Big Northern Gathering in York	In total 9 couples from Suffolk & Norfolk and Mid Essex made the trip to Yorkshire for this year's Big Northern Gathering. Four of us made it to York in time to wander into town on the Friday afternoon/evening for a quick beer or three and were later joined by Richard & Chrissie so we found another couple of pubs and somewhere for a bite to eat before heading back to the hotel to meet up with Pietro & Kathryn and Debs & Simon. Saturday morning arrived and ~120 cars converged on York Race Course where 3 more of our intrepid couples joined us (Andy & Vanessa, Ray & Pauline and Dave & Steph). We all left the race course in loose convoy and headed to the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington. As well as a whole range of TVRs there was a static display of significant aircraft from the past 100 years plus the typical historic museum exhibits. In addition, Rich Abbott (North Yorks RO) had organised both pleasure and aerobatic flights for the more hardy souls and we finally caught up with Dave & Diane around lunchtime after both had been on the pleasure flight and Dave went the whole hog and also took the aerobatic option! For the evening Rich had booked out the top floor of a local tapas restaurant which was a huge success. The atmosphere was great and the food better with a large selection of starters and main courses. The Suffolk & Norfolk and Mid Essex contingent made up about a quarter of all the attendees and were, as tradition dictates, suitably vocal and out to have a good time. The highlight of BNG is always the runs out into the North Yorks countryside, although in previous years this has been obscured by fog, cloud, rain, floods, etc. Rich had been promising sun for this year's event since Christmas time so it made a great change to actually see the views that were described on the route notes. The run is an intense event covering well over 100 miles in a manner which is best described by the phrase "making progress". There is always a stop for a 3 course lunch and despite a few last minute hic-coughs everything went very smoothly. At this point some of our contingent headed back home to get ready for work the next day. However, 8 couples remained on for the Sunday night. We had previously arranged with the hotel for a private dining room - although whether this was for our benefit of for the benefit of the other guests is not entirely clear! Whatever the motivation the hotel pulled out all of the stops and set us up in a stunning room with a great meal. Its just a shame the bar staff had an early night and knocked off before checking whether we wanted any more drinks. As in previous years this was a thoroughly entertaining event with great organisation and great company. If you missed it then there are some photos posted on the Forum.
19/08/2007		Rougham Air Display and Car Show	This event has been a regular on the Suffolk & Norfolk calendar for many years now and ten people met up at the Little Chef for the obligatory breakfast, including Garry and Julie who turned up in their newly purchased and fettled Griff. This car is well known in the region having been previously owned by another regular member for many years. However, now sporting its new registration Garry and Julie are taking steps to make the car their own. From the Little Chef it is only a short hop along the A14 to Rougham Airfield. A couple of TVRs were already waiting for us on the showground and we duly parked up along side and were soon joined by another 5 cars. In addition to the displays of classic and sports cars this event has a number of other attractions. Most notable is the flying displays put on throughout the day, but there are also displays of vintage tractors, old services vehicles and armed forces vehicles. Unlike many of the other car shows that we attend, Rougham makes a point of awarding prizes to the exhibits that it feels are the best examples of their type. This year the organisers once again showed that they have an appreciation of the Wedges and Bill & Chris were presented with 3rd prize in the Modern Sports & GT category for Bill’s 350i. There are some photos of the event posted on the Forum.
05/08/2007		60th Anniversay Celebrations at Rockingham	There was a very good turnout from the Region at Rockingham over the two days for the 60th Anniversary celebrations. We met a whole host of you over the weekend and have since found out that other members also attended that we didn't bump in to. So far, everyone we have spoken to thoroughly enjoyed themselves, especially at the party on Saturday evening. There will be plenty more about the event in general in the next issue of Sprint but if you want a sneak preview then there is already a write-up on the car club website, photos on the forums and on our website.
15/07/2007		Picnic in the Park	This year, having received positive feedback from a number of members we decided on Holkham Hall for our annual trip to the seaside. Our convoy started bright (well, dull) and early at one of the most southerly points in the region ready for a trip to one of the most northerly. We were met by Paul & Sue and Richard & Chrissy, who had already travelled up from Kent to be with us. We picked up Paul in his Elise as we headed west and north towards our mid way stop at Thetford. As we pulled in to Tesco we were greeted with the sight of another 5 cars parked up and waiting. On leaving Thetford we immediately took a slight detour (sorry, my fault) but soon got back on route and headed for Holkham. An advance party was already there to greet us and over the course of the next hour or so other members trickled in and joined us. A collection of TVRs always generates interest and members of the public were soon wandering over, taking photos and chatting to members. After a general chat and showing off of the new regional regalia we headed to the tea rooms for a snack whilst deciding what to do for the rest of the day. One of the beauties of Holkham Hall is that there is a whole range of attractions including the house, the grounds, the bygones museum, shops, boat trips on the lake and even the walk to beach. Between us all I think we managed to cover everything. Having amused ourselves throughout the afternoon everyone seemed to converge on the ice-cream shop at the same time so we were able to catch up again. From here people started to drift off back home.
17/06/2007		TVRCC Challenge Cup at Snetterton	Given how many other events were happening this weekend we were very pleased with the sight of “only” 2 other TVRs and the Robin Hood of Terry’s son, Chris, in the car park of the Little Chef. Even more surprising was the realisation that one was the Tuscan of John and Julie who had left home in Lowestoft at 7:30am to make it to the Little Chef only for us to then travel back up to Norfolk to watch the racing. After a hearty breakfast our little convoy took to the back roads and reached the circuit where we spotted a number of familiar cars already in the car park. We made our way up to our traditional spot on the banking on the inside of Russell and met up with a number of other members. Over the course of the morning we were joined by others as they trickled in. The TVR racing itself was very entertaining and in addition the other races also provided a fair amount of excitement, with the Minis in particular seeming to draw in the crowds. With the qualifying being held on the Sunday morning rather than on Saturday it meant that the last race of the day didn’t finish until nearly 6pm. So it was a long day for most as we ventured home that evening.
20/05/2007		Meet at Shotley Marina	Another good turn out for our May meet at the Shotley Marina. Andy who is General Manager there and who runs a Chimaera approached us earlier in the year and offered us the use of the Marina for one of our monthly meets. We had waited until now in the hope of guaranteeing better weather and what a beautiful day it was. Nineteen TVRs plus four other cars eventually gathered in the specially reserved car park overlooking the Orwell and Stour estuaries with the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich in the distance. It must be testament to the setting and the weather that people spent so long mingling around the cars before finally the draw of food and drink was too much. The choice and quality from the Marina Bar was superb with every taste catered for. In the end it was a tie between the pint of prawns and the fried cod as to which was the most popular. After lunch Andy gave tours of the command centre that controls access to and from the Marina via the lock. From here it was also possible to climb up onto the roof of the tower to get some great views across the rivers and over the cars arranged below. Our thanks go to Andy Beaumont for organising this month’s meet. From the comments we received everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves and I’m sure we’ll be back again in the not to distant future.
15/04/2007		Run to Long Melford	An excellent turn out for our April meet for which Mark Bramall had arranged a run out to Long Melford in memory of Ian Loader, a previous long serving RO of Suffolk & Norfolk who sadly passed away last year. Over fifteen TVRs gathered in the car park of the Sorrell Horse where we sat and had lunch in the garden under glorious sunny skies. We were also joined by a number of other members who were without a TVR for one reason or another. For many this was their first event of the year as their cars were brought out of winter storage. A couple of people had to miss out on the run due to other commitments but most set out for a tour of the Suffolk lanes, with roofs off where possible. From the Sorrell Horse we took the scenic route to Kersey through the ford and parked up by the side of the road for a few minutes to take photos. From here Mark led us along some more country roads to Lavenham where we had a longer stop for a wander and an ice cream. The final stretch of the route was a short trip to Long Melford where we parked up on the Green. Our thanks go to Mark and Sally for organising the event and leading the convoy.
20/03/2007		Meet starting at the Orwell Crossing Services	In total there were nine of us eating, including new member Jes in his stunning red T350C. As we were finishing off our excellent meals we were joined by Richard and Bernadette in their 280i convertible. We had positioned this event as a Magical Mystery Tour as we knew we would take a run out but couldn’t plan in advance either the numbers of the weather.Rachel mentioned that she knew a scenic route to Snape Maltings that would make a good run, so off we went. Mark and Rachel led the way with 5 TVRs and an SLK AMG following. After some spirited driving down some empty roads in sunny weather we arrived. Seems there must have been a concert on at Snape as parking was tight, although fortunately the pub was empty and we were able to natter over tea and coffee before heading our separate ways home again.
18/02/2007		February Meet at Stonham Barns	Another good turn out at the February meet, despite an overcast and grey day. At the peak we had 12 TVRs and an Aston, plus 4 members who came along in their everyday cars for various reasons. After milling around the car park talking for a while the draw of the café was too much and everyone made their way to get some food and drink and to warm up. People then mooched around the various shops before heading off (or in some cases back to the café for a coffee and cake).
04/02/2007		Post Christmas Bash	Sixteen members arrived at Ye Olde Coach and Horses in Woodbridge for an evening of log fire cuisine. First up was a selection of freshly prepared Hors d'Oeuvres. Then followed the seven! main courses served with Jacket Potatoes, Rice and Mixed Salads. After a small breather came the deserts followed by tea or coffee. For those that were still capable of movement there was a very impressive Cheeseboard, Speciality Breads and Crackers. Everyone had a very sociable evening in a pleasant and relaxing environment. Our thanks go to our hosts for the evening, Chris and Veronica.
21/01/2007		Aldeburgh Run	15 cars (13 TVRs, 1 SLK AMG and 1 Rover) met at the A14 Orwell Bridge Truck Stop. After a fairly sedate drive on a mix of main and local roads 13 made it safely to Aldeburgh. We lost 3 cars along the route, but gained one. The other 3 followed on behind, having taken a slightly different route after getting split up at a series of traffic lights. The final tally was 19 cars as we met 3 more (2 TVRs, 1 Renault) at Aldeburgh itself. All in all, a very good turn-out.