So here we go again. Late again, but I’ve worked out why, I’m retired so one day is the same as another added to which the “lockdown effect” does the same, so a double whammy I don’t stand a chance! It’s been a month of not much happening in the competitive form anyway. The committee had a zoom meeting on the 28th of January which was well attended, most of the conversation centred around the membership. A £10.00 fee will cover the member and spouse/partner with 2 cards issued, an annual membership fee for passengers will be £1.00, under 17’s free of charge. It’s a bargain so head on to the club website (LNCMC.co.uk) on the home page look for event entry/membership, click on membership and you’re away, fill in your details, pay by Paypal (you do not need to have a Paypal account) and it’s all done in a couple of minutes. Joe Caudle will then send your new cards, couldn’t be simpler.

Whilst on the subject of Capitano Caudle he is still waiting for you people to send him anything that could be of interest for inclusion in the proposed club book. It can be a slightly unusual motorcycle or car that you do or have trialled, a story of why you didn’t make it to the finish or like me not even to the start (on more than one occasion). This could be your chance of 15 minutes of fame. joe.caudle@btinternet.com
In addition to the list of things that are either postponed or cancelled, the club AGM will happen sometime, but we’re not quite sure when, but once we know so will you. This time of year our Nigel would normally be busy arranging for trophies to be engraved, and frantically polishing those that are ready, not this year though, another non event I’m afraid, there were just too few events last year to celebrate.

A few of us took part in the MSUK Webinar on the evening of the 9th of this month. The talk was basically about promoting motor clubs on social media to gain extra membership and to broaden the scope of those people who might find motorsport of interest even if only from a spectator perspective. Full credit to MSUK, social media is a tool that is being used more and more and as that rather large supermarket says, “every little helps”.

For those of you who may not be aware our club has its own Facebook page, even this newsletter will end up on there, give it a visit, even tick the “like” icon or leave a comment and become a member of the group.

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I will now hand you over to our club President Robin Moore

Alvis and the other lady in my life Part 9

My ownership of KDL 892, was a very special period of my lifetime involvement with motorcars, enriched by the friendship of so many other Alvis enthusiasts whom we met along the way. This series of articles covering my involvement with the marque is only part of the story. There is no longer an Alvis in my stable, and although it is 55 years since the last Alvis made rolled off the production line, enthusiasm lives on, and owners are well catered for in regard to maintaining the breed.

When the Alvis Co, ceased car production it was not the end of the story, more like a new beginning. The company perceived there would be a market for spares, maintenance and restoration facilities, and that the demand would be significant. Alvis wisely made the move to form a new company in order to accommodate and provide a reliable and continuing service for their products, and this was done without delay. This venture, to be named Red Triangle Services was set up in Kenilworth just south of Coventry. Management and the workforce from the car division transferred to this new facility, with David Michie being in overall charge. Therefore there was no vacuum created and no overall change, – to all intents and purposes it was business as usual regarding spares, which the parent company continued to manufacture and supply. Servicing, restoration and sales were things that naturally evolved over time as this new enterprise developed. In recent times this has led to an expansion of the premised, with a large showroom added to display a good selection of Alvis cars for sale.

 I have of course not seen these later developments, but I once did visit Kenilworth in the 1970’s when I was using my 3 litre for general use, and I remember receiving a very cordial reception and meeting a number of the very experienced workforce. The spares despatch department I recollect, was extremely busy – a mine of industry, and it opened my eyes to see and learn how this side of things are done, , to ensure customer satisfaction. It is a comforting thought for the Alvis enthusiast to know that this excellent service continues in the present age, when so often it is found to be lacking. I will conclude this potted history of my involvement with “the other lady in my life” in the next newsletter.

RHTM to be continued

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The Conundrum.

When I started this what is sometimes looked at as a strange kind of sport things were very simple compared to today. Once you found your chosen vehicle to get splattered in mud, in my case a car, you did whatever modifications and tweaks as you thought necessary, joined your local club and entered an event. The fact that you didn’t have a passenger/navigator was a minor issue, you collared anyone who fancied a bit of motorsport fun and that was it, off you went.

No more, it just ain’t that simple now. First you have to work out what class your chosen fun jalopy can run in, next there’s the tyres jungle, then make sure it complies with all the regs, including appearance etc. Now that you’ve done that it’s join a club time and get yourself a competition licence, in many cases the competition licence is free but you still have to have it. Once you have done this you think you are ready for that big event, all you need now is a passenger. Next hurdle: Does your passenger hold a competition licence and relevant club membership? If not they will have to do so, no longer can you opt to change your lucky accompanying victim at the last moment it all has to be planned well ahead of the event.

These days my own competing activities tend to be with the MCC and the long distance events, so I have been a long standing MCC member, box 1 ticked; I have a comp licence box 2 ticked; but we now come to the rather tricky passenger situation. I have up to four different possible passengers to call on so you would think what’s the problem. Well one of them has a competition licence but not a MCC member, one of them is a MCC member but no competition licence as he doesn’t normally do four wheel trialling. The other two passengers have neither licence nor membership, so in order to what is basically do me a favour they have to get the said documents, one of these two people has no interest in motorsport whatsoever, purely doing me a favour. Ok I am not unique in this situation there must be quite a few people out there in the same boat (or even car). There is also as I said earlier no last minute changes, if your passenger’s wife decides to have her baby two weeks early , or their work shift pattern has been changed, tough, you will not be going on your chosen jolly no matter how well the vehicle is prepared, or how many flasks you have filled.

Yes all the organising committees and official organisations have very good reasons as to why it’s like it is (honest) but for the grass roots competitor it can take some of the fun out of entering, and spontaneity has gone right out of the window. Be organised !
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On a lighter note, a little while ago I decided to sell one of my scooters, a chap from Ilminster arranged to come down and view the dream machine, arriving at my place around 10.30 am. Within an hour he was happy with what he saw and the deal was done, scoot loaded into his van and off he trundled. I went indoors, made a cup of coffee and went on line to the DVLA and filled in the necessary change of ownership form, that’s it I am no longer the registered keeper. Around 3.45pm of the same afternoon I get a text message from the new owner, on arriving home he had also gone online and registered himself as the new keeper, insured the bike, taxed it and had been out for a ride and commented on that he was pleased with the performance (performance in regard of this particular machine is not a term I would have used), all done in the space of about 5 hours.

In my younger days I lived in Plymouth and when it was time to either tax your vehicle or perhaps register yourself as the new owner my heart would sink. This meant I had to make the journey to the Tax office at Duke St, Devonport. The office was actually upstairs of quite a large , slightly antiquated building , if you timed your visit badly (on a Saturday morning at the beginning of the month) the queue for this theoretically simple experience could start outside of the building. Somehow when watching a black and white film, set during the Cold War my mind drifts back to this building! Slowly you would make your way up the grubby, cigarette smoke filled stairs, often freezing cold and eventually into what in some ways looked like a great hall. Here you were greeted with a full width counter at which the staff would sit behind with an imposing set of railings running down the middle just to keep public and tax office employees separate. To be fair the staff were usually quite helpful, they just wanted to get you out of the way and to see the end of the queue.

The modern equivalent of this is definitely preferable, although I expect some people might argue.

All for this month.
J.T. please send contributions to billjan299@gmail.com

At the start of a New Year one expects to be optimistic of the year ahead, this year it’s a bit different to previous years the Covid word is evermore in our midst and it is also tinged with sadness at losing one of the club’s long term supporters.

Sadly on the December, the 27th Clive Sandercock passed away. To most of us that knew him he was an absolute inspiration in being positive about life and doing as much as possible despite the barriers that it had thrown at him. In 2014 we attended a big party at Dingles Heritage Fairground to celebrate Clive’s landmark 25 years of having had his Heart and Lung transplant, the event also raised a significant amount of money for charity. Then a year ago he underwent more invasive surgery to receive a kidney. When Vivien and I went to the hospital to visit we didn’t know what to expect, we were somewhat shocked to find him on a walkabout of the hospital looking incredibly fit and cheerfully chatting to all the other patients.

Clive turned out for many events over the years, he was the late Mike Gomm’s intrepid passenger in sporting trials and also performed marshalling and scrutineering duties for the club for many years. But his interests were much wider than just motor sport. Cornish history and walking were just two and the accompanying photo was taken of him impersonating a pixie on Bodmin moor when he and his father Gordon took us on a guided tour of the moor. Clive’s funeral will be on Friday the 15th of January at Altarnun Church 2.00PM. Whilst we will not be able to actually attend the Church funeral many of us intend to be outside to say our final farewell. Our thoughts are with his wife Julie, Mum Pam and all the family.

I will now hand you over to our club President Robin Moore

Alvis and the other lady in my life, Part 8

Annual reunions took place in early November for a number of years following this Golden Jubilee celebration. For the first of these two day weekend events we returned to the Green Dragon in Hereford, with everyone arriving on the Friday evening for an informal get together.

The Saturday usually incorporated a visit to a place of interest, before returning in good time in order to be ready for the formal dinner in the evening. This first reunion was quite a unique occasion as among our number were some talented musicians including a professional dance band pianist, as well as others who played regularly. One such person was a man called Dick Gilbert of Leamington Spa, who played for a Midlands jazz band when he was not racing his Alvis 12/70 Special at Silverstone. I seem to remember that we had quite a quintet on the night and it was a great success. Obviously this had all been planned well in advance.

The following morning happened to be remembrance Sunday and a run out to the Rhydspence Inn near Hay-on-Wye had been arranged for those not departing for home until the afternoon. It is as well to remind ourselves how much less traffic there was on the roads 50 years ago for at the appointed time we all lined up in the near side lane of the fine road bridge that crosses the Wye in Hereford, and we set off in convoy. En route a large lay by had been sorted in advance, and as the hour approached eleven o’clock we drew up together and parked. Car radios were tuned in for the two minute silence and all drivers stood beside their cars. It was quite a moving and unforgettable moment.

The annual reunions that followed were held at Matlock Bath in Derbyshire, which we all looked forward to with enthusiasm each year, although there were a number of other events held during the year when we also got together, such as National Alvis Day. In 2020 it would have been the Centenary of Alvis cars, but like our own club this hasn’t happened and everything is on hold. I can’t help feeling that when we do mark the occasion it will not be quite the same – a bit like missing the last bus home after a good night out.

RHTM to be continued

Polite reminder : Those of you who have not paid your club subs it would be nice if you could do so, last month’s reminder didn’t quite have the effect we were hoping for, you’ve saved loads of money by not going to the January sales (you remember them) so a mere tenner won’t hurt.

Joe Caudle is currently drafting a history of the club, hopefully to be published later this year.

Any reminiscences, anecdotes etc. would be welcome as would scans or photos of any paperwork, awards, photos etc. particularly if they accompany reminiscences. There is a particular gap in the club’s history through the 1930s, and 1940s.

Anything will be gratefully received particularly as Joe says he has plenty of time at present to devote to this! Please send to joecaudlework56@gmail.com

So we find ourselves virtually back to where we started as we enter our third Lockdown. At our zoom meeting next week we had expected to be discussing how plans were going for the Lanson Trial but I fear this event could well become just another statistic. Unfortunately a large proportion of the committee along with those helpers who normally come out to support the club no matter what, are in the senior age bracket and justifiably won’t commit themselves until the vaccine has been completed and feel confident mixing in wider circles as it were. The MCC have already cancelled the Lands End Trial so I suppose we just have to make the best of it, but I am only one person and it’s up to the committee to decide. Plans for the 101 years Club Birthday are hopefully safe so there is at least something to look forward to and we will be discussing that, and other events planned for the year.

When I got up this morning I looked at our weather gauge and saw it was -2.5c outside which is not too conducive to spannering in the garage, alas the Dellow is sat with its bum in the air awaiting parts for the rear axle, although I do have a new 2 wheeler project acquired last month to play with. On going in to the office to start the newsletter I turned on the monitor to see if there was anything happening in the bird nestbox and to my surprise a Sparrow was in there having a good tidy up, after a couple of return visits it disappeared but was soon replaced by a Wren doing similar, it makes you wonder, do they know something we don’t ?

All for this month J.T.

Don’t forget contributions gratefully accepted billjan299@gmail.com

Welcome to dreary November, short days and long nights, but it’ll soon be Christmas and a new year and the days will start to get longer again. Once again there is not a lot to report on motorsport , our roving reporter Nigel Cowling attended the Camel Vale trial on October the 18th which had a good entry and was well run, with thanks to those involved in running it. Congratulations to Darren Ruby and family on his class 3 win, classes 1,2,3, were put in one class, Darren had also won his class on a recent Exmoor trial, there’s no stopping him!

The recent bulletin from Motorsports UK has confirmed that all Non-elite motorsport is postponed until early December, no surprises there, it won’t affect me as I know all too well that I am not a member of the “Elite” establishment. For motorcyclists the ACU has released a similar bulletin.

The MCC Exeter Trial in early January has reached its full entry list anyone wanting an entry will now be put on the reserve list. M.A.C. will be hosting the Clee Hills Trial on Sunday the 24th of January, the event will be open to competitors on 2,3 and 4 wheels. Covid 19 rules/restrictions will apply , all cars must have a passenger.

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So now over to our club President Robin Moore

Alvis and the other lady in my life part 6

The jubilee tour took us as far North as Dundee, where provisions had been made for a two night stay at the Salutation Hotel. This was arranged in order to give the 34 full car participants a break, and to celebrate with a number of seats who had by this time joined up with us. A Gala Dinner had been arranged for the second evening of our stay, after having had a free day. The free day saw people heading out in different directions. Some headed for the highlands in search of snow, but for ourselves, we decided to explore the “Road to the Isles” as immortalised by Harry Lander’s recording . I remember it being a particularly hot day and we quenched our thirst at the inn at the head of Loch Rannoch before resting in the shade of the pine trees lining the shore, before returning to Dundee.

The Gala Dinner was quite something, continuing into the early hours following midnight. The wine flowed freely and yours truly was not alone in being somewhat inebriated. After breakfasting the next morning, I think most of us were not fully alert. I recall driving to the official BP filling station to refuel and receive our daily 5 gallons of free spirit before returning to the hotel to collect our ladies. I headed back but lost my direction and found that I was at the approach to the bridge over the Firth of Tay, and heading out of town, and impossible to turn around. Stopping at the toll I explained to the jovial Scot on duty that I didn’t wish to cross the bridge just yet as I needed to collect my wife first. His reply was “That’s what they’ve all said”. And with a broad grin on his face moved the cones separating the traffic lane and invited me to do a U turn.

This jubilee event was to finish at the home of Alvis in Coventry and we headed southwards via Cumbria and the coastal road as far as Ravenglass where I turned inland to follow the line of the narrow gauge steam railway which follows the Eskdale Valley. Continuing further along the very narrow road one comes to the very steep (2.5 in 1) Hardnott Pass on the seaward side of the Furness Fells. Some years earlier I had tackled the Wrynose Pass that begins at Shelwith Bridge not far from Ambleside, and rises from Little Langdale to the same summit. In those far off days those minor roads were quite rough in parts and consisted purely of broken stone and gravel and only rarely used by motor vehicles. I had previously driven the Wrynose Pass , against local advice, with my 1938 series 3 Morris, rough yes, but the gradient not too severe. But Hardnott is a different “kettle of fish”. I remember breathing a sigh of relief when reaching the top in my Alvis that I had not been or forced to make a restart. Marjorie and I stopped for a while on the fells after making the climb, and were later joined by two or three others who chose to follow the same road. And I thought we were alone in this vast wilderness. I must admit we were very pleased to see them, none of us at the time had the means of modern communication which we all take for granted these days, should we have had a problem and needed emergency assistance.

We eventually found ourselves at the penultimate day of this tour as we headed for Hereford, the last overnight stop of this marathon of an event. By this time we had been joined by a large number of Alvis from the Midland and Southern areas of the club, and the two Trust Houses in Hereford had been reserved to accommodate everyone. The Green Dragon and the City Arms, the former having a large secure underground parking facility for our exclusive use, and what a sight that was. Someone remarked that he hoped adequate insurance was in place, but we were sure that all individual owners would have been fully covered by their own policies. After all, every car was in a secure locked building, and security, and security personnel on site whilst we were there.
RHTM to be continued
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Information Request – I received this from Richard Kinver together with some photos below seeking information on his father’s Dellow:-

Hi I’m wondering if you can help! My father, John Kinver, competed in NCMC events in the early sixties, I have replica trophies of his, including a Fulford Cup tankard from 1962. He has always said he had and competed in Dellow, but I‘ve since established it wasn’t a Standard Dellow, if a Dellow at all! I’m keen to find out if there are any archives for the NCMC which may list Dad and the car he entered in, do you know, or know anyone might know please? To add to the story I have recently tracked down, what I believe is, Dad’s car and bought it back with the plan to recommission it and competed in it (at present I competed in an X90 and did the President’s Trial today) and need to establish some facts around Dad’s car to get its registration back. Many thanks and kind regards, Richard Kinver.

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I think I have to concede (concede, word of the week) that Lockdown has finally got to me, last night I found myself repairing a puncture on a wheelbarrow of all things. We seem to have somehow collected a larger than average quantity of them, five to be precise. It’s not all my fault, we have a very large garden so it’s quite common to be using more than one at the same time but how we actually got to five I’m not sure, they seem to just keep turning up, a bit like stray kittens, little notes on them, please look after this wheelbarrow. One of them is a rebel, it’s not painted green like the rest but finished in galvanise grey.

Anyway I quickly remove the offending wheel and take it to the garage workbench, get the tyre levers out of the Dellow and commence battle. At first things seem to go ok, let the last remnants of air out of the tube, then lever one side of the tyre off , attempt to extricate inner tube, valve stuck, remove other side of tyre and finally its off. Once the tyre is cleaned of all debris I decide the best plan is to fit a new tube, I have several scooter ones but on inspection these are all too big, scooter tube 10 inch, wheelbarrow tube 8 inch. Check old tube for leak in bowl of water, no bubbles so maybe it was just the valve after all, treat it to a new valve, yes looks promising, all I have to do now is refit tyre and tube to rim.

ALL, ALL ? have you ever tried it, it’s like herding eels. For a start it won’t keep still so you chase it around the bench attempting to lever the first part of the tyre over the rim, after various other items on the bench have made a break for freedom onto the floor, the first side is done. So next it’s fit tube inside without damaging it, this fit is more snug than a baby Koala in its mother’s pouch, trying to get both my hands inside the tyre to direct the tube in place with the valve in its hole seemed to take forever, but once the skin is removed from all my knuckles it’s there. So now I have to gently ??? Fit the other side of the tyre onto the rim without puncturing the inner tube, I have three tyre levers but only two hands, it’s Sunday night and the Octopus has the night off, shame, eight hands would have been useful. After a few failed attempts I work out that if I stand on an up turned bucket I can hold one of the levers in place with my belt buckle (still around my waist) giving me two hands free, this did look as if it might work until the lever held in place by my buckle gave way under the strain, taking a downward trajectory, its impact with my lower region causing me to fall off the bucket, when I got back to my feet all swearing was done three octaves higher !

Eventually the b***** thing was fitted and pumped up, I retired to the house and vowed that next time I would buy one of the non puncturing £15 alternatives on that well known auction site, fortunately this morning it was still holding air.

In future I’ll stick to the trials car and scooters.

All for this month J.T.

P.S

Pat Gomm wanted to pass on that there is to be an hours program on the Bloodhound car called ‘Building the World’s Fastest Car’. It is to be shown on Saturday 14 November at 6pm on Channel 4. Pat though the readers of this newsletter might be interested.

Please feel free to contribute billjan299@gmail.com

If I’m not careful this will get labelled as the “dreckly” newsletter , the days have slipped away and I find I am rather late with my offering. There has been a small glimmer of light shining on our sport . On Sunday the 6th of September Minehead MC ran their Exmoor Clouds trial as a single venue event, the reports all congratulate Minehead on running a very good event, the videos of it showed lots of happy faces and plenty of mud, it was interesting to see cars competing without a passenger (not all), this could be the shape of things to come, although self navigating on a road trial could be interesting for those not having done it before. Camel Vale MC are planning to run their President’s Trial on the 18th of October, again as a single venue event, passengers are not required but if you do have a passenger who is not from your household you will be required to wear face masks. There is going to be a limited entry for this event so if you want to have a go get in touch with them.

Keith Johnston has given an update on plans for the MCC Exeter trial on the 8th & 9th of January 2021. As Keith says we have to accept compromises for the time being, the plan is to have three separate start venues, Tiverton starting at 19.30pm followed by Cirencester and Popham and converging on Haynes, after leaving Haynes it seems that all the sections will be attempted in the dark, with the first vehicle finishing at Crealy at 05.30 am. A little bit different to what we have been used to but it’s certainly imaginative and maybe this is how future events will run.

Our own committee had a “proper” distanced meeting on the 19th of August at Kelly house, items under discussion focused mainly on when we might be able to actually run an event, although we have a large expanse of private land available to use for running a single venue event such as the Tamar Trial the problem is that it is intersected with public footpaths which we would have great difficulty in marshalling to protect members of the public and competitors in regard to Covid 19. The whole Covid thing is changing all the time, I for one am very confused (no comments please) in what we can and can’t do, such as Yes send your children to school, average class size 25-30, fine, send them to an after school party with more than 6 attending from the

same class, not fine.??? Hopefully by the time of our next meeting there will be some clarity, or am I just being naive.

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And so over to our Club President Robin Moore

Alvis and the other lady in my life , Part 4

I think it is fair to say that the Golden Jubilee of Alvis celebrated nationally was an event that cemented many friendships in the Alvis fraternity. It was certainly a milestone in my motoring life that is indelibly printed in my memory.

This celebration of all things Alvis took place over ten days at the end of May and the first week of June 1970. It was blessed with glorious weather throughout this 2,000 mile tour of Britain. Supported by Alvis and Trust Houses, and sponsored by BP it was a grand occasion and a roaring success.

The format of the support we received will give a better picture of the event and all that was involved if I explain. The route was designed to cover all areas of membership and with the option of doing the whole run, or just joining in for the parts that came closest to where one lived. In theory every member had a chance to be involved to a greater or lesser degree. A basic route card was provided, but one was free to deviate or choose your own and visit places of interest en route as you wished. There was no time schedule, the only thing absolute was that you reached the official accommodation hotel each night in time for dinner. This was exclusively at Trust Houses where special arrangements had been made, and a courier was on hand throughout the tour. To make sure no one got lost during the day we had a couple of guys in a Speed 20 who kept their eyes on us as best they could, no mean task as there were 34 cars doing the complete tour.

The Alvis Co provided each of the participants doing the full run, with a small pack of essential and useful spares appropriate to the model entered, that would enable minor problems to be overcome and so to be able to continue. I remember my pack contained a couple of new valve springs, (inner and outer). There was no charge up front for this support and one would only pay for anything used, or return everything at the finish which was the Alvis works in Coventry.

My Grey Lady did not require anything from the pack, the only item that stopped working was on the very first day as we headed north from London, and that was the drive cable to the speedometer. I wouldn’t have bothered about that anyway, it was just annoying. BP’s sponsorship was 5 gallons of fuel each day, and a quart of oil each day should you need it. I don’t remember any oil burners on the trip, but we all made sure we could take on the fuel each morning, when after breakfast we would queue at the designated BP filling station.

RHTM to be continued.

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There was a little bit of good news at the recent ACTC meeting for drivers of Buckler and Dellow cars. There have been moves to get these cars reclassified as to which classes they run in, basically standard sidevalve type’s will now be eligible to run in class 2 with all the other oldie’s, modified cars will run in class 5 . Only the highly modified cars will need to run in class 7 or 8. This class change does throw up a curious question which I struggle to get my head around. Cars in class 2 are not allowed to run with an alternator, it has to be a dynamo. I did wonder if this was so that drivers could enjoy their lights going dim every time they took their foot off the throttle, a sort of “period” curiosity. I can see no other reason, alternators basically enable your car’s electrics to work more efficiently, surely that is a good thing, to see where you are going in the dark ? Check out the full details from the ACTC website.

On one Exeter trial I followed an Austin Seven for several miles and noticed his brake lights weren’t working, when we came to a halt I advised the driver of this malfunction, no malfunction, he advised me that when his car was built they didn’t have brake lights, he was obviously looking forward to the day when someone drove into the back of him, I didn’t share his views.

All for this month. J.T.

Please send contributions to billjan299@gmail.com

Please note views expressed in this newsletter are those of the editor, not the club.

Don’t shoot the messenger, might as well get the bad news out of the way, first the Edinburgh Trial destined to run in October. Despite sterling efforts by Mark Gregg and his team it has been decided to not run it this year. This is a bitter pill for all those involved, having put in so much ground work along with creating a “paperless” entry and scoring system, the positive to come out of this for the MCC is that the systems created can be used for the Exeter and Lands End events.

Our own Tamar Trial also has an October date but having spoken to several of the committee members there is little enthusiasm for attempting to run an event which could well be cancelled due to happenings outside of our control along with the monumental task of creating a virtually new system to run it. To highlight some of the issues, firstly we can tick the box for online entries. Actual signing on would not happen, as with scrutineering, this avoids close contact and no use of paper. Once the event is underway there would not be any kind of score cards at the hills, the marshal on the hill would need to radio to a strategically placed control car somewhere close to the section where the score would be recorded on a lap top or tablet, so the club would need to purchase a device for each section, not cheap.

The start/ Breakfast venue at Tresmeer is temporarily closed with no actual date for re-opening as yet set, the use of the Frog & Bucket pub is again out of the equation so we would have no finish venue. Getting enough marshals would be a real challenge, what with social distancing and being suitably computer savvy, then what happens if a car or motorcycle is stuck on a hill ? Even if they give the thumbs up signal it doesn’t mean they can get going again without assistance.

Moving on to the David Ayers sporting trial in September, the news here is not much better. This event is normally part of a 2 day trial run in conjunction with Camel Vale’s Robin Alexander trial, the concerns are that after doing some ground work with competitors to judge interest there may not be sufficient entries to make the event viable. The committee will need to make the final decision on both events when they have their next meeting, things might change but I for one will be very surprised if either event runs, I’m sure some people will see this as a negative attitude, or is it just realistic?

Enough of this doom and gloom, over to our Club President Robin Moore :-

Alvis and the other lady in my life, part 3.

It wasn’t long before the ‘Doc’ started to make his mark, and it was due to his enthusiasm and drive that the Southwest area of the A.O.C. founded its own Alvis day. The first of these events was very much a Roger Filer-Cooper gathering held at the old wartime airfield at Eggesford near Winkleigh in mid Devon. Roger also to manage a fly-in by a Percival Provost powered by the 9 cylinder Alvis Leonides radial engine. Roger never did anything by halves. From this event supported by a small but enthusiastic number of southwest members South West Alvis Day grew stronger year by year and developed into a weekend not to be missed, attracting members as far away as the Midlands, London and the Home Counties.

Eggesford was a one-off, the following year the event was held at Newton Abbot racecourse. Led by Roger, this became a team effort with involvement of many of the committee taking on specific tasks. By this time we had become more organised with a refreshment tent, also other facilities for dealing with admin etc. I remember it being a very hot June day and rather tiring to work in, but it proved a great success. This, once again was a one-off venue although S.W.A.D had become firmly established, but it was time to think about a more suitable and permanent venue, and one that was slightly better placed geographically for the wider membership. It was decided to settle on Sherborne Castle and its gardens which would provide the space and all the facilities required, with the advantage of having use of the Orangery for our own catering arrangements. Also there was the added attraction of the Castle being open for guided tours for those who needed respite from the proceedings, there being an ideal area on the approach drive for timed driving tests, and other activities. Adjacent, was a very large level area of grassland for parking. In all it proved to be the ideal venue to which we were welcomed and returned to in successive years. On occasions a formal dinner would be arranged for the Saturday evening before the event on the Sunday.

True to form as my Riley friend Brian predicted, Roger Filer-Cooper moved on to the next challenge. He was highly qualified and well respected in medical circles and became involved in dealing with serious accident trauma and procedures, and in setting up a specialist unit.

For relaxation Roger was a railway and model enthusiast, and constructed a OO gauge layout of Halwill Junction, which I’m told is on display at Okehampton. He unfortunately died in his early sixties, but he certainly left a legacy.

To be continued RHTM
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The Turner household gained a new member of the family some five weeks ago, a four and a half-year-old Collie, despite being totally deaf he is otherwise your typical collie, basically too darn energetic. This has meant a serious rise in the walking tempo. Each day Vivien and I try to think of new places to walk, a couple of weeks ago our walk took in Oozes Water or Scarsick to some, this hill was first used on the Launceston trial and then adopted by the MCC for the Lands End and also used on the Tamar, the hill is no ‘stopper’ but works well as a special test. Being in mid July we were badly prepared for our walk expecting it to be dry, what we were met with was ankle deep cow poo, it turned out the local farmer moves his herd of cows along the track each day turning it into a half decent although smelly section.

A few days later we had to travel down to the west of the county so took in a walk down ‘Bluehills’, I was impressed by the repair work by the MCC maintenance team, although the walkers using the hill that day were probably totally unaware of what happens there every Easter . A friend of ours commented “did John really ride his Lambretta up there?” to which the answer is Yes I did, despite feeling like I was about to have a heart attack. Nobody said it was going to be easy.

All for this month J.T.

All contributions gratefully accepted billjan299@gmail.com

So here we go again, another month on and little to report on any activities of the wheeled kind. In an endeavour to see what is possible Mike Wevill and myself have been looking into what if any events could be run, at the time of writing the AMCA are only issuing event practice permits, but not for an actual competitive event, MSUK as far as we can see have not made any significant changes to their previous bulletin in that permits are only being issued for events where there is no passenger in a vehicle. As we all know our club is very much a trials based club and that we always require a passenger to be with the driver be it in sporting or classic trials, so until there is a change in the ruling by MSUK or the social distancing rules are completely changed we are somewhat snookered, oops, snooker is allowed, but I’m rubbish at that anyway.

The Dellow register have been seeking to have the classification of Dellows changed to allow them to be moved into class 2 for “standard” cars and class 5 for mildly changed cars, those cars running much more modern engines etc would go into class 7. I know I’m biased but to me this is a sensible move, the youngest of these cars are over 65 years old and in some cases running with 80 year old mechanicals , the basic engine, gearbox and axle derive from cars built in the 1930’s. At present if I run my car in the main class of a trial I would be in class 7 up against Marlins, Duttons and Liege’s to name but a few , all with much more modern running gear. Thirty years ago class 2 was a very vibrant class with loads of MG’s, Austin 7’s, Wolseleys etc, very few of these now run in either MCC and ACTC events so the move to put Dellows in class 2 may actually give it the boost it needs. (That wasn’t too biased was it ?) The full guide lines can be found on the ACTC website.

So now it’s over to our Club President Robin Moore:-

Alvis and the other lady in my life, part 2.

KDL 892 was in fact a TC 21/100 model that Alvis named, The Grey Lady, and that is how I became to be responsible for another lady in my life, albeit a graceful and totally rewarding motor car. “Grace, Space and Pace” the slogan used by Jaguar to promote their offerings at this time, would aptly apply to this Alvis.

The 3 litre Alvis had the longest production run of the marque and gradually improved and uprated during its production run, 1950 -67 , the b h p increasing from 90 to 150 over the period. The last of the line, the TF21 with its 150 brake horse was capable of a genuine 120 mph and the standing start ¼ mile in 17.8 seconds, not bad for a car of its type, a full 4 seater saloon of 55 years ago. The Grey Lady model was also capable of showing a clean pair of heels to others with its superb 3rd gear that gave wonderful acceleration from 30. Pulling strongly all the way up to 85 mph and would cruise quite happily at the 85 -90 miles per hour mark. There are many journeys that I made that I have never bettered since, yes there was much less traffic then, but neither had the road network been much improved from that of the pre-war period.

However, this story is more about my life and times during the period of my ownership and my involvement with the A. O. C. I very soon joined The Alvis Owner Club and became a member of the South West area, which basically covered all western counties including Hants and Wilts and South Wales, other areas being, South East, Midland and Scottish, who all operated independently of the overall national body, monthly noggin and natters were usually well supported, with many members often travelling some distance to attend, mostly with their Alvis, which in many cases was their everyday transport at the time.

In earlier days the monthly meets were held in mid Devon, but as the majority of regulars attending were predominately from Exeter, Plymouth and southwest Cornwall, by the time I joined in 1966 the venue was well established at the Edgcumbe Arms, Milton Abbot where a lovely couple Bill & Mary were mine hosts for a number of years. Our Annual meeting was held at a different venue each year in fairness to the widespread membership, The White Hart in Exeter for example , whereas the dinner held in November was quite an occasion with many staying overnight. Lewtrenchard was popular, whilst the George at Hatherleigh was another favourite. Area committee meetings were only held when the occasion demanded, as and when necessary and I remember these being held in Taunton at one time, a 180 mile round trip of an evening for me, although sometimes I would go as far as Exeter to meet up with a couple who became good friends of ours, and from Exeter to Taunton, we would travel there and back in Alan’s Bristol 405, having a good blast up the M5. Our wives , Marjorie and Jayne, would accompany us men on those trips as they kept us supplied with alcohol during the business of the meetings which were held in a room on the 1st floor of the hotel,- the bar being on the ground floor of course. It was good to have a couple of young lady runners,- we were all young back then,- to keep our thirst quenched during the debate- that was our excuse, but I remember those meetings always being very convivial affairs.

By this time I had become Chairman of the southwest area, in which position I was privileged to serve for three years. I was extremely pleased that we managed to secure the long term care of the Alvis Leonides 9 cylinder radial aero engine that Westlands of Yeovil had bequeathed to us, including raising the necessary funds and having it mounted on a purpose built trailer in order that it could be taken to different events in the south west for display.

Secondly, whilst other areas were ahead of us in having an annual Alvis day, we in the south west had not yet established our own event. It came about by chance. There was a time when we found we were without a secretary, and “feelers” were put out, A G.P. whose practice was in Black Torrington at the time owned a very nice TD21 Grabier Alvis convertible which he had lavished much care and attention, not to mention a lot of money, and he told us he might consider taking on the position of secretary, but he would like to meet us and discuss what might be involved. Now it just happened to be, that Dr Roger Filer-Cooper hailed originally from Surrey, as I am myself, and was well known to my life long friend Brian Floyd-Jacob of Riley fame, and he knew Roger well, through him owning a pre-war Riley,- the Alvis being purchased in a whim,- a flight of fancy. So I spoke to my friend Brian and asked him what he thought about Doc Filer-Cooper being the right man for the job. Brian’s reply was ,- anything that Roger took on he gave 100% commitment to whilst in the job, but when he had made his mark, would move on to another challenge.

Wonderful, we had a volunteer who fitted the bill, so it was decided to extend an invitation to Roger and his wife Anita to a dinner party at our expense and that was duly arranged at the Lord Eliot, Liskeard. It was quite an evening and we made sure the Doc was well lubricated, by the end of the evening there was no way he could possibly refuse, and so it was that Roger Filer-Cooper became our secretary. He certainly fulfilled our expectations and left his mark on the south west area of the A.O.C., as will be recalled next time.

(to be continued) RHTM
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HSTA Sporting Trial. Martin Halliday has this week had to put out the disappointing news of the Historic Sporting Trial scheduled for the 15th of August 2020 has been cancelled for this year. This was an event I was hoping to attend, it had a very good entry of 42 with some really interesting classic vehicles including Allard, Canon, Buckler, Dellows etc. The cancellation wasn’t really a surprise but it does highlight just how widespread the effects of COVID 19 are. As Martin says some events are beginning to restart but these are for those who don’t require a passenger, the good news is that he is planning to run the event next year, something to look forward to.

Whilst on the subject of trying to run events I’ve just received the news of the week from the MCC with an update on Mark Gregg’s attempts to run the Edinburgh Trial. I really do feel for the guy, he and his team have put in a massive amount of work to try and make sure the event runs. At the moment they are asking for an expression of interest from competitors and marshals so that it can be established if the event is feasible to run, anyone wishing to do so have until the end of this month to respond. Check out the MCC website.

Thanks to Richard Bevan for sending this photo taken at one of our club dinners at the Eagle
House Hotel – anyone any ideas what year? We’re all looking a lot younger!

It’s not been the most uplifting of newsletters this month but I’m sure there is light at the end of the tunnel, as long as the batteries don’t go flat. I think it must now be time for me to hide in the garage and immerse myself into all things mechanical, I did have thoughts on joining the Alvis owners club, but my other half is not sure if my liver is up to it.

All for this month. J.T.

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