The "Nelly" Newsletter

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1 The "Nelly" Newsletter May 2018 Visit the Club website at: or the News and Events website at : Club Nights Motorsports Group Visits Juniper Autotest at Silverstone Next Club Night June 12 th Guest Speaker Chris Hooper on: Conservation in Milton Keynes

2 NEL Group Contact Information & Editorial Web Sites - Club: or, North London Region: Chairman Bernard Ward 65 Millmead Way, Hertford, Herts. SG14 3YH Mob: Secretary Ron Barnett 7 Oak Grove, Hertford, Herts. SG13 8AT Treasurer Stafford Steed 4 Cedar Road, Hatfield Herts. AL10 8PA Competitions Sec. Mike Biss 19 Dunstable Close, Flitwick, Beds. MK45 1JN Committee John Foster 197 Brimsdown Avenue, Enfield, Middlesex EN3 5ET Committee Lesley Steed 4 Cedar Road, Hatfield, Herts. AL10 8PA Newsletter Dave Rosher 5 Barnsite Gardens, Rustington, Littlehampton, West Sussex, BN16 3QG Hi Nellies Sorry this month s issue is a bit late but Rosie & I took the opportunity to head off to France for a holiday and, as there wasn t anything too pressing to update you all with, we knew you wouldn t mind a bit of a delay. We headed off on a ferry from Portsmouth to Ouistreham (Caen) and our first place of interest to take in was, Le Manoir de l Automobile, at Lohéac, south of Rennes, where 500+ vehicles are on display. The exhibits are in multiple halls, most of which are themed in some way and just seem to go on, and on. One airconditioned hall has a grid formation of 16 F1 cars from the 90 s and others are themed by country or manufacturer. Well worth a visit if you are ever in eastern Brittany. With the petrolhead bit done, we then headed off to the Loire Valley for some chateaux sampling. Fortunately, two of the campsites we stayed on, at Saumur & Amboise, were on islands in the middle of the Loire and both had fine views of each town s principle riverside chateau. Amboise is also where Leonardo da Vinci spent his final years at Chateau du Clos Lucé, where replicas of many of his inventions can be found, both in the house and grounds. Our fourth visit was to Chenonceau, which bridges the Loire and played a significant role for the resistance during WW2. By now, chateau fatigue had set in, so we headed north, via Chartres, to visit friends near Paris, before ending our trip in the Omaha & Utah beach area of Normandy. New car of choice for the French seems to be the Dacia, which now appears to outnumber the new Renaults, Peugeots & Citroёns by some margin. Good to see plenty of Reggie 5 vans doing their bit to keep the economy thriving. All for now...dave You have received a copy of this newsletter because you have given your contact preference details to: Boundless by CSMA, North East London Group. Should you no longer wish to receive further copies, please notify the Editor, or choose the "unsubscribe" option within the accompanying . Copy for next month s issue should be sent to Dave Rosher, preferably by , to the address opposite: to arrive on or before 24 May please. The opinions and recommendations expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual contributors and are not necessarily those of the Editor, the North East London Group Committee, or the Civil Service Motoring Association Ltd. (Boundless by CSMA).

3 May Chairman s Chatter As Dave has said, this is a better late than never May Nelly, following Dave's return from foreign parts, and other contributors' returns from Eastbourne. I can't make out this weather, it was a most miserable rainy cold day on the Saturday at Eastbourne and then a glorious couple of days to follow. Have just spent two hours shivering on the bowls green, but it should be fine and dry for the wedding. Good oh The date of 2nd June was chosen for the Queen's Coronation back in 1953 as statistically that was predicted to be the driest day, but it rained all day if I can remember. Of course I can, my dad was 'on parade' that day representing the Leicestershire and Rutland constabulary. Eastbourne went off well, apart from the weather on Saturday. As is usual we did various things, coming together in the evening to talk about them. Staff had persuaded a small contingent of walkers to experience the coastal path from Birling Gap - Ron managed to slip and sprain his upper arm and Owen forgot to order any packed lunch, so had to settle for the end of everyone else's sandwich. Two very good quality entertainers in the hotel that we saw and a lovely am-dram OS Yeoman of the Guard at the local theatre on the Saturday. As NT members, Ruth and I made a bee line to a couple of NT properties, one on the way down and one on the way back. We found an absolute gem, Ightham Mote, pronounced Itam, near to Sevenoaks that had recently been renovated to the tune of 10 million, but the good thing was that you couldn't see than it had been renovated, it had been done so well. The weekend couldn't go by without a steam train ride and we happened upon the Spa Railway which took us into Royal Tunbridge Wells. What took us out was a wonderful, Class 27 freight loco, on loan from the East Lancs. Railway, built in 1896 and the last of its class in existence. What's happening next is the Noggin and Natter this Tuesday at the Bulls Head, Turnford and at the June Clubnight we will welcome guest speaker, Chris Hooper, who will describe the conservation planning work that went into the shaping of Milton Keynes. A plea for marshals to help me out with my Grasshopper Autotest on 8th July, a long way ahead but it will be of comfort to me to know if anyone can marshal on the day. Enjoy the wedding or there is the small matter of the Cup Final later on - I haven't got a ticket for either Bernard

4 Secretary s Scrawlings Hooray, Hooray the First of May! Hopefully the bad weather from the East will have gone away so we can enjoy our spring and summer. I don t think I mentioned last month that a pair of Pheasants has taken up residence in my garden. Phred as we call him had been a regular visitor since last summer, wandering in from the field through a gap in the fence I d left for wildlife. In the last few months he has been courting a hen pheasant, who we have named Phreda. Phred is quite curious and peers into the lounge to remind me he s low on food. Every morning he makes his presence known by loud crowing and wing-beating. She has always been very quiet and feeds a lot less than he does. We re expecting chicks at some point. Not wanting to disturb the birds I m rather reluctant to mow the lawn - or am I just looking for a convincing excuse to avoid boring tasks On the subject of spring, the day after the Quadruplex, a group of us went on John s Spring Walk. Armed with just a mobile phone, I managed a few pictures of Forty Hall s garden bursting forth. John had advised that the route would be muddy, so Charlie and I turned up expecting mud, a good six-inches deep at least, and arrived suitably attired. It turned-out to be far less messy, though as we were able to walk through, rather than round the mucky bits. Clubnight on April 10 th was a fascinating journey through the history of gunpowder and other explosives produced at the Royal Gunpowder Mills in Waltham Abbey, coupled with the physical journey of the explosives as they travelled smoothly down the Lea to the magazines at Woolwich and Tilbury, occasionally not making the trip and demolishing a bridge on the way - Kaboom! Last Saturday was the Juniper A/T at Silverstone. I ve not seen the results as yet, but I believe the weather was good and the entry was sufficient. I did notice many familiar names on the entry list. No doubt Mike s Competitions section will give more coverage. GDPR takes effect in less then four weeks. We are taking the view that by continuing to download the newsletter, you are explicitly agreeing to be ed. From the June issue, we will delete any addresses that do not actively download three issues in succession. If you have a problem receiving s please let me know at NEL@RJBarnett.co.uk or call me or editor Dave on the phone for those with printed copies. Cheers, Ron

5 JOHN'S FORTY HALL WALK On Sunday 15th April, 10 Group Members gathered in the Car Park of Forty Hall to take part in the re-arranged Walk, luckily with better weather conditions than the original day. John lead us past the front then the side of the Hall into the gardens, which had a great array of colours. Halfway round we stopped for John to tell us the history of the Hall and to take a Group photo. On leaving the gardens we exited the main gate and made our way down a side turning until we reached the New River. Again John told us the history, including that it starts in Great Amwell near Ware and continues all the way into London, being the early source of drinking water. We turned off the New River near Maidens Bridge, crossing the road to join the footpath alongside Turkey Brook which is part of the Forty Hall Estate. We followed the tarmac path, alongside the Brook for some distance before turning left into the woods and climbed uphill to within site of the Car Park. Near the top John told us the history of Elsinge Palace, which had stood near this area. We then returned to the Car Park where 7 of us made our way to the Plough, Crews Hill for a very enjoyable meal. Altogether a very interesting and enjoyable walk in totally acceptable weather conditions - the rain came later. Mick O'Blath

6 2018 Quadruplex inter group competition Results Summary of total points scored for each team are as follows. 1 st North East London (NEL 3) nd Thames Valley Group ( TVG 1 ) 96 3 rd North West London (NWL 2) 88 4 th Thames Valley Group (TVG 3) 85 5 th North West London (NWL 1) 79 6 th North East London (NEL 2) 75 7 th North East London (NEL 1) 67 8 th Thames Valley Group (TVG 2 65 Cumulative points for best two teams from each group. 1 st NEL NEL nd TVG 1 96 TVG rd NWL 2 88 NWL Congratulations to North East London and all the other teams who took part.

7 MOTOR RACING AT BEXHILL ON SEA Today, Bexhill on Sea seems a most unlikely place to being once the centre of motor racing in this Country but in 1902 the first motor race in UK took place. The 7 th Earl De La Warr had acquired much of the land around Bexhill that he intended to develop as a resort, which included building the Sackville Hotel. Subsequently after his death his son, the 8 th Earl, used this opportunity to promote motor sport in conjunction with the Automobile Club of Great Britain and used the Hotel facilities as the Headquarters. On 19 May 1902 the first race took place with a flying start at Galley Hill, to the east of the Town and was timed over a straight 1 kilometre section of De La Warr Parade Bicycle Boulevard. There were some 200 entries and thousands of spectators and photos show these primitive machines hurtling along, some two abreast, with just rope or wooden fencing as a barrier it must have been a miracle that a major catastrophe did not occur as the fastest speed was 56mph (the speed limit then was still 12mph but the land was owned by De La Warr). Several more events took place but the following year a property owner took an injunction against further use of the highway. This no doubt prompted the 8 th Earl to plan a motor racing circuit to the west of the Town at Cooden Beach. However, when news of his adulterous affair and desertion from his wife became public knowledge the scandal caused his influence to diminish and Brooklands in Surrey was favoured as the premier motor racing circuit. Mick O Blath mentioned the Bexhill Museum a few newsletters ago although there is also a Motor Heritage Centre at the Sackville (now converted into apartments) and a Heritage Gallery at Cooden Beach Hotel, where the plans for the racing circuit are on display. ******************************************************************************************************* Also worth adding to Owen s piece and of further motor racing interest, is that Elva Cars were based in Bexhill, a few examples of which are usually on display in the Bexhill Museum, just off the sea front opposite the clock tower Ed.

8 Puzzle Page May 2018 The nine garden birds did give a lot of trouble Brian Beard picked up two more points by correctly unscrambling the garden birds. Sparrow, Red Kite, Wood Pigeon, Blue Tit, Green Woodpecker, Pheasant, Magpie, Heron, Seagull The farmyard birds were: Chicken, Turkey, Duck, Goose & Peafowl 2 points each to: Dave Rosher, Ruth Ward, Alison Anderson, John Foster, Mick O`Blath, & Brian Beard This month s puzzle: Pocket shrapnel For many years I ve been casting copper coins out of my pocket as valueless shrapnel. The bowl is now full to the brim (slightly over in fact) with 2p and 1p pieces, there are 4½ times as many 1p pieces as there are 2p pieces. The volume of the bowl is exactly 600ml. Can you estimate the total value of the coins? 3 points if you re within 50p, 2 points if you re within 2, 1 point for just having a go. Two Sudoku Clubnight Quiz Winners : Ruth, Lesley, Staff Answers to me by , post or carrier pigeon before the 4 th Tuesday of the month. As usual 1 point for entering, 2 for a correct answer. Please send s to nel@rjbarnett.co.uk beginning the Subject line with PUZZLE, without quotes or any other extraneous characters so I can find them.

9 North London Region (NEL / NWL / TV) Motor Sport Coordinators' Bulletin May 2018 Date Day Event (Status) Type of Event Club Champ May Sun 13 * Spring Solo (C) Cross between autotest/sprint Farnborough DMC Sun 20 * Gravel Autotest (C) Loose surface autotest Bedford CC 19/20 * Miglia Quadrato () City of London treasure hunt UH&ULMC Sun 20 * Heritage Autosolo (C) Cross between autotest/sprint Harrow CC Sat 26 * Rockingham AutoSolo (C) Cross between autotest/sprint Peterborough MC Jun Sat 9 * Carnival Autosolo (C) Cross between autotest/sprint Dolphin MC Sun 10 * Greenacres Autotest (C) Grass autotest CSMA NWL Region Jul Sun 8 Grasshopper Autotest (C) Grass autotest CSMA NEL Region Sun 8 Summer Solo (C) Cross between autotest/sprint Farnborough DMC Aug Sun 5 Rockingham AutoSolo (C) Cross between autotest/sprint Peterborough MC Sun 12 NEW Autotest (C) Grass autotest CSMA NWL Region Sat 18 Rockingham AutoSolo (C) Cross between autotest/sprint Peterborough MC Sep Sun 09 Chiltern Autotest (C) Grass autotest CSMA NWL Region Oct Sun 14 Autumn Autotest (C) Grass autotest CSMA NWL Region Licence required: (I/Nat A/Nat B/Cm) = MSA Licence, (C) = Club Card, () = Nothing, * = Regs available April 12 Car Rally A successful last event of the season saw all the crews get round the route without problem, other than missing the odd codeboard. A good result by Kevin and Harry mean they will have to enter as experts for future events. Also getting a good result were Mark and Gwilym, who although slower than the rest, got all Past Events O/A Car Crew Fails Mins Class 1st 8 Kevin Gardiner/Harry Brierley Nov 0F 1M 1 2nd 6 Mark Brumwell/Gwilym Griffiths Nov 0F 25M 2 3rd 2 Allan Goddard/Alan Smith Exp 1F 4M 1 4th 1 Pete Gregory/Graeme Presswell Exp 2F 5M 2 5th 3 Jim Drake/Graham Robinson Exp 2F 10M 3 6th 4 Ben Cutting/Steve Cumbers Exp 3F 2M 4 7th 7 Rod Botteley/Mike Botteley Nov 3F 4M 3-5 Rob Nugent/Simon Rowan Nov Non-starter the codeboards and bagged second place. There were some nice roads on the route and the weather was much kinder than the previous month. Position Team Score Teams Quadruplex North East London hosted the event over at the very 1 NEL st NEL nice venue in Hertford and they put on a very varied selection of 2 TVG rounds. By far the best was the guess the item round where you 3 NWL 2 88 were presented with an object and had to guess what it was used for 4 TVG nd TVG or who would use it from four options. It was very educational in what 5 NWL items were around in the past. The event scoring was a bit disjointed, 6 NEL 2 75 with points for rounds ranging from 14 to a theoretical infinity!, rather 7 NEL rd NWL than a consisted value for each round as normally used. However, it 8 TVG was well received and the eight crews enjoyed themselves. The next event is the Hollstar in the autumn, run by NWL. Juniper Autotest The event at Silverstone seemed to go off ok, as far as the competitors were concerned, although quite a lot of them had problems with their cars. We were better supported by marshals this year and the tests could be designed to make use of this. Thankfully any rain held off until the evening. In addition, it was amazing looking and hearing all the old cars racing round the circuit. It was nice to hear the drivers of these cars appreciating the skill of the autotest drivers on display. David Mosey brought out his newly re-built Mini Special and had a penalty free day to take the lead from the first round all the way to the finish. Hopefully he has got over the loss on a tie decider from last year. Future Events Grass Autotests These are scheduled to run on the second Sunday of the month, between June and October. We are currently still sorting out who is organising the June event, as Mike Harrison is not available this year, but regs should be out by the beginning of May. Other Invites Please see the calendar above for other events we have an invite to. I can get regs for any of these, just contact me if interested. We will be invited to all the Anglian Motor Sport Club autosolos/autotests throughout the year. Mike Biss: NLR Motor Sports Coordinator Tel: mike.biss@btinternet.com

10 Some Action from The Juniper Autotest at Silverstone - courtesy Staff Steed.

11 Dates for your Diary Club Night Venue : Bishop s College Churchgate, Cheshunt, EN8 9XQ Evenings start at 7.45 for 8.00pm Clubnight 2 nd Tuesday, Noggin & Natter Venues may vary month by month so keep a close watch on the Newsletter each month for precise details of location. Noggins 4 th Tuesday Month Social Events Sporting Events May 2018 Tue 22 nd - Noggin 'n' Natter at The Bulls Head, Turnford June 2018 July 2018 August 2018 Tue 12 th Club Night Guest Speaker, Chris Hooper on: Conservation in Milton Keynes Tue 26 th Pitch n Putt at High Beach, followed by a Noggin n Natter in The Wellington Tue 10 th - Club Night, Guest Speaker, David Drake on: Highgate Cemetery Tuel 17 th Group Visit to the De Havilland Museum Tue 24 th Noggin 'n' Natter ( with Petanque ) at The Old Bulls Head in Ware ** Note Change of Venue ** Tue 14th - Club Night, Staff Steed on Highlights of China Sat 18 th Visit to The Royal Gunpowder Mills Tue 28 th - Noggin 'n' Natter at The Bulls Head, Turnford Sun 10 th NWL Group Greenacres Autotest Sun 8 th NEL Group Grasshopper Autotest Sun 12 th NWL Group Paddock Autotest Our Indoor Club Night venue, Bishop s College, EN8 9XQ (Civic Offices) is located on Churchgate, at its junction with College Road, about 300m West of the A10 junction with College road (Traffic lights and pedestrian footbridge). Our Clubroom is in the Beaufort Suite, which appears to be an old Chapel. Free Car Park in Whit Hern Court off College Road, then walk over New River to the venue, or limited parking in the Council offices car park. Our monthly Noggin 'n' Natters are now back at The Bulls Head, High Road, Turnford, EN10 6BZ. N For further details, see inside or, ring the Secretary; Ron Barnett on Or, contact him via on: nel@rjbarnett.co.uk Visit the Websites at: or,