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November 2011

Shropshire &

Welsh Borders

newsletter

Xmas

Party—

book

now!!!

www.jec-region43.org

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Shropshire and Welsh Borders Newsletter November 2011

PARTY PARTY PARTY...

Regional News

Cover photo: A Shropshire S3 duo, the OTS of Mel & Sue Checketts & “Sophee” at the Entente Gala Lunch .

Meet at the Bicton Village Club, nr. Shrewsbury

2nd Tuesday of the month

JEC Shropshire & Welsh Borders

ERROR FREE?

The eagle-eyed amongst you

may have spotted an error on

this page last month where we

appeared to be going back to

the Four Crosses for our club

nights.

Not sure how this happened nor

how it escaped the scrutiny of

the oversight committee how-

ever corrections have been

made and the junior member of

staff who made the error has

been severely thrashed. All

fixed now...

NO „DECEMBER‟

There will be no club night in

December as many of us have

lots of other social events to go

to so we look forward to seeing

some of you again at our next

Club Night which will be the first

one of 2012!! Details on Jim’s

page.

“YOUR” JAUNTS

Our faithful Events co-ordinator

Jim Craib has announced that he

will be standing down at the

AGM in March, so we are now

looking for someone to take on

this key role in running our re-

gion.

You will see that we are very ac-

tive as a region and especially in

Spring and Summer have a busy

schedule. The Events co-

ordinator is key to organising

some NOT all of these events

and making sure that there is co-

ordination when other people

(like myself or Ken, are organis-

ing runs, shows etc)

If you are interested in helping

the continued development of

your region then please get in

touch with Ken Williams be-

tween now and the AGM.

PARTY TIME

The Winter season is party time

as far as SWB region is con-

cerned. The Christmas Dinner is

first up in early December and

you only have a couple of weeks

left to get your forms in to Ken to

book your places.

We will be part of a mixed group

but we hope that will give the

room a lot more atmosphere.

Our first time at the Hadley Park

Hotel but it comes with good

recommendations.

Dress code for the evening is up

to you, just put on your dancing

shoes and party gear...

HELP WANTED If anyone knows where I can get a

pair of Chromed XJS 5 spoke alloys

for a colleagues’ XJS Celebration

convertible in the USA please let me

know.......

Ray

ray@raysearles.orangehome.co.uk

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Regional News continued.....

LAST CHANCE TO BOOK FOR THE CHRISTMAS

PARTY........

SWB JEC CHRISTMAS PARTY Saturday 10th December, 7:30 pm Hadley Park House Hotel, Telford A traditional Christmas Party evening to in-clude 3 course meal, crackers, etc and a disco if you feel so inclined to work off those Christ-mas Pudding calories. Price is £32.50 per head. The booking form is enclosed with this months newsletter and this needs to be re-turned to Ken Williams along with the re-quired remuneration. By 25th November at the latest... We are in a shared room so no dress code just your party gear. Meet in the bar at 7:30 pm or even before to get the party started!!

POST CHRISTMAS DRIVE & LUNCH Ye Olde Cross Gates Inn, Ford. Wednesday 28th December 12:30 pm

This is effectively a “Wednesday” Sunday Lunch club if you see what I mean Two course carvery lunch for £12.50 per head with desserts and coffee available for a small extra charge. Again the booking form is enclosed this month but please ensure you let Ken Williams know if you intend to come by no later than 18th December....

Gearbox Main Shaft, Part Number C21300 Now back in stock…complete new gearbox main shaft for the E-Type Series 1 4.2 SWB, made to original specification. This is considered as an es-sential requirement when fitting a new gear set. No exchange/surcharge necessary.

£416.86 + VAT/ €487.73 / $694.07 Call our sales teams for more details… Sales Office UK Telephone DD: 01746 765 432 Email: sales.uk@sngbarratt.com

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1964 to 2002

S Type and XJ8 for spares

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Severn Valley Hospice Event at Attingham Park

A ugust had not been quite what we had hoped for so it was a pleasant surprise to find that on the day of the SV Hospice Classic the sun decided to put in an ap-

pearance. This is just the second year of this event but it is proving increasingly more popular. Last year SWB was represented by just two cars however with a bit of planning we had a much better turnout. This seemed to apply across all marques as a far greater number of vehicles turned up this year. The event consists of two halves. The “show”, held effectively from late morning on the lawn in front of Attingham House, and two classic runs starting from the Apley and Shrewsbury Hospices. I understand that both of these took the participants down some very nar-row lanes and there were a few comments about exactly how suitable these were for classics. Most of our group opted to pass on the runs and with the sun beating down head straight for the lawn and take in a few rays.

Kay and I arrived in Sophee just before 11;30 the temperature now well into the 80’s . This no doubt brought out a few more cars and attracted a lot more visitors to Attingham generally so I suspect overall the organisers did very well. Our stand had already taken shape by the time we arrived. Jim Craib had managed to work with the SV organisers to arrange a very nice area for us on the lawn in front of the tea-room. Excellent positioning from many points of view. Our first priority upon arrival was to walk Dexter, our Lhasa Apso to tire him out. Given the heat, this did not actually take very long though we took the woodland “mile” trail to keep him and us cool. By the time we returned to the stand the “run” par-ticipants were just filtering into the show area and the number fo cars on display grew tremendously. Lunchtime beckoned so it was down to the serious business of breaking out the picnic, socialising and then reviewing the other cars that were on display.

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November 2011

As I hope you can see from the pictures the sun continued to grace us with its presence all afternoon, during which time emergency “liquid” rations had to be sent for as it was definitely one of those “lazy Sunday after-noons” the Kinks are always singing about. Our display featured cars as varied as a Suf-folk SS replica , 2 E Types, several XJS’s and more modern X and S Types and XK.s Prov-ing once again that we are a club for enthusi-asts and not classics! It was with some regret when we finally had to pull stumps to pack up and go home. It had been probably the hottest show event that we attended this year. This event quite clearly is going to become a fixture in the Shropshire Classic car events calendar. I hope we can make an even bigger contribution to the show next year with even more Jags attending. It is very relaxed and informal and benefits from that feeling compared to other shows.

The entry fee is high compared to others at £10 but we should remember that this is for a very worthy cause that we ourselves have supported in the past as the Chair-man’s Charity. The fee also gets you access to the exten-sive grounds and deer park at Attingham which can easily soak up the whole of a day walking—assuming you can do it in the heat. So my last show of the season ended on the right note—if only they all were like this.......

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Shropshire & Welsh Borders Newsletter November 2011

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DRIVE IT DAY 2011

O ur Drive It Day in 2010 was part of a National Event to celebrate Jaguar’s 75th Anni-versary. So when the JEC

nationally decided (late!) to go with April for this year’s event we took a decision as a region to hold over until September, partly because April was already busy and partly because we felt there was not enough time to devise our route and give our members sufficient notice.. So it was that we made our way to the Wroxeter Roman Villa between Welling-ton and Atcham on Sunday September 5th. We arrived to find a dozen Jaguars or varying shapes and sizes already assem-bled. Having negotiated with the staff at Wroxeter that we could assemble for a few minutes without paying the car park fees, the usual Sunday morning pleasant-ries were exchanged before Jim an-nounced that he was changing the route to our next stop, The Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre and therefore we would go in convoy. We duly saddled up and made our exit heading east not west as originally in-tended. Utilising the B Roads it took nearly 40 minutes to reach Craven Arms the centre is located and by now a few of us either needed a coffee or a comfort break. We therefore commandeered the cafe who clearly do not usually have such an influx of visitors at such an early hour. The idea behind our Drive It day is to do the route in short stages allowing mem-bers to dip in and dip out as they choose. So we ere joined at the Centre by Moe Barrett-Spring and several others, so by the time that break time was over with leavers and joiners our numbers had

swelled to about 15. Our next stop was Powis Castle which again using the B roads took about 45 minutes to find. One or two of us (Jim!) took the wrong entrance into the grounds and found themselves going the wrong way down a narrow lane but eventually we all found each other at the back of the now quite full Powis castle car park. Extra time was allowed at this

stop for lunch—and so a number of pic-nic baskets were unpacked whilst others made their way up to the tea shop in the Castle. Having had lunch and a very brief tour of the grounds whilst the weather was still very warm it was back to the cars and on to the last destination Lake Vrynwy. At this point our research let us down a lit-tle and the group got divided not least because some of us took the wrong road

leaving the castle and ended up going in completely the wrong direction. Luckily as the weather forecast had been poor ( it was wrong!) we had taken Sally S Type and not Sophee so the postcode was hastily banged into the sat—nav and we were almost back en route. We arrived at the Lake in good time but only to find that a number of the car parks were now full and it was therefore impossible for the whole group, now back down to 12 cars to realistically park near to each other. Sadly this is where we all lost touch a bit and never really re congregated. A learn-ing point for next year to ensure we have a central rendezvous point even if the cars are not together. The weather was nice enough to sit out-side overlooking the Lake with a cup of tea and an ice cream before contemplat-ing the drive home. Another learning point maybe is that this year we kept heading West. OK if you live in that direc-tion but if you live in the East its a long drive back.... Thanks to all who participated—if any-one would like to suggest a route or or-ganise next years Drive It event then please contact Ken or myself...

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Sunday 19th June - Day 4 Sunday morning and we are now deep in the heart of France.

Our base for the next 4 days is the city of Limoges, capital of the

department of Limousin. And famous fort its Porcelain and cat-

tle as we shall see.

The weather through the window was much improved and after

enjoying a leisurely breakfast which was like chalk and cheese

compared to the previous morning we plan our day. Today the

tour “rests”. There is the option of a run out to the village of

Oradour-surGlane, where 642 villagers were murdered by a

Waffen SS unit in June 1944. The village is preserved the way it

was left after those terrible events with a memorial museum

that recounts the story. Some people opted to take this but we

decided to focus on the porcelain. In driving terms this meant

that we would only do 28 miles today to the gala lunch. This

was the first and only day Sophee did not need a drink of hard

stuff.

The museum of Porcelain is housed in a former porcelain fac-

tory come education establishment and the entrance has been

treated to a modernist makeover. It

is a few minutes walk from the hotel

and we have to wait for it to open.

The modern glass frontage prompts

Norman and Kay to do their best

“Harry Worth” whilst I experiment

taking pictures “upside down” by

shooting into the mirror ceiling—the

Episode 4: “An Affair to Remember”

(the story of Sophee’s ENTENTE CORDIALE 2011)

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Shropshire & Welsh Borders Newsletter November 2011

French party who like us are

waiting for the museum to

open clearly think we are

bonkers....

Once inside there is little

that is in English however

that does not detract from

the displays. Some of the

items are quite magnificent

but one also gains an appre-

ciation of the importance of

porcelain to everyday life

such as in bathrooms and

electricity distribution. Over-

all it provides a very good

insight into the history of the development of porcelain in this

area and at only €9 each I can say it represented very good value.

However time is marching on and we need to get on the road for

the brief journey to Pole de Lanaud where the Limousin cattle

breed has its HQ.

(Having just been to Stoneleigh the place is a very posh French

version of Stoneleigh).

This will be the first time since the ferry terminal that the whole

group has been assembled in one place at the same time so it will

be interesting to see all the cars in a more attractive setting.

First though we have to get out of the underground car park. Our

group has taken over floor 4 (which is down—not up) in this rela-

tively new underground car park. And on a Sunday there is very

little on the 3 floors above. Which means we can have some fun!

The noise echoing back around the floors as I accelerate from one

end to the other is just fantastic, we climb each ramp and then

accelerate across the empty spaces. At the barrier the marshalls

are on hand to help us out, I approach and one of them looks at

me and says—”you enjoyed that didn’t you, we heard you coming

from 3 floors down!!!”. Boys and their toys......

Released we are out and on our way. In less than 20 minutes we

have arrived at our destination, and because this is a facility with

livestock we have to drive first through a tank of “dip” - this is not

easy and many of the E’s are grounding causing a lot of brow fur-

rowing. We get through OK just though we hear later of one E

Type that was “beached” for several minutes....

Heading for the car park, Sophee is directed away from the main

car park to the front of the building where we will have lunch and

everyone is now gathering. It turns out that a display is being

formed in order of the complete evolution of the E Type and as we

are the only Series III 2+2 coupe we are in effect the end of the

row...that explains the picture overleaf with the “cattle of Lim-

ousin” statues (wooden not stone) in the background. Making our

way to the verandah we are treated to stunning views over the

French countryside., this is definitely not “Stoneleigh”!

We are treated to Champagne (what else) and so many can-

apés that we probably do not need to eat lunch by the time

we sit down. When it comes time for serving lunch is of

course “Faux filet de Boeuf limousin” all served simply and

elegantly. The wine is free flowing but having already had

aperitifs some of us are now having to be careful or we will

not be allowed to drive back!

With service complete there are a few formalities to be gone

through, not least of which is some thank yous to the key

organisers and the prize giving for the “Car most admired(?)”

or Best Car on the Tour or something like that. And also for

the Treasure Hunt..

We are surprised to find that Kay and I have managed second

place on the treasure hunt scoring 18 points just one behind

the eventual winners. The “Best Car” trophy unfortunately is

awarded to a Daimler Limousine (see below) restored and

shipped across from the US by its American owner. It is in an

appalling shade of metallic green, has velour green uphol-

stery and for a laugh a “waving” Queen Liz” adorned to the

rear side windows. Who says American’s lack taste (sorry

Bob!). One can only presume that some better(?) halves

voted for this car because on our table it got the royal

thumbs down.

(the story of Sophee’s ENTENTE CORDIALE 2011)

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One or two speeches then brought lunch to an end and after

some brief socialising the Evans’ and ourselves decide to head

back to Limoges for the afternoon as there is still plenty of time

and light to take in the Cathedral and the Grounds of the Bish-

ops Palace, which are also just a short walk away from the hotel.

The Cathedral and Palace are built on top of a hill and the forti-

fications around it are on four levels which lead down to the

River Vienne which cuts a deep valley below it. It took several

hundred years to build and symbolises the “new city” as op-

posed to the “old town” across the Vienne, in essence the poor

lived across the river and the rich lived on the high ground.

Having admired the cathedral and its wonderful stained glass

windows and we then strolled the grounds eventually descend-

ing the levels where a funfair is in full swing, French style and

across a medieval bridge on the other river bank a “street fish-

ing” contest and market is underway. I have no idea what a

street fishing contest is and could make no sense of it really so if

anyone has any clue please let me know..

We wander about this area until early evening where we part

company.

Kay and I go for a late evening stroll where we find the Gare des

Benedictins, the Limoges main railway station. Built in the

1920’s inside and out it is a breathtaking structure and epito-

mises the prosperity of this city in that period. In front of the

station are an amazing series of “dancing” fountains that we

stand and watch for a full 20 minutes.

This is however also the centre of “red light” activity and I do not

mean traffic lights. There are several ladies in leather thigh

length boots that were clearly borrowed from Emma Peel in the

Avengers. Its probably not the safest place to be in Limoges at

night as there are obviously one or two deals being done in the

shadows and so we stick to the light and make our way back to

the hotel for a nightcap.

Tomorrow we are off to see how Madame Pompadour and the

Trogladytes lived.....can’t wait!

The Forty Year old Virgin—Day Four—continued......

The French take on Debenhams has far more

racy window displays!

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CLASSIC AFFAIRS

High Quality Classic Car Paintwork and Body Restoration

From small scratches & resprays to full bare metal repainting, we pride ourselves on top quality preparation, priming and

painting. Many years’ experience on all Jaguar mod-

els , from XK’s to E-Types to XJs Collection Service

Customer involvement welcomed Region 43 JEC member

TEL/FAX 01547 540555 Nevillerollason@btconnect.com

www.classicaffairs.co.uk

15

Jim’s Jaunts jamescraib@blueyonder.co.uk

November 2011 Shropshire and Welsh Borders Newsletter

Greetings everyone.

No doubt like me you are getting stuck into a few of those winter tink-

ering jobs that you left whilst using the cars throughout the summer.

Well do not forget the discounts we enjoy at SNG Barratt, Hatfields and

our other sponsors all of which make our regional subs a bargain...

Anyway on to our activities for the next couple of months.

First up for Club Night on November 8th, Roy Pilsbury from SCC will be coming along to give us a brief pres-

entation regarding a motoring topic pertinent to Shropshire—hope its not those dreaded Speeding Partnership

cameras! Anyway the evening starts at 8 pm

so please be there in good time.

The following weekend is of course the NEC Classic Show, where on the Sunday the draw will be held for the

JEC Raffle XK. Time to look for those tickets in the drawer and wait for the phone to ring.

In December we will not be having a club night, partly due to the Christ-

mas Party and partly because the turnout is usually quite low due to conflict with other social events.

Our next “jaunt” is then going to take place on Wednesday 28th December, where we have

booked some places for lunch at the Cross

Gates, Ford nr Shrewsbury, I am told the food is very good and it will give you a chance to get away

from the outlaws and all those Christmas repeats on the telly.

We are then into 2012!! Our first club night of the year will

feature the outstanding “Bingo Quiz” a mixture of easy general knowledge questions with a local

flavour and a bit of Jaguar too—so Kay tells me anyway. This is always a bit of a laugh and there

is usually a prize for winning.. No club night in February as all

our focus will be on our Annual Big Bash the Valentines Dinner

and Dance featuring the Ed Conlan Band who took the place by storm last year and should be

every bit as good this year. Booking forms will be issued soon

for this event. In March we will be holding our

AGM where as you will have read elsewhere I am standing down and taking a break from the com-

mittee. This will give the chance

for someone with some new ideas maybe to take the helm of our events co-ordination. Please

contact myself or Ken Williams for more information.

Thats about all from me this month—see you at Club Night in November hopefully.

TTFN Jim

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REGIONAL EVENTS Your essential diary dates for 2011

SWB JEC CHRISTMAS DINNER

This year we will be holding this event at the Hadley Park Hotel, Telford. Last chance to book using

the booking form included with this month’s newsletter... 10

December

VALENTINES DINNER & DANCE

No apologies for running a repeat of last years very successful event. The Ed Conlan Band are

practising some new numbers to entertain us...and the chefs at the Lord Hill are fine tuning their

menu. Watch this space for more details in a few months time.... 11th 2012

February

www.jec-region43.org has up to the minute information on the status of all our events – if you are in any doubt see the Stop Press

information there before setting out.

CLASSIC MOTOR SHOW—NEC BIRMINGHAM

The Sunday of this weekend show sees the draw for the XK Coupe raffle car seen at Weston Park

and the SFOT this year being made. Take along your tickets and maybe drive it away? 11-13

November

S & WB CLUB NIGHT— Talk by Roy Pilsbury of Shropshire Classics at Bicton Club

Club night starts at 8:00 pm Roy will be giving a 45 minute talk on a motoring topic aligned to

Shropshire 8

November

Post Chrstmas Pre New Year Lunch—CROSS GATES, FORD nr Shrewsbury

A run and out and a chance to have another Christmas lunch !! Great!! A booking form is included

this month with all the details, ring Ken Williams for more information is needed. 28

December

SUNDAY LUNCH CLUB—Fox and Hounds, Shawbury

Our Second Sunday Lunch club outing of the “dark” months has been organised for us by David

Bates and is at the Fox and Hounds Shawbury, a new venue for us. A table has been booked for us

at 1:00 pm in the Garden Room Please ring or email Jim Craib or myself to book your places,

first come first served as usual. 6

November

S & WB CLUB NIGHT— Bingo Quiz , Bicton Club

Welcome in the New Year with our traditional regional NEW YEAR Bingo Quiz. Kay Searles will

lead the evening's proceedings and there may be a small prize.. 10

January

SHROPSHIRE FESTIVAL OF TRANSPORT

Booked for August 6th, details to be provided as they become available....

6th 2012

AUGUST

JEC NATIONAL SHOW—WESTON PARK

Please keep a note of this in your diaries and if you are available to help as a marshall or in another

capacity please let either Ken Williams, Ray Searles or David Bates know... 24th 2012

June

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WHAT WERE THEY

DRINKING?? Bob Hicks take note...if you are looking

to replace your XJ Convertible here

is the latest version ..launch date??

Ask Jeeves......

STEP AWAY FROM THE VEHICLE

Shropshire & Welsh Borders Newsletter November 2011

Drivers speeding through yellow lights. Pedestrians jay-walking across busy streets. If you had to admit it, we have probably all seen our fair share of traffic violations. But there's a simple solution to a problem like : send in the clowns. That's the reasoning in Venezuela, anyway, where ac-cording to Fox News, 120 white-faced mimes in neon colours have been hired to silently scold traffic outlaws in one city. The mayor of Caracas, Venezuela, picked up the idea from a Colombian city that also faced a bout of motoring mayhem and solved it with a mimes-and-stricter-police-enforcement program. The mimes assist police in directing traffic, and glare, pout or otherwise pantomime angrily when people don't obey traffic signs or get too close to pedestrians. (Not going to make an

obvious "silent treatment" joke, here.) Most violators react agreeably, admitting their mistake, but some have allegedly gotten angry. The mimes face a tough time in the Venezue-lan capital, where typical traffic violations include motorcy-cles speeding on sidewalks; heading the wrong way down one-way streets; and drivers reversing through traffic when they miss an exit. Maybe Shropshire is not that bad after all. Maybe all we need is a few children’s entertainers?

Getting there:

Bicton Club is

located just 5

minutes from

t h e A 5

S h r e w s b u r y

by-pass.

BICTON CLUB

Classified Ads

CLASSIFIEDS

Got something to advertise? Email ray@raysearles.orangehome.co.uk

COMMITTEE

Ken Williams (Chairman) 01743 341439

Al McLean (secretary) 01952 415348

Ray Searles (Newsletter) 01952 291898

Jim Craib (Events) 01952 242119

Wally James (Treasurer)

Martin Edwards

Norman Evans

Bob Hicks (Life President)

SEND IN

THE

CLOWNS!!

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