This year’s weather seems to have brought forward the maturing of fruit. Or so it seemed as we motored in glorious sunshine through the winding and woody lanes of rural Surrey and West Sussex yesterday, 7th September.
We were a small but beautifully balanced group of seven people in five cars – Lotus, Mazda, Triumph, Bentley and Rolls-Royce making up our eclectic selection of marks and vintages.
An addition to our Club – 1955 Triumph TR2 belonging to new member Charles Boyall (Dr. 63-68)
Meeting at Newlands Corner, set high up and having the most amazing views looking south over the endless wooded hills of that part of the world, after the essential bacon roll, we headed south in a convoy led by our tour organiser, Stephen Heath – to whom all praise is due for selecting the route and arranging a memorable day – arriving at about 12.30 in the bucolic surroundings of Lurgashall (several miles to the north of Petworth) where, of course, a village cricket match was in full flow.
We enjoyed watching the game for a while before going into the room in Noah’s Ark, which Stephen had booked for our lunch. We were joined for lunch by a cousin of my mother, who, she rightly pointed out, is my ‘cousin once removed’. Judy Flint deserves a mention as she is an amazing character, full of life and enthusiasm (she made a point of remembering everyone by name), notwithstanding that her husband died a little under a year ago, having just reached a hundred.
As parking at the pub had been tight and one needed to park out of range of fast flying cricket balls, after lunch we called in at Judy’s nearby home, The Old Rectory, where we were able to line up the cars and take a few team photos.
Lunch was very leisurely, so we didn’t set off for the second part of our run until about 4 pm. We then had a lovely run up to Denbies wine estate, which we reached at about 5.30. After fond goodbyes and the purchase of some wine, we headed for our respective homes.
L to R: Miles Preston, Charmian Gilbert, Stephen Heath, John Gilbert, Charles Boyall, Jane Preston, Giles Usher.
Time to go home.
Miles Preston