Yorkshire winter weather may discourage many from venturing out with their beloved vehicles, leaving time to get around to those bigger maintenance jobs that said, many of our members did brave the elements and ventured out in force as usual.
This year we had a number of new requests for members to help with various Poppy Day events, displaying vehicles and helping to collect for the Royal British Legion.
Garforth, near Leeds was perhaps the largest event attended by a good number of our members this year. We fielded 10 vehicles of various vintages plus crews and partners who were out in force to support the local RBL branch and local veterans. From past veterans to those serving – two WW2 vehicles helped set the 1940s scene for the 2 Signals Regiment Winter Ball in York, Dennis Matthewman & Garry Hancock with their Morris Quad and Andrew & Karen Rudge with their Jeep “Ethel May” all resplendent in 40s uniforms greeted guests for their arrival reception.
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Our December area meeting, always draws a capacity crowd, attracted by a combination of Brian’s updates, the charity raffle and Brian Fox’s game of “Higher or Lower” or the pie & peas. Whatever is the draw it’s always a great chance to compare notes and hear the latest news. We all took a moment to mark the passing of our dear friend Colin Dixon and raise a glass to him and his family.
We’re always keen to hear about major restoration projects and hear about progress – Stuart Wright is underway with a full restoration on a Autocar Half-Track (1941) and expects to have her all ready for the summer season. In our last report we mentioned another Half-Track restoration getting underway from the Family Gray after recovering her from a Belgian forest and getting it back to Yorkshire. The hunt for suitable parts, original structural drawings seems to be progressing well involving another European scavenger hunt for a donor chassis – we’re all looking forward to seeing these new projects roll out for the summer.
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The area’s traditional ‘Christmas cracker run’ took place on the 30th Dec as it has done for the past dozen years, our leader, Brian Slingsby once again
re-coned another safe route through the countryside and festive sales shoppers. I understand that various garden centers in West Yorkshire now
vie for us to call in and take refreshments – well done to all.
Paul Mayo
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