April 2010

It’s not long now for the first time we can get out the cars and complete the winter projects. In fact, we had our first run over to Goodwood for the pre-73 American breakfast meet last Sunday. Thanks to those 8 cars that turned out on a cold morning to literally fly the flag of the Wheelers and do a leaflet drop for Beaulieu, and many thanks to Dan for pulling it together. Sunday also saw the first of the SWAP meets and 7 of the Rolling Blokes were there to publicise Beaulieu and collect some valuable spares to finish projects. (a Go Kart I understand!) There are many shows we will attending and remember it’s your commitment of your membership to make an appearance to as many of the events that the club wishes to attend.

NEW ARRIVALS!
We are pleased to announce two new arrivals for Martin and Julie Griffin. The first being baby Eleanor who arrived on 22nd February – many congratulations to you both. It appears that also around that date their new Sedan arrived from America by sea. In the pics it looks like a real stunner let’s see it on the road soon Martin!

BIG AL’s MEMORIAL CONCERT
There will be several musical tributes to the Big Man. Trevor and yours truly are part of the organising committee along with Al’s Dad Patch, Kathy and members of the Fire Flys.

The main event will take place on Saturday August 7th 2010 at the Moneyfields Sports and Social Club in Hilsea Portsmouth. Members of all the bands that Big Al played with (and there are many) will all be featured on the night. Please put the date in your diaries and more information will follow when we have it.

HAYLING REUNION
Plans are well-underway for this event on Sunday 16th May 2010. Remember, it is the Wheelers tribute to the Big Man and therefore all members should try to attend. One of Big Al’s bands (County Line) will be performing on the day, and the chosen charity will be in attendance. We have the use of the newly refurbished ‘Inn On The Beach’ and Ian Murray, the new owner, just happens to be a car fanatic! Ian is negotiating a car park concession via his membership of Havant Borough Council and the opening up of an area for the cars with the public parking on the roadside as usual. When we have more information we will pass it on. Fliers are being printed as we speak. Our thanks go to Brian for making the Big Al Shield, (nice one Brian) which will be presented to a member of the club that has shown real commitment and spirit for the good of the club; much like The Big Man did.

On the subject of Hayling, it appears that the Renegades Website claims they will have more cars in attendance than The Wheelers! Can this really be true? Should we let this happen? I will leave it to you!

WHEELS DAY
We have persuaded the organisers of this great day to give us some space for our gazebo to promote Beaulieu. Wheels Day is Good Friday April 2nd 2010. However, we do require volunteers to set up the gazebo on the Thursday afternoon April 1st. Please let us know if a) you can help on Thursday and b) you are coming to wheels day and are prepared to leaflet drop etc. We will be cruising to Aldershot at 7.00am from LOOMIES.

BEAULIEU
Plans are now underway for our main event and Beaulieu is receiving entries on a daily basis. The bands are booked and plans are being finalised. Now it needs all members to commit to attending between Friday 18th June to Sunday 20th June, and until all is cleared up on the day (just in case you forgot that bit). The committee are planning a list of jobs for members throughout the event so that we can spread the workload and all spend times with our friends and families. We are hoping for some passes to be given to us by Beaulieu but these will only be available to those who are prepared to be involved in sharing the workload.

BARBEQUE @ SARAH-JANES
Don’t forget the BBQ we’ve arranged at Sarah-Jane’s on Saturday 12th June, mid-afternoon onwards. Bring your own sausages or whatever and the BBQ will be hot and ready for cooking. Sarah Jane has organised a DJ so it should be fun. Nice to see you on the Goodwood cruise last Sunday Sarah- Jane!

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
We will shortly be publishing a calendar of events for this season detailing where we will have a presence with the Wheelers flag. Mick, Terri and Brian are compiling the calendar and it’s a mixture of Classic Car Shows and Custom and Rod events.

That’s it for now folks. It’s the start of a really promising and enjoyable season where we can all come together, share stories and hopefully, catch a few rays as well!

February 2010

Went along to an open day at Al's Classics on Saturday where they performed a roof chop on a Morris 8 so i've posted 2 vids of it on youtube:

video 1

video 2

cheers

Dave

January 2010

After a busy December 2009 and a great Christmas party at The Chase we started the New Year with much promise. Then down came the snow!

The Committee has discussed preliminary arrangements for our first show of the year - The Hayling Reunion on Sunday 16th May. Fliers will be available soon so please spread the word. This year’s focus will be a celebration of Big Al and there’ll be a ‘Remembering Big Al’ trophy that is being made by Brian.

The first run out this year is of course Wheels Day on Good Friday 2nd April and we’ve booked a Victory Wheelers pitch. Please make it a commitment to the club and come and help give out fliers and promote our Beaulieu event.

Talking of Beaulieu, plans are well-underway and the contract is about to be signed. Thanks go to Dan for his background dealings with this event and also to Terri, Vice Chairman, who has arranged the bands and entertainment. Let’s have 100 per cent club attendance at Beaulieu - after all it’s our annual ‘Show Case’.