Chatsworth Report 2005
You know, I love
Picnic in the Park. OK so we were all up till the early hours on Sunday
and then had to get to Chatsworth for 8.00am but we get to see some of
the nicest people in the JEC. This year we were worried about the
weather, but in the end, apart from a brief shower it was a lovely day.
We had some old friends turn up and, always a delight, some new
members. And of course the cars. What a selection. From the
earliest, a beautiful Mark 5, to the newest a brand new XJ8 diesel. A
large selection of E types and Mark 2's added to the pleasure. The
tombola went well and after having a few goes myself I managed to win a
giant soft toy, after shave, and a book. I put all these
back in the pot as I wanted, but failed to win, the bottle of Vodka.
And now
to the prizes. The Gerald
Rawnsley Memorial Trophy for Best Car of the Day by a South Yorkshire
member was
won by Steve Myers for his beautiful Mark 5. I remember talking to
Steve last year about his proposed purchase and thinking it'll be a few
years before we see that. How wrong can you be!!
Our new prize, The Jennifer Parsons Car of the Day Award, was
inaugurated in
memory of Maurice's wife, who was involved in the organization of
previous years Picnic in the Park, was won by Alvin and Dorothy Hogg
for their beautiful E Type. The runner up for this was the gorgeous XKR
of Nigel Senior.
As it is the 30th anniversary of the XJ-S we had a
special prize for Best of the Day, which was won by Steve Jordan. All
the prizes were presented by Roger Pestereff from Hatfields who had
brought up the gorgeous XJ8.
The surprise of the day was the lovely Suffolk SS100 brought by Mike
Williams who has just returned from touring New Zealand in it. I
refuse to call this a replica because it's such a nice car. As the last
arrival of the day we awarded Mike a bottle of wine, who then proceeded
to win the
draw for the returned Questionnaires. I don't know, some people have
all the luck!
All in all a glorious day, and we're all looking
forward to next year.