On Sunday 28th April we shall be visiting Basildon Park a National Trust property near Pangbourne, meeting up at 11 am. There are some superb grounds to explore as well as a fine house. At the time of writing I am negotiating with the Park to allow us to park our Morgan sports car in front of the house to put them on display to the public. During our last visit the members of staff were very welcoming and they offered us this opportunity for our next visit. If you plan to join us please contact me (details on the event page) so that I can give the Trust an idea of numbers and also update you on the arrival instructions. I hope you can join us, It should be a pleasant day out in beautiful surroundings. All Centres are welcome.
Please don’t forget we will be holding our AGM on Saturday 20th April at the Bird In Hand from 19:30. Please contact Mike Aldrich (details below) to let him know you are coming so that we can arrange the accommodation accordingly. We are hoping for a guest speaker, however, we have had to confirm the venue date before our speaker has been able to settle. As soon as we can we will let you know his identity, in the meantime it will have to be a closely guarded secret – thank you for your understanding. I look forward to seeing you there.
Steve Bridge on behalf of the Thames Valley Centre of the Morgan Sports Car Club has arranged a tour of the Bothy Vineyard followed by wine tasting. Bothy Vineyard, which is situated three miles west of Abingdon, has been established for twenty-nine years and continues an ancient tradition of wine making in The Vale of the White Horse, that dates back to medieval times.
The tour has been arranged for Sunday 9th June, at 2 pm. Its starts with a gentle walk around the vineyard (there is no disabled access, although the ground is fairly flat). During the tour, the owners, Richard and Sian Liwicki, will tell us about the history of the vineyard, the economics of the wine making business, viticulture, and the environmental factors which affect the harvest and wine. Having viewed the various grape varieties and growing method employed at the vineyard, the tour visits the winery where the Bothy winemaking operations are explained. Finally there is a free tasting of their award-winning wines accompanied by ‘proper’ canapés from a local delicatessen. The tour will take around 2 hours, depending on the interests of the group. This is a new departure for us; the last visit was to a brewery courtesy of Steve and Anita Pullen. A most welcome one I may add. I am looking forward to the trip very much indeed. Thank you Steve for getting this one off the ground – the number of places will be limited so please make contact (details below) as soon as you can please. Bookings will be taken on a first come first served basis.
As we enter springtime we have a number of very exciting events coming up. I hope the weather will be set fair and that everyone will have a great time. I hope you can make it OK.