On behalf of Pam Aldrich, her daughter Susie, granddaughter Lizzie, and the rest of their family, I would like to sincerely thank everyone from the Centre, and the Morgan Sports Car Club who supported them at Mike Aldrich’s funeral. Your cards, flowers, and expressions of sympathy were very important to them. In particular, the owners in the Morgan Sports Cars that followed the hearse were a great comfort and the family would like to thank you all very much indeed. On behalf of the Centre, I would like to say it was an honour and a privilege to pay our last respects to Mike, with his long service and friendship to the club, and it was the very least we could do.
Our Annual Centre Dinner was initially being organised by Mike, but of course someone had to take it on, and during these difficulties a man did step forward and he was Steve Bridge. The evening became a fine tribute to Mike. Before the proceedings we had a one minute silence in Mike’s memory and afterwards Tim Jones said grace. It was a special evening indeed. I would like to thank Steve very much indeed for organising the dinner. Also, I would like to thank David Williams for introducing us to our guest speaker Aldon Ferguson. Aldon gave a riveting talk on the preparations for D-day and its execution. He certainly has the knack of bringing history to life. It was a great talk and on behalf of the Centre I would like to thank Aldon and his wife Sue for joining us for the evening.
During the dinner, I had the pleasure, with Aldon’s help, to make the Centre Trophy awards for 2016. I am pleased to announce the following presentations.
- Tim Jones received the FH Douglas Trophy for completing over 6,300 Morgan miles during 2016.
- Jan Cleveland won the Glenn Davies trophy following her success at the Skittles evening last year.
- Mike and Pam Aldrich were awarded the SGT Trophy – for the Centre member that has best demonstrated the spirit of Morganeering and its camaraderie - in recognition of their 25 years of service, welcoming approach to new members, and constant support to the Centre, its members and activities.
- Ian Hargrave was awarded the Spirit of Competition trophy – for "competing in his Morgan with the greatest zest and success". Ian drives his 4/4 in Class 2 of the MSCC Sprint and Hill Climb Championships, and in 2016 topped his Class.
- Steve Bridge won the Thames Valley Centre Secretary trophy.
This presentation to Steve is a new award. The Committee felt it would be nice if the Centre Secretary can make award that in his judgement is given to someone of special merit to the Centre. And Steve most certainly deserves this accolade with his fantastic regular communications to the club and of course his calmness and diligence that has helped us through the first sad weeks of 2017. It was an honour to award you sir.
We do have an exciting year of events ahead of us. We will be returning to Fawley in July, after we were loyal to our booking last year. Terry Tedman, however, will be away in the Philippines celebrating a big birthday. So I will be taking the bookings this year. Hope you will have a good time Terry and thank you for arranging this special event. For those of you not familiar with Fawley, it is a wonderful museum and railway with rides on a steam train all day long. More details are available on the events page ( http://www.thamesmog.co.uk/events/event/726-fawley-hill-railway-museum ) Please contact me if you would like to reserve a ticket.
For our National Trust visit this month, we have a visit to Cliveden with its River Thames house and gardens. We will visit the maze, and a series of gardens. We can enjoy lunch at the Orangery Café. Please meet at the main car parks from 11:00 onwards on 26th March. Cliveden Road, Taplow, Maidenhead, Buckinghamshire, Buckinghamshire, SL1 8NS
Why not join us for a boat trip with cream tea along the River Wey, at Guildford, on Sunday 28th May. The trips take about 40 minutes and heads towards Guildford, passing what used to be the manufacturing quarter, with the Electric Theatre - the former electricity works for Guildford until 1868, and the site of Moon's timber yard - now Debenhams. At the wharf, visitors can see where the huge Wey barges were built and climb aboard 'Reliance', one of three surviving barges.
Price for boat trip + cream tea is £7.90.
Booking is required in advance see the event page ( http://www.thamesmog.co.uk/events/event/724-boat-trips-on-the-river-wey-from-dapdune-wharf ) for more detail.
ThamesMOG member Graham Larby has been offered, on behalf of the club, free entry for up to 30 cars and drivers to the ‘Masters Historic’ race meeting on Sunday May 28th.
Masters is the leading organiser and promoter of historic motor racing. In May, Masters will run its annual and successful Brands Hatch Masters Festival where the FIA Masters Historic Formula One and FIA Masters Historic Sports Car Championships will be joined on the Grand Prix circuit by Gentlemen Drivers, Pre-66 Touring Cars as well as invitation grids from the Super Touring, Stirling Moss Trophy and Woodcote Trophy.
This offer is for free entry for a car (Morgan) and driver on Sunday May 28th. Passenger tickets will have to be ordered by the driver from the Brands Hatch website.
If you would like to take advantage of this invitation or have any queries please email Graham at
Thames Valley Centre car badges available on eBay - beware
Don’t forget please, as reported previously, a Morgan owner from Australia has brought to our attention that Thames Valley Car badges are for sale on eBay. They appear to be our badges but we would like to point out that these sales are nothing to do with us or our previous suppliers. They are very highly priced, and please remember we can supply Thames Valley car badges new at the nomal club price. If you see any regalia out there and are interested please check with us first. I would like to thank our Australian customer for letting us know about these items.
Thames Valley Centre pin badges
Our range of super new Thames Valley pin badges are now available. These are available in five colours, similar to our car badges. Orders are taken on a first come first served basis, as always. Please contact David Mansfield, our Regalia Officer, to order pin badges or our car badges. Orders can be made on his telephone (0118 3769752) or via email at
Finally, I would like to congratulate David Williams on becoming our new Centre Treasurer. David is a much liked and respected member of the Centre and he is also well-qualified for the role. Thank you David and welcome to the team.