East Anglian Section Drive it Day Sunday, April 27th. Paul Gallifant.
East Anglian Section Drive it Day Sunday, April 27th. Paul Gallifant.
Our young family set off in the Firebird with our scribe Paul Gallifant midfield.
“There is one of those beastly motor-cars. What a foul dust it’s raising!” And looking back over the cape hood, so were we. Was the other car meeting us or going in the same direction? In the same direction surely, for though the cloud of dust was coming nearer to us, it was not approaching very fast. So we determined to pass as soon as might, and giving her a little more gas, we were very soon on terms, as a racing man would say, with a two-seated car going along the middle of the road at a fair pace. Once, twice, thrice our horn sounded, but the occupants of that car never heard us. At last, keeping well to the off-side of the road, and when our bonnet was level with their rear off-wheel, Mr Johnson and I gave a simultaneous stentorian yell, and two pairs of goggles turned towards us in startled surprise.
This is an adapted quotation from Through East Anglia in a Motor Car, published in 1907 and written by J. E. Vincent, describing a road trip across Breckland in Norfolk in a new Rolls Royce Silver Ghost driven by Claude Johnson, co-founder of the company. At the time, Breckland was a large area of sandy heathland completely devoid of trees, but it was decided after WW1 to plant it with thousands of acres of mainly conifers to ensure that the country was never short of timber again.
David Halsall had devised a similar route through The Brecks but without the dust, replacing it instead with avenue after avenue of majestic trees flooded with sunlight as we wended our way on a fifty-mile tour. It started at Old Buckenham Aerodrome, a USAF bomber station during WWII, its Operations Officer none other than Hollywood legend, Jimmy Stewart. A Vintage Motorcycle Club run was also about to ride off as the last Alvis departed, each of us having enjoyed a delicious bacon butty and excellent coffee. David’s perfectly written instructions enabled us all to have trouble-free journeys, passing on the way the Duke of Grafton’s Euston Hall and the 22,500-acre Guiness dynasty’s estate at Elveden. Then on through the King’s Forest and eventually to Moulton for a most enjoyable lunch at the Pack Horse.
A fantastic fifty miles. Thank you, David.
Nick and Emma start the run from Old Buckenham Aerodrome in their 12/50
Mark Kingstone’s Speed 20 makes a good filling between TA21s
The prewar cars on parade at The Packhorse. The MG looks tiny by comparison to the “alleged" smaller variants of Alvis cars.
East Anglia Chairman’s comment.
"Oh what a glorious day” as the song goes. We couldn’t have had a better day with particular thanks to our organiser David Halsall.
Also thank you to Paul for the fabulous write up and to Merriel for the photos along with mine.
Malcolm Kindell