AGM 2002

2002 Annual Meeting

Author : Paul Player

What a day! Oh, you want to know more? Well, where to begin? It's been a long time in the organising and Steve Smith put in a lot of time and effort but it's finally here, our first annual meeting. The YAK tucked up in the garage all polished and gleaming I got to bed later than planned the night before and as bad luck would have it I got up later than planned too! Still Chris and I managed to get to the Heritage Centre, Gaydon just in time to help the better organised members set up. Some of our members stayed overnight locally to ensure a trouble free journey to the meeting. You can read Andy Walton's report on their story in the supplement below.

The committee, aided by several 'volunteers', organised the members as they arrived to ensure that we made the most of the space we had been allocated. Each member was handed a voting form as they arrived to later vote for the best standard, best modified and best in show and all drivers were encouraged to have a go at the parking challenge, also organised up by Steve. Yes I did have a go and failed miserably (allegedly). I don't know about the rest of the committee but for me the morning flew by with a mixture of chatting with old friends and meeting new faces, all the time getting more nervous about standing up in front of you all at the AGM.

With the AGM out of the way I relaxed a bit and wondered round our impressive total of 59 Probes to have a chat with as many people as possible and at the same time cast my vote for the trophies. There was a call for a photo shoot in the early afternoon. Apparently Eddie had spotted that our Australian colleagues had published a photo of several Probes on a beach. We didn't have the sand, or even too much sun, but we had loads of Probes! We put together a display of 17 UK Probes plus Brian's left hand drive mark 1. Even a couple of people just there to visit the museum commented on how lovely it looked. Over to all you other world wide clubs to beat it!

With the challenge well and truly set, we all reassembled back at our allocated room for the trophy presentations. To pick only three cars out of the magnificent display we had was so difficult but the eventual well deserved prize winners were;

Best in show -

Brian O'Keefe's black 24V Best in Show

Best Modified -

Colin Brown's boysenberry 24V Best Modified

Best Standard -

Andrew Kimber's metallic red 24V Best Standard

The parking award was a closely fought affair, which I deliberately messed up so I would not win, but Dick Springthorpe was declared the winner.

I hope you all enjoyed the day as much as I did and I hope you'll all agree it was a success. We learned a lot from our first annual show and we already have ideas for next year. I think you'll agree the venue was almost perfect even if the presentation room was a bit daunting. My thanks go to Steve for doing such a fine job of organising the event, the rest of the committee and volunteers for helping out on the day, the Heritage Centre for allowing us to use their excellent facility but mostly to all of you, without you the day would not have been the same!

Carry on Camping (A supplement from those that stayed over the night before)

Author : Andy Walton

Deciding on a leisurely cruise down (to save fuel on a 200+ mile trip!) to my overnight destination, Anita's Touring Caravan Park in Mollington near Gaydon, (excellent site, very clean and ideal for more of us next year!), I set off around 2.30 and arrived around 6.15. Pulling onto the site I spotted Kikbak's (Phil) pristine white V6 so headed for that. The only other probe I could see on the site was parked next to a caravan, which given what had been said on the forum, I deduced that it must belong to Dick Springthorpe from Fife. Before I got the tent out of the boot, Eddie Palmer pulled up, another last minute decision to stay over rather than face an early start in the morning.

Within minutes, Dick popped over for a chat, shortly after that a resident on the site, an ex Capri owner took an interest in our cars and started asking a few questions, poor chap, I think we talked his ears off!

With the tents up there was just enough time to give the cars a quick wash before going to get something to eat. Eddie offered me a lift in his new V6, never having been in one, how could I resist! Without being disrespectful to my 16v, I can see what V6 owners go on about - they certainly pull well!

Once back at camp, Colin Bint and Phil (kikbak) arrived after a run out, followed a bit later by Mike Seddon (bigsed). Those who went to the Doncaster Meet will know that I purchased Colin's old 24v wheels which were in need of refurbishing - he was amazed by their transformation, saying he wouldn't mind having them back now!

A beer or two later and it was getting dark and cold so it was time for bed, but not before Eddie (who hadn't had a drink) took Mike and I out for a spin to a) convert us to the benefits of a V6 and b) get the heater on to warm up!

Next morning, I rinsed the car off and polished it, packed up and set off with Dick Springthorpe in the direction of the Heritage Centre - the rest you can read about elsewhere!