Well here we are at the start of a new rally season, though by the time you read this it will of course be all but over. Well what has been happening so far. The Bodmin and Wenford Railway/ South West Battle Group event ‘Steam at War’ was the first big event that members attended, and well attended it was I hear, in this it’s fourth year. Well done to the organisers Les Adshed and Geraldine and John Turner.
Well now to the vehicle news. Dave Vokins assures me that his Dodge will be on the road in ‘as new condition’ for the trip to Mount Edgcumbe at the end of August, watch this space! Ian Dunn’s daughter has succumbed to the MV bug and has purchased a whole load of work for Ian in the shape of S3 Land Rover FFR Hard Top.
The chassis has had the attention of the metal moth so Ian tells me and will need a new rear cross-member and some out-riggers to sort it out, plus some other work. Well done Ian, I think the Series Land Rovers are well worth preserving, keep up the good work. Graham Martin’s K9 GS should be restored to its former glory by the time you read this. He has, as I said in my last report removed the recovery crane and is now working on a new body. He already has the canvass and the hoops so it shouldn’t be long now. Also I must make a correction; Graham’s jeep is an M38, not an M38 A1 as I keep calling it, sorry Graham. Adrian Snell went to pay his International Half Track a visit the other day, and of course his Mother, whose garage it resides in, and after some fettling (freeing a valve off etc) he managed to fire it up. Apparently this is the first time that the engine has run since 1992, and then it had to be towed. Unfortunately with his current commitments it looks like it will be some time before we see this classic on the road. Nick Vandy’s Series 1ex MOD Land Rover, which is his everyday transport, has been off the road for over a week now. What started off as a gearbox rebuild expanded into that plus an overhaul of the handbrake, the footbrake pivot shaft, and the in-house manufacture of a new fuel tank from 1/8th plate, plus other sundry bits and bobs. When I called in the other day he was about to complete the rebuild of the transfer box, and he hoped to have the whole lot screwed back together in the next few days. Martin Mason’s Land Rover 101 Vampire has gone to live on Exmoor for the summer at Martin and Anne’s Daughter and son in laws house. This is because they have several long distance shows (Kemble, Beltring etc) they want are going to attend this year, and it will save on fuel having the 101 that much further east. Smart thinking Martin, though it is a shame that it will not be around in Cornwall this summer.
I have paid a couple of visits to RAF Davidstow Moor recently, and Steve and Sheila are working wonders. The view changes with every visit, and Sheila recently uncovered the fireplace in what was the dining room. The Nissen hut it heated has long since gone, and its last use was as part of a silage clamp, but the plan is to put another Nissen hut over where the original one stood. Together with Brin and Gwen they spent a night there over the late May Bank Holiday, they lit a fire in the officer’s mess and spent a cosy night there and Brin and Gwen slept in their camper. At present Steve is busy making doors and pulling through miles of cable, ready for when they get connected to the mains, which he plans to have connected before their open weekend in July. More about that in the next report.
June 10th saw us heading off to Weymouth for the annual International ‘Military and Veterans Festival’. This year it was bigger than ever, so to allow time to settle the veterans into the Pavilion, the bands with their groups of marchers were well spaced out. The vehicle contingent was the last along the promenade, and were preceded by the cyclist’s, including a young man on a child’s BSA bike, one of the one’s made soon after the war and looking like a miniature para-bike, a member of the French Resistance, complete with Sten Gun, and a young lady in Land Army uniform. Then came the vehicles, around 70, a record number I was told, they kept the marshal’s busy. The tracked and 4 wheel drive’s on the beach, and the others along the seafront. These vehicles included the Rolls-Royce armoured car and a Saracen, both from the Tank Museum at Bovington. I also spotted Cornwall member’s Richard Taylor and Bob White there with Scorpion and Canadian Bren Gun Carrier respectively. The weather was as usual for this event very good, although there was some low cloud to start with, and this may be the reason why there was not the usual fly-past. But as always it was a great day out, and in recognition of the effort that she has put in over the years the organisers presented Poppy Butcher with a nice framed certificate, whilst the Dorset MVT gave her a bouquet of flowers and a gift.
We spend Weymouth Festival week in Dorset every year, and I seem to end up spending a lot of money. Two years ago I bought a Range Rover and this year I managed to persuade Evelyn that we needed a Humber Heavy Utility. I arranged to collect it at the end of the week from the owner in Bournemouth and drive it home. I had found out on my test drive that the clutch was slipping quite badly, so I was taking it very steady and as I approached Dorchester we ground to a halt with very expensive noises coming from the transmission. I called the RAC and they were excellent, even when I told them the weight of the Humber. I managed to limp up to the next roundabout and get on to the grass verge, and within about 15 minutes a transporter was taking us away. What excellent service, the RAC took my word for it that it was not a roadside repair, and their agent Bride Valley Motors delivered the Humber to Cornwall after we had completed our week away. But this is not the end of the saga, oh no. Nick Vandy heard my tale of woe and offered to help to move the said vehicle down our lane and into the workshop. I sat in while it was being unloaded and as it rolled down I had the brakes on and a neighbour who was watching remarked on a burning smell, the next minute panic, clouds of smoke and actual flames appeared from underneath where I was sitting. I baled out, Nick grabbed the extinguisher from my Land Rover and we put the flames out only to have them reappear immediately. It was the wires to the stop light switch, they had chafed and there was no fuse, I pulled them off then we disconnected the battery, panic over. Evelyn remarked on how it would have saved a lot of trouble just to have burnt the cheque. She is not overly impressed with our latest acquisition, but I am sure she will grow to appreciate the Humber’s finer points, when I can find them. The previous owner is very concerned and has offered to pay for the repairs, so hopefully all will be ok again soon.
Due to the problems with my new ‘toy’ I failed to get to the next event, so Gwen Jenkins has kindly sent in a report. ‘On the 17th June Linda Vokins invited MVT members to support an event at Penberthy House, the residential home she manages in Newquay. Several Jeeps, a 101, a Blazer and a Ferret turned up at the home, and a few of the more mobile residents were taken on a road run to "Spitfire Corner" at St Mawgan, to see the replica Mark 9 Spitfire, owned by ex-air traffic controller, Barry Welland. (Barry hopes to acquire a replica Mark 2Spitfire, which would be towable, and could even be an unusual addition to Cornwall MVT events in the future!) The residents, some of whom are WW2 veterans, enjoyed travelling in style through the streets of Newquay, waving to the holiday-makers’. Thanks for that Gwen.
June 24th saw the members divided between the MVT National Show at Kemble and the Veteran’s Day at Trebah Gardens near Falmouth. At Trebah about 35 members and 15 vehicles turned up at the RV. Unfortunately Graham Greenwell who was bringing his Humber Super Snipe Tourer from Dawlish, to transport the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall (Lady Mary Holborow) down to the beach and back, was unable to come due to a blown head gasket. Into the breach stepped Dave Hogan with his very nice pre-war Alvis. Dave bought the car 5 years ago as a stripped engine and gearbox-less rolling shell. He managed to recover the seats and trim from their new owners, and found a replacement engine and gearbox. The result is a lovely car, which goes very well. So well that he complained that our convoy speed was too slow for him. Anyway we nearly all set off, one member Martin Raven had a problem with his jeep and had to be towed off by Bob White, but they caught up later. Bob’s Jeep came from Australia and as usual with Bob’s restorations looks better than new. Recently his Austin Tipper featured in a national magazine, well done Bob. Anyway back to the main event, we set off accompanied by our 2 duty DR’s, Chris Dunn on 350 Royal Enfield and Guy Marsh with his WLA Harley-Davidson and very shiny boots! The Harley was found in a barn in Belgium, and very nice it is to. We picked up some veterans from the pub in Mabe and arrived at Trebah on time. We then had a bite of lunch before loading up with Veteran’s from The Landing Craft Association, The Paras, SAS and many other regiments, and heading down to the beach. I without thinking went straight on to the beach, as most of the hard standing area was roped off, and got stuck. Luckily Adrian was there to tow me off; I won’t do that again, most embarrassing. The service was as usual at the War Memorial, then moved to the beach where Lady Mary introduced the representative from the Indian Embassy and spoke of the sacrifices that India made during WW2. Then Les Adshed drove Vera Kotlier a veteran of the siege of Stalingrad on to the beach accompanied by Richard and James Dunn, dressed in genuine 1943 Russian uniforms which they had sourced from the Ukraine, complete with weapons, you looked good lads, well done. In the absence of a genuine Russian vehicle Les used Charles Fountain’s VW Trekker, which looked the part as a ’captured Kubelwagen’. This gallant Guardswoman was present on February 1st 1943, in Don Front Headquarters outside Zavarykino, when Field Marshal Paulus surrendered to Marshal Nikolay Voronov at the end of the battle of Stalingrad. Subsequently she lost all of the medals that she was awarded, and Vera who now lives in Falmouth with her daughter was obviously pleased when Lady Mary presented her with replacements. We then transported all the Veterans and The Cornish Caledonian Pipe Band back up the hill where we sat on the lawns overlooking the Helford and enjoyed a cream tea courtesy of Major Hibbert. I would like to mention the gallant work done by our 2 ‘Beach masters’ (or should it be Beach mistress’) Tracey Martin and Gwen Jenkin in sorting out everyone going up and down to the beach, well done.
Now a few words from Steve Perry: ‘Cornwall was well represented at Kemble again this year. The advance party were Martin and Ann Mason in a 101 Vampire and 101 GS respectively. Roger Lambshead with his lightweight, Sheila Perry with her jeep and myself with a 25 pounder. Ann’s 101 was used as gun tractor. Bill Bock and Paula Brenchley attended with a champ; they had one foot in the Champ Camp and one foot in the Cornwall Camp.
On Saturday night Bill and Paula prepared a regimental dinner in the mess, we even used knives and forks. Rex Ward and Preston Isaacs were invited to visit us in the evening as we had a brown envelope to present to each of them. Rex turned up, obviously hoping for a cheque; Preston did not, obviously fearing a bill. The contents were a letter from Cornwall thanking Rex for all the work he has done, Preston for all the work he is going to do, also a Cornwall MVT D Day banner (Preston can fly his from his jeep). These are truly priceless items, or is that worthless. I have yet to hear of one going for less than a grand on eBay.
Martin won ‘Best Post War Medium Vehicle’ with his Vampire. This of course is the most prestigious class.
When the excellent show came to an end we decided to stay until Monday. This is where our two complaints come in. 1. After a hot and dry weekend it rained on Sunday night, poor planning, and 2. The quality of the rubbish discarded by the traders was appalling. Monday morning and we headed for home, on the M5 in Somerset Martin and Ann peeled off to go to Exmoor and we pressed on westwards. We later discovered that Ann’s GS developed a fuel pump problem and she pulled over to await recovery, Martin kept going to deliver his trailer so that he could return to Ann if the NATO hitch was a problem for the recovery vehicle. Resourceful Ann flashed her thigh at a passing RAC man and he stopped to give her a ride, just don’t mention it to Martin.
A few days later we were off again on a trip to WW1 Battlefields for the 90th
anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Sheila had said that she had booked a bus trip there, we were expecting an old RAF crew bus or perhaps a Bedford OB, and were a bit disappointed when a proper modern coach turned up. The consolation being that it actually got there and back. During the all too short two and a half days in France and Belgium we visited many cemeteries, monuments and museums. We attended the Menin Gate Last Post ceremony, visited Thiepval, Newfoundland Park, where the Newfoundlanders were annihilated before they even reached their start line. Before catching the ferry back a visit was made to Vimy Ridge. On the way we noticed a gardener had used WW1 shells to hold down plastic sheeting in his garden. The countryside seems to be awash with artefacts rusting away that we would treasure. The cemeteries are dotted about the countryside and we felt a bit guilty at having to pass most of them by, but we did visit many. That was our recce patrol. Next time we will return by car and have more control ourselves. But I would recommend a coach trip for a first visit, they know their way around.’ Thanks for that Steve.
I recently popped in to see Mark Simm and check on the progress he has made with his AEC Matador. He has had it running, and is now starting on the cab frame. I am really impressed, considering the state it was in when I helped to move it in to his garden some time ago. He would have been more advanced but he has been side-tracked with another interest of his, small arms, and has been reproducing various items, mainly bayonets for Sten Guns. The attention to detail and the workmanship are very good. He has also made a very nice PIAT and a Sten, and has had several orders from home and abroad.
Well that’s all the news from the far West for now, hopefully by the next Windscreen I will be ‘Humbering’ around. I hope everyone enjoys the season.
Frank Burbery