October 2024 | Issue 771 | Page(s) 6 | Roger Kemp
It seems odd to be sitting here at the end of August collecting my thoughts for the October magazine as we move into autumn with summer barely gone.
August was another hectic month, beginning with a trip to Brodie Castle, just this side of Inverness, to attend a JDC Scotland gathering. This was a well attended classic car meeting held in bright sunshine and it was good to catch up with Susan and Andy Metcalfe, who look after events for Area 55, and with Area 10 Chairman Ronnie Russell and his wife Marjorie, who had travelled up from the south-west of Scotland to support the day. I took the opportunity to visit friends and other JDC members en route and particularly enjoyed the traffic-free roads and wonderful scenery. We should be grateful to our Area reps north of the Border because they have worked so hard over the past few years to grow the JDC’s presence and provide such a busy and well-supported calendar of events for our Scottish members.
The following Sunday, I attended a small Jaguar day at Whittington Castle, near Oswestry, in my XJ Coupé. Grateful thanks to Adrian Rhoden and his team for what was a lovely day out, with little more to do than sit in the sunshine for an hour or two, catching up with friends I see all too rarely.
The next big event was a weekend spent at the Silverstone Festival. Thanks to bureaucracy gone mad and IT systems seemingly designed by five-year-olds and implemented by their younger siblings, the lead up to the meeting was a nightmare. The electronic documentation, sent out by the powers-that-be at Silverstone for me to complete, in order to allow a team of four volunteers into the circuit on the day before the Festival (which we all previously knew and loved as the Silverstone Classic) to set up the JDC gazebo etc., was a complete nonsense. I suffered several days of significant stress, which came with the threat of ‘if you don’t complete it, you can’t come in’, followed by apologies, acknowledging that I was not alone in my frustration. Among other things, I had to provide portrait photographs, together with snapshots of each individual’s passport, plus risk assessment documents and a copy of our public liability insurance. Beyond that, each of us had to complete an online training course. Faced with the same problem, one of my friends who has a stall selling artwork, eventually took his wife and her laptop to Silverstone before the event and sat down with the organisers to fill in the forms… it took them an hour. Given that the event is evolving from a classic car meeting into more of a Silverstone-based Glastonbury [funfair more like! Ed], then should we encounter the same issues next year, we will have to give serious thought to whether we attend in the future.
I returned from a mainly cold and wet Silverstone a bit the worse for wear and spent the next week in bed with what seemed to be a case of the dreaded manflu but was, in fact, Covid. I am pleased to say that has now cleared up.
It’s not too late to join us on Sunday 6 October on the Island of Anglesey for the final round of our 4-Hills and Sprint Championship. If you have never been to the circuit, treat yourself to a visit because the views of the track, with the sea behind it, are quite special. You may also wish to join us on Saturday 5 October when new member Steven Knight has arranged a JDC meeting at Anglesey Transport Museum starting at 11:00. The museum itself is a lovely place and has a good tea room, too. I will try to persuade our 4-Hills competitors to arrive early so, if you live in North Wales, do try and come because it might just be the start of some JDC activity in this beautiful corner of North Wales.
Above You’re bound to find something you never knew you needed at Spares Day at Stoneleigh on 20 October!
Another important date for your diaries is Jaguar Spares Day on Sunday 20 October at Stoneleigh. You can find details on the Spares Day website at www. jaguarsparesdays.co.uk and in the ad elsewhere in the magazine. Again, make a note of the date and let your friends and fellow Area members know – it’s not only a great place to find spares, but a good opportunity to meet up with friends, have a cup of coffee and browse the goods on sale. You can, of course, book a stall to sell any surplus items you might have gathering dust in your garage and there is an area dedicated to cars for sale, too.
Looking further ahead, we are busy making the final preparations for our stand at the Lancaster Classic Motor Show at the NEC from 8 to 10 November. We have a superb line-up of cars this year, with some very special ones borrowed, once again, from JDHT. As a JDC member you can get a £4 discount on the price of your tickets using the code *******. Come and say hello, have a sit down and a cup of tea or coffee and, if you’re lucky, a biscuit or two!
Roger Kemp
