Sevens To The Sea; Part one
By Peter Rowlands
Well unlike last year there was no rain to be seen. However early morning fog did make an appearance resulting in our Austin friends from further a field arriving just in the nick of time. Hartsholme Park staff made us very welcome and there was much ‘scoffing’ of bacon butties. The Lincoln Town Crier [Terry Stubbings] arrived very early and was resplendent in his official uniform. As usual there was a super mixture of cars and plenty of local spectators taking an interest. In fact one chap was seen lying on his back taking a photo of the underside of a Ruby! When challenged he replied that he was restoring one & had taken the opportunity to get some period detail. It was William Selka a new member local to us in Lincoln.
As the time for the ‘off’ approached Ed Davies was busy marshalling everyone with the use of his newly acquired remote microphone and sound system. It can also be said that the Marshals also looked resplendent in the new Hi-Viz jackets suitably emblazoned with the PWA7Club, Lincs Group logo. It was commented by all that the Town Crier’s speech was one of the best we have heard. Concise, witty and very professional. This had been scripted by our very own Paddy Malone. It was unfortunate that for the first view miles up on the Lincoln Edge there were no views of the Trent Valley because of the fog. However within half an hour the sun was out and the weather was absolutely glorious for the rest of the day. On route to Market Rasen there was only one mishap when Ashley Vincent suffered a broken gear lever ‘in the gearbox’! Suitably fortified with fig-rolls and chocolate wholemeal biscuits he was left to be rescued. In fact he was picked up in less than forty minutes very good service from Richard Hoskins insurance.
The Mayor of Market Rasen, councillor Laurie Povey, certainly came up trumps by roping of half of the square for our exclusive use. However some of the members were disappointed that their favourite pub had closed, would you believe they had to make do with a wine bar. After the lunch interval it was a stop for fuel and onward to Cleethorpes. Only one casualty, John Harvey lost his front brakes when the nuts worked loose. However Peter Rowlands was able to find 2 five sixteenth Whitworth nuts and John was soon on his way again. [Ed Davies made a note to put these items on his spares list!]
The finishing venue of the lower Promenade at Cleethorpes was well received by members and general public alike. Very warm welcome and individual certificates were graciously given out by the Mayor, councillor Margaret Thompson. Later after the public had enjoyed viewing all the cars it was then off to the Dovedale Hotel for all those who chose to stay the night.
……………………..Over to you Ed
Sevens To The Sea; Part two
By Ed Davies
By the time we had signed everyone in and accounted for all starters we just had time to book in the hotel, brew a cup of tea, shower and change for the evening do. This was held in the Boaters Beach Restaurant adjacent to the pier. We had the place to ourselves and had a brilliant evening. Forty-one of us attended with a good bar, very good food and a view over the beach. The evening made up for the three years of bad service we have had from the Winter Gardens, now happily closed.
Mick and Alison Taylor own the restaurant. Alison had prepared a birthday celebration DVD for our ex secretary, Ian Bancroft, this was shown on the plasma screen on the wall after Ian had his birthday candled slice of gateaux. We had earlier seen our 2005 STTS Run DVD on the same screen very interesting.
Next day saw the usual exploration of Cleethorpes town followed up by lunch at the Jug and Bottle on the way home. Dianne and I missed this bit, as we had to get home to prepare for a trip to Suffolk.
Feedback so far is that it was the best STTS Run yet. If true, then it is due to some hard work by all our committee. I must mention in particular Paddy and Ande for their work on the route and Dave Lucas for organising everything at the Cleethorpes end. A quaint custom revived by the council was the need for a cyclist to precede the cars up the promenade! However, we were pleased to be on a bit of the front not usually open to cars, and it worked very well.
