Christmas Gala on December 6th 2016

Some 60+ GBBCC members gathered at the Blue Mountain Golf Club for our annual Christmas Gala.   Doug Simpson was a fine MC for the evening and we had a very good dinner.  

There were several door prizes including bottles of wine and some lovely Christmas baskets kindly donated to the club by Brian Cullingford.  Wayne Buttery provided excellent background music and after our meal, he played good dancing music.  

It was a most enjoyable evening and our GBBCC members provided generous donations to The Salvation Army Food Bank, including $485 in cash donations.  Many thanks to Bill Rogers, who took the following photos of us enjoying ourselves.

Ear Muff Run – Sunday, October 23^rd 2016

Doug Simpson was the leader for our annual Ear Muff run and GBBCC members in twelve British cars met at the old Foodland parking lot in Thornbury.  Doug led the group on a very scenic drive of about an hour and a half, ending at The Corner Bistro in Thornbury where we were joined by a few more members for an enjoyable lunch in the private room. 

Doug awarded the Ear Muff trophy to Nancy and Don Godfrey for their leafy headgear.  It should be noted that Harry de Ruiter did an excellent job of upgrading the trophy, so that additional winners can be added to it.  The last driving event for this calendar year was a great success. 

On leaving the restaurant, an old DeLorean vehicle was spotted on a trailer, parked on one of the back streets of Thornbury.

Fall Colours Cruise – Thursday, October 13^th 2016

A large contingent of members gathered in the parking lot of the Galaxy Cinemas but, out of the 14 vehicles, only four were British.  Although the weather was not great, the drive through the Pretty River valley and the fall colours were magnificent. 

The sun did try to show itself a few times and the brilliant colours of leaves glistened with the rain drops.  We then drove to Glen Huron and down Hwy 124 and across through Honeywood in Mulmur Township.  This brought us out to Airport Road, down to 20 Sideroad that took us to the Terra Nova Public House.  This Fall Colours route will be posted on our GBBCC website for possible future use.

27 of us sat down to a lovely lunch washed down with a variety of liquids.

“GBBCC Memories of Fred Terry” – Friday, October 7^th 2016

31 of us met behind Tim Horton's in Collingwood and had a lovely drive through the Pretty River valley with great Fall colours, ending at Myler & Loreta's restaurant.  We were joined by Fred's family (Edna, Christopher and Vicky) who drove up from Port Hope.

We had an enjoyable early supper there and Fred's son Christopher gave a very good speech about his Dad.  Graeme presented Edna with a Photobook (see copy below) consisting of over 50 photos of Fred and Edna taking part in many car club events, some dating back to 2006.

33^rd Annual British Car Day

Sunday, September 18^th 2016

GBBCC was well represented at British Car Day with the following five members on the 2016 Car Show Winners’ list:

1^st   Triumph Spitfire 1974-81  Don & Judy Johnson

2^nd  Triumph Stag  Robin Searle

3^rd  Austin Healey 100 Mk1  Tom Haubert

3^rd  MGB GT  Tom Hall

3^rd  TVR  Bill Rogers

Congratulations and well done

A Day at the Track, September 6^th 2016 - leader Eric Taylor

On another of this summer's hot sunny days 14 members and friends gathered at the Wasaga 500 Go-Kart Track to test their skills on the mile long track.  Some drivers displayed considerable skill and we all enjoyed dicing on the twisty course.  While no winner was identified, the event leader probably qualified for the title of "Captain Slow".  All agreed that it was a lot of fun and we should possibly make it an annual event.  After the track, many of us cooled off with lunch and a beverage at Yammas Grill in Wasaga Beach.

August 27^th Copper Kettle, Creemore

Ten GBBCC members met behind Tim Horton’s on First Street in Collingwood and Bill Rogers led us on a short, scenic drive to Creemore, arriving about 9:30 am.  Several other GBBCC members joined us en route and a couple more met us in Creemore.  It was a very good day and a few of us stayed to surprise Bill and Chris Johnson for their 50th wedding anniversary celebrations put on by their two sons, Geoff and Kevin.

August 14^th – GBBCC BBQ

The annual BBQ was held on Sunday 14 August at LionCrest, home of Kate and Doug Simpson.  In spite of some dodgy weather the days prior, Sunday was nice and dry, and the bit of cloud cover kept the temperature pleasant.  The Rotary Club of Thornbury Clarksburg again did a special job with the meal.  Thank you Guys!

38 members and guests were in attendance.  Brian Wootton was the emcee and acted as Chief Judge for the GBBCC Olympic game (aka Corn Hole).  Gold medal winners were Anne Smith and Don Godfrey.  Congratulations!  All in all, a great day.

Many thanks to Kate and Doug for hosting our BBQ again.

August 11^th - Stayner Music, Market & Parkit

Two Triumphs and one MGB from GBBCC made it to the Stayner Music, Market & Parkit (Clute, Hurst & Murphy). The market was busy and the Georgian Sound band drew a large crowd. 

August 8^th - Boot Challenge

It was a beautiful evening with a record number of members in attendance at our Show & Shine for this year’s Boot Challenge hosted by Dwight Dyson.  Dwight prepared a list of items that he would expect to find in the "Boots" of the British cars in attendance.  Each participating member studied the list, and then searched their boots for the required objects.

Throughout the evening we were fascinated to see what in fact the various boots contained, and were further interested to see inside the boot of John White’s Rolls Royce as well as Mike Donovan’s tools and parts storage in the front doors of his Jaguar.

Competition was tough with a number of members pleading with Dwight for points, while he tabulated their scores. In the end, it was a tie between Doug Teddiman and Ken McNay and after a short period of time, the judge declared Doug the winner.  A presentation was made to Doug later, during the Monthly General Meeting.

August 7th - Brits on the Lake Port Perry
 

Attending the show from GBBCC and travelling in a packet were Bill and Chris Johnson, Gerry and Kathy Murphy and leader Jim Armstrong and son Rob. Traveling on their own were Paul Shaw and Tom Hall each in their British cars. The weather couldn't be any better as it was sunny and warm (but not hot) with a cooling breeze coming in off Lake Scugog. The route we followed started at Craighurst (Horseshoe Valley Rd and Hwy #93) and travelled south to Dalston where we turned south east and followed County Rd #11 to Orillia where we married up with Hwy#12 and followed Hwy#12 through to Port Perry.

Because we were a little late arriving the premium parking spots had been occupied which left us with parking at the back end of the show.

The car judging was really a peoples choice selection with all sorts of categories by brand marques and year of model. Selection was really a monumental task for all. This year, as in past years our members have brought home the awards. For 2016 the First in Class award was won by Paul Shaw. Congrats to Paul and his XJS Jaguar.

Here are a few shots of some of the British cars and the pipers.

August 6^th - Gathering of the Classics (Edenvale)

Over a dozen cars gathered at Sunningdale Corner early on Saturday for the short drive, led by Mike Arkless, to the Edenvale airfield, where the Club, as usual, had its own prime parking area, close to the flight line. 

The annual gathering of the classics is one of the largest fly-ins in Canada.

As the day unfolded more cars joined our group and at its peak 25 or so British Cars were assembled by the Club.

This event combines the best of aviation and classic cars - both North American and European in flavour, and there was a good turnout of lots of interesting machinery. 

There were well over 100 vintage and classic cars on display and over 180 aircraft were in attendance, including vintage, classics and ex-military.  A newcomer this year on the aircraft front was a Czechoslovakian L-29 Delfin jet trainer from the Cold War era, which is now based at the airfield. 

The weather was kind this year so all told a great run out, and this continues to be a firm favourite on the events calendar.

July 23rd - Huronia Cruise

It was an absolutely fantastic day.  High blue sky, hot and the waters of the bay were sparkling. Eleven cars left the start point at 10:30 am, and wound their way through Allenwood, Waverly, Vasey and Fesserton to Waubaushene. There we stopped for 10 minutes for ice cream or coffee. Unfortunately, we lost the Woottons at this time as their Austin Healy was overheating so they returned home, safely, I am pleased to report.

Next, we proceeded to Honey Harbour via Port Severn. A short stop at the Delawanna Inn property to enjoy the sun and boaters.  We found a couple of winding roads on the way back to Port Severn to let it out a bit.

A two hour stop at 1:00 pm at Port Severn allowed time for a nice lunch and visit to the locks.  We resumed at 3:00 pm and headed west to Penetanguishene and a shady drive through Awenda Provincial Park. Unfortunately, Tom and Anne Schutte experienced a gear box malfunction. Tom, skillfully nursed his MGB, stuck in 3rd gear, all the way home to Collingwood.

A decision was made to abort the rest of the planned cruise so that we could accompany Tom and Anne safely back. So, Tiny Beaches will have to wait until the next time. 

Nevertheless, we arrived back at Wasaga Beach at the planned 5:00 pm finish time. 

I would like to thank Bob Crossan and my wife Jonna Chalmers for their assistance in planning this cruise and Brian Bailey for accompanying me in my MGB.  Jonna and a friend took the Jaguar and enjoyed the a/c.

Ralph Kertcher

July 12 - 14th Twenty Valley Wine Tour

Five British cars departed early on Tuesday, July 12^th from the “old” Foodland store parking lot in Thornbury, for a rather hot drive to the Stoney Creek Battlefield Park, where we had an enjoyable picnic lunch in the shade.  Half the group walked up the hill to the monument for a lovely view of the area.  After lunch, we continued to the Ramada Beacon hotel overlooking Lake Ontario.  We checked in and relaxed before going out for dinner at a local establishment in Jordan Village.  For a nightcap, we adjourned for a Scottish libation, which is fast becoming an intrinsic pastime on these tours.

On Wednesday after breakfast, we set off to visit various wineries.  First was Flat Rock Cellars, then Westcott Vineyards and we had a very enjoyable lunch in a lovely setting at the Vineland Estate Winery.  We sampled a couple of wines named after Kevin O’Leary (they were okay and we did not have to spit the samples into spittoons!)  After lunch, we visited Malivoire Winery and ended our tour at the new Red Stone Winery which had only been open for a year.  We were most impressed with the buildings of each winery and it was obvious that a lot of capital had been spent. All of our members spent their cash wisely also, and many a bottle found their way into the cars! We followed this up with an enjoyable evening meal in the Beacon hotel

Next day, one of our group set off immediately after breakfast to drive to Stratford to meet up with other car club members to see a matinee show, “A Chorus Line”.  The rest of the group visited nearby Ball’s Falls - both the Upper and the Lower Falls were very dry, before returning home to arrive late in the afternoon.

This was a most enjoyable trip, well planned and organized by Brian and Laurie Wootton - very well done.  Many thanks.

July 7^th  Stayner Music, Market and Parkit

Paul Hurst and Wayne Clute organized our attendance at Thursday evening’s Music, Market and Parkit event in Stayner.  On a lovely evening, we had six GBBCC members who ate supper, shopped at the local farmers’ market and then listened to the Regal Jazz Band, featuring our own Bob Muir on the trombone.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable and wonderful evening - many thanks Paul and Wayne.

July 7^th - Hockley Valley Hill Climb Reunion 2016

5 cars departed from Tim Horton’s in Collingwood, just before 9.00am for a drive to the 5th Historic Hockley Valley Hill Climb Reunion. We met up with like-minded enthusiasts driving other British sports cars from the Headwaters British Car Club, to enjoy an informal run up the dirt road which was used for hill climbs back in the late 50’s and early 60’s. 

We lost one MGB on the run down due to overheating, but picked up an E-Type Jaguar by way of replacement along the way and met Graeme and his MGB there (still with its top up).  Despite the very high temperatures all the cars made it up the hill unscathed (despite an errant Honda interfering with Bill’s TVR and a waste truck coming down the hill just as Mike and Gillian were getting into their stride with the Morgan on the faster section).

Afterwards, the GBBCC team headed off to Terra Nova where we enjoyed our lunch prior to us all making our own way home. 

Again our car club were key supporters of the event - hopefully next year there will be more certainty and earlier notification of the event beforehand so that we can have even more cars in attendance.

July 1^st Canada Day Parade‏ - Clarksburg / Thornbury 2016

Despite the very challenging weather conditions on the morning of July 1st, ten GBBCC cars participated in the annual Canada Day Parade from Clarksburg to Thornbury.

Congratulations to all drivers and passengers who braved the elements to make the GBBCC contribution to the parade a success.

Tuesday, June 21^st 2016 - Kickin' Back Alpaca Farm

George Christie led about twelve cars on an enjoyable cruise to Markdale where we had a wonderful tour of the Kickin’ Back Alpaca Farm.  We learnt a lot about these fascinating animals.  While similar to sheeps' wool, Alpaca wool is warmer, not prickly, and has no lanolin, which makes it hypoallergenic.  It is naturally water-repellent and difficult to ignite.  Alpaca fiber is approx. 18 to 25 microns in diameter whereas human hair is around 40 microns in diameter.  After the tour, 23 of us ended our evening with a good supper at Steven's Bar-B-Q Restaurant in Markdale before we each drove home.

Saturday June 18^th provided a warm and sunny morning which was perfect for the “First (and we hope annual) Georgian Bay British Car Club Swim & Picnic Rally”.  Five member couples participated, driving over the well planned route, travelling 119.4 kms (74.19 miles).  The secret finish location turned out to be Sunset Park in Collingwood where members enjoyed spectacular picnic lunches or great meals from the “CHIPPER”.  Many thanks to Bob Muir for taking the time to plan and carry out this really fun day.

Brits in the Village 2016 – June 4^th

62 British cars of varying vintages gathered in the Plaza of the Blue Mountains Village for the annual GBBCC Brits in the Village car show.  With marvelous weather, everyone had a great time and enjoyed swapping stories of their wonderful vehicles.

At our General Meeting on March 14^th, 2016, Bill Rogers presented the President’s Trophy to our new President, Mike Arkless.  Mike then presented Bill and Sharon Rogers with an Honorary Life Membership in grateful recognition of their excellent service to the success of our Club from 2006 to 2016