Our Christmas Gala was held at the Blue Mountain Golf and Country Club in Collingwood and 90 members attended the Gala. After a lovely social reception, we sat down to a delicious turkey dinner provided by the Georgian Manor, who are the caterers at Blue Mountain G&CC.  Wayne Buttery played wonderful background music during the reception and dinner and then played great dance music that allowed several members to show off their wonderful dancing prowess.

Members brought donations for the local Salvation Army Food Bank and we held a raffle draw for a bottle of local Collingwood Rye (given by Fred & Edna Terry) and two baskets (given by Brian Cullingford). GBBCC donated $225 in cash as well as a large quantity of food to the Food Bank.

Everyone agreed that it was a great event and should be repeated in future years.

Well, it was cool, dry, and a bit windy, but we had eighteen GBBCC members attend our Fall highway clean-up event. At our wrap-up meeting after the cleanup, the usual suspects created wonderful and far reaching stories vaguely pertaining to some ordinary piece of litter that they found. Many thanks to the story tellers – you should all be on the stage!
 
The following members were in attendance; Brian & Cindy Bailey, Harry Drover, Dwight & Sonja Dyson, Jim & Pam Giblon, Ralph Kertcher, Bob Mills, Bob Muir, Don Godfrey, Hannah Plante, Peter Smith, Tom Schutte, Jim Spruce, Graeme Wallace, and Bill & Sharon Rogers

Eric Taylor led a very successful Ear Muff run that attracted 27 people with eight British cars braving the elements - remember, they were born in wet Britain. Two MGBs arrived with tops down but quickly put them up just before the rains came.  There was a great collection of “ear muffs” – please see the photo gallery below. We had a lovely hour long drive along the top of the escarpment and through the Beaver Valley, ending up at Bridges Tavern in Thornbury. Some of the Fall colours were spectacular.

Fred and Edna Terry joined us for lunch and they were presented a gift of a wooden carved “Blue Jay” decoy made by Jim Harkness who is near Stayner. They are moving to Port Hope to live closer to one of their family.  The "Ear Muff" trophy went to our surprise participant, "The Stig".

The annual BBQ was held at Paul & Tina Shaw's horse barn near Collingwood Airport, where we enjoyed the comforts of being sheltered from the elements.

31 GBBCC members showed up and enjoyed themselves.  Joe MacDonald did a great job of cooking the hamburgers and hot dogs and we enjoyed the wonderful selection of salads and desserts brought by everyone.

Most members brought their British vehicles and we parked them inside the barn. 

Many thanks to Paul & Tina Shaw for hosting this very enjoyable event.

Despite the cold weather many classic planes and cars came to Edenvale. The hot coffee and freshly made pancakes were very popular.

GBBCC was very well represented with more than twenty members:  Brian Betty, Brian Bailey, Russ Bullock, George Christie, Dick Clark, Wayne Clute, Alex Faitynek, Jim Giblon, Ralph Kertcher, Joe MacDonald and Jean, Bud MCCannell, Bob Muir, Les Robson, Paul and Martina Shaw, Jim Spruce, Ken Stephenson, Peter and Ann Smith, and Graeme Wallace.  Sorry if I missed anyone.

There were a few Triumph Spitfires and MGBs celebrating their 50^th anniversaries and Toronto Triumph Club's Don Johnston from Barrie won the Best of Show "Imports" prize with his spotless Spitfire. 

George Christie's beautiful 1950 Studebaker Land Cruiser recently won First prize in the Concurs d'Elegance at the 48th annual meet of the Studebaker Drivers Club held in South Bend, Indiana

British Car Day (BCD) again was a great success with another year of wonderful weather – well done Toronto Triumph Club (TTC). Many members of GBBCC travelled down to Bronte Park in various different convoys. Allan Lewis led the way in his fully loaded Spitfire, leaving Singhampton just after 5:00am, followed an hour later by George Christie, Jamie Forsyth and Graeme Wallace. Many members met in Shelburne and two convoys made their way south to Bronte, arriving about 10:30am.

50^th Anniversaries were celebrated by the TTC with Triumph Spitfires, MG Car Club of Toronto with the MGB in an great curved display, and Lotus with the Elan.  There must have been at least 1,050 British cars at the show.  There was at least 26 GBBCC family members who attended BCD this year - well done.

GBBCC was represented in the BCD Awards by Don Grimwood, who came second in the Triumph Spitfire 1961 to 1973 class and Rick Crawford, who was second in the Triumph TR6 chrome bumper 1969 to 1973 class.

The Morgan Sports Car Club stayed at the Royal Harbour Resort in Thornbury and started the weekend on Friday evening with a “Noggin & Natter”, followed by dinner at the Dam Pub.

Saturday was a very wet and miserable day but Eric Taylor gallantly led the Morgans on a cruise through our wonderful country roads to Coffin Ridge Winery, ending at Montanas in Owen Sound for lunch.  Many of the Morgan owners dressed for the rain but some still got soaking wet.

Tom Hall brought a change of weather for his cruise on Sunday which took us through the picturesque scenery of the Beaver Valley, visiting the Ravenna general store for their butter tarts, Lake Eugenia and the Eugenia Falls. The cruise ended at Ted’s Range Road Diner for lunch before the Morgans departed for their journey home.

It was a great visit despite the rains on Saturday and we look forward to welcoming them all again in the future.

We had a great turn out for this function which took place in Creemore. Some members met at Tim’s in Collingwood, and convoyed to the festival, while others made their own way direct.  There were at least 18 members there.

The weather was perfect (albeit too hot in the direct sun) and lots of brew and food were consumed. A great time was had by all.

Members attending (please excuse if we have missed anyone): Brian Bailey, Ken Bickerton, Wayne Clute, Paul Egan, Alex Faltynek, Jim Giblin, Ralph Kertcher, Joe MacDonald, Dorothee-Anne McLean, Norm Redpath, Bill Rogers, Tom Schutte, Jim Spruce, Ken Stephenson, Eric Taylor, Doug Teddiman, Fred Terry and Graeme Wallace.

Brian Wootton led us on a lovely one hour cruise thru the Beaver Valley to Clarksburg where we had a tour of the Honey House. Kerri took us thru the honey making process & give us time to look thru their wonderful retail outlet for their own honey, beeswax candles and products of the hive.

We then drove to the new Thornbury Yacht Club pavillion at the harbour, where we enjoyed a lovely BBQ.  Many thanks to Brian and Laurie Wootton

Hello Everyone

Many thanks to Graeme and my wife Sharon for assistance in putting this new “Photo Scavenger” type of rally together. Judging from the excitement and enthusiasm from those who participated, the format seems to be one to be used in the future.

We were hoping for a greater turnout, but it was quite evident that you ‘rallyers’ who did attend, had a wonderful time.  The following is a list of participants by car number:

  1)  Jim Spruce and his sister Irene

  2)  Ken McNay

  3)  Ken and Shannon Stephenson

  4)  Harry and Cathy de Ruiter

  5)  Fred Terry and Ralph Kertcher

  6)  Sharon North and Dave Smalley

  7)  Brian and Cindy Bailey

  8)  Tim and Mary North

There was a possibility of 60 points for a perfect score for the three categories in the rally. The winners and runners up this year are, as follows:

  1.  Sharon North and Dave Smalley

  2.  Harry and Cathy de Ruiter

  3.  Ken and Shannon Stephenson

An honorable mention goes to Ken McNay, who covered the rally route in his TR6 in less than two hours without a navigator! He obtained most of the photos required, with a very good score, all by himself!   I am already planning the rally for next year.

Cheers,   Bill

The turnout was outstanding and 19 cars and 33 driver/passengers left Elmvale at 10 am en route to Bala in Muskoka on a beautiful sunny, if slightly overcast day. The roads were shaded and lightly travelled. We had an interim stop at the Trent-Severn waterway where the facilities were slightly limited but we managed to depart in order to make the the next stage - 31 kms of curvy, windy, twisty roads which did not disappoint. Traffic was light, conditions were perfect and, many drivers reported they would do that section of road again.

After lunch in Bala, the group departed for a quick run through the Wahta Mohawk reserve, being careful to watch the 70 km speed limit, followed by a short run down the 400 then onto the twisty Big Chute road which brought the group to the marine railway early afternoon.  Some enjoyed a presentation on this interesting facility while others sought refuge from the blistering sun - kudos to Cindy Bailey who had a swim in the refreshing waters.

We then drove to Wyebridge with a brief stop en route at Severn Falls to replenish body fluids.  There was a somewhat disappointing situation upon our arrival at Mad Michael's restaurant, when it was revealed they had run out of draught beer (questionable management to be sure).  Fortunately, they had the bottled stuff. However the company of the group was excellent, the food, and ambiance was good, service not bad once the menu commitment was admitted.

A passing 1978 MGB from Penatang stopped to look at our cars and the owner came in to meet some of us.  He told us that he obtained the B a couple of years ago from an aunt and it had less than 15,000 original kms on the odometer.

18 slightly sunburned participants enjoyed the finale of this long, but wonderful day of cruising.  

The “Brits in the Village” car show in the village plaza at Blue Mountain was a great success with 57 British cars on display. The weather was very kind to us and we had 35 members of GBBCC and 22 guests at the show. Various British marquees of cars were represented:

Austin, Austin Healey, Damiler, Jaguar, Jensen, Lotus, MG, Rolls Royce, Rover, Triumph, and TVR.

“Bloomin Brits” Show & Shine.  On May 14^th, it was a lovely evening and our members brought their British vehicles to show them off to fellow members.  There were a record 37 vehicles on display.  Later Bob Yule, President of the Southern Ontario Austin Healey club gave a presentation about his AutoFarm company, followed by many wonderful photos of a tour of Northern England and Scotland last year by six members of the Southern Ontario Austin Healey club who shipped their vehicles over to Liverpool for the tour.

Adopt-A-Highway Spring Clean-Up April 29^th 2012 - With a bright sun, cloudless sky and a light breeze out of the north-west, 22 members (plus Fred Terry) attended our Spring 2012 highway clean-up. The most interesting item found in the ditches was the ten dollar bill ($10.00) found by Ken McNay. Other members found somewhat uninteresting items, but, with intense imagination they were able to fabricate clever stories involving the items.

All attending appeared to have a wonderful time out in the fresh air and they did a wonderful job of cleaning the highway.

The following is a list of those who attended; Cindy & Brian Bailey, Cathy & Harry de Ruiter, Harry Drover, Sonja & Dwight Dyson, Paul Egan, Lora Gibson & Dick Clark, Don Godfrey, Paul Green, Barbara & Andy Hims, Ralph Kertcher, Tom Hughes, Ron McCann, Ken McNay, Sharon Rogers & Bill Rogers, Tom Schutte, Fred Terry (group photo only), and Graeme Wallace.  Click on the following link to view more photos.

Many thanks to Bill Rogers, who continues to organize this event.

Ancaster British Car Show & Flea Market – April 22^nd  Some GBBCC members were led by Graeme from Collingwood to Shelburne to met Brian Wootton, who then led the group on a very enjoyable route to Ancaster. GBBCC members were; Graeme Wallace (MGB), George Christie (Spitfire), Bud McCannell (MGB), Don Godfrey (MGB) & Brian Betty, Bob Mills (MG TD top down) & Richard Rood, Peter & Ann Smith (regular vehicle), Wayne Clute (TR6), Mike O’Rourke (Jaguar XKE), Ron & Rosemary McCann (regular vehicle), and Brian Wotton who took a ride from Bud. We met several GBBCC members at the event, including Phil Hall, Peter Johnson, Bob Muir, Harry de Ruiter, Bill Rogers, Ralph Kertcher, as well as many friends from various other car clubs. Despite it being cold, this was a very successful event.

APRIL 10^th MEETING - Bill Rogers informed and entertained over 40 members and guests in the Timber Room at Swiss Chalet, talking about his favourite subject – TVR. He covered the history of the auto manufacturer from the early days when the company was started by TreVoR Wilkinson and brought us through the years up to present day.  The audience then learned about how Bill got involved with the brand, and also learned about the cars he owns, or has owned.

One member was noted as saying that the presentation was well–crafted, and contained a good mixture of humour, private thoughts, and technical facts.  For those who could not attend the meeting and have a laptop and a screen, Bill advises that for a glass (or bottle) of cabernet sauvignon, he would gladly run the presentation again.

- See Past Events for more details

Tuesday, Dec. 6th - The GBBCC Christmas Party was a great success.  Over fifty members had a very social time at Kelsey's with good finger food, a slideshow of photos from 2011 events, and the Salvation Army food drive.  Many thanks to our sponsors who donated many door prizes for our members:  

•    Cullingford Motors
•    Jonna’s Interiors
•    Swiss Chalet
•    Ideal Supply
•    Carquest Auto Parts Thornbury
•    Carquest Auto Parts Collingwood
•    Krown Rust Control
•    Apple Auto Glass
•    McKee Tire
•    TVR Car Club
•    McKee Muffler
•    Peninsula Import
•    Gabriele Photography

Nov. 14^th General Meeting at Swiss Chalet.  35 members attended our regular monthly meeting followed by a movie featuring “Victory by Design – Aston Martin”

Oct. 11^th General Meeting was held with a record number of 22 “Show & Shine” cars on display.  At our meeting, Jonna Chalmers showed some impressive photos of her father racing in early days in Denmark, no seat belts, fiery crashes and a lack of safety standards.

Oct. 16^th Ear Muff Run was well attended with 9 cars, led by Graeme (filling in for Eric Taylor). The wonderful scenic route ended up at the Admiral's Post.  The winning participant was Ms. Wilheminia Rogers (see photo below).

Oct. 23^rd Adopt-A-Highway Fall Cleanup saw a beautiful fall day and about 21 picker-uppers enjoying their collection tasks.