Full reports on all our club events appear in our monthly Newsletter “Rovin’ Around” which is issued to all club members.
Below are a few examples of event reports to give you an idea of the activities which we get involved in.
Photographs, with a brief summary, of most of our events appear in our Photo Gallery section of this website. Have a look.
My son John was away for the weekend, but I had George with me as a passenger for this run. We arrived at our meeting point – McDonalds Sprucefield – before 9:00am and had plenty of time to have breakfast. One by one the others arrived and by 9:30am we had 6 cars. Shortly after, we set off and I led the way, although the P4 set the leisurely pace. Along the route we were joined by Michael and Maureen at Moira and further down the road Philip Annesely joined the convoy.
By the time we reached the Ballygawley Roundabout we were running slightly behind time so had to abandon our plan to stop for coffee and scones. We continued on up the A5 to Omagh and arrived at the Abingdon Collection just about 11:00am. Here we met up with Johnny and Mabel Montgomery and then were joined by Sam McMorris. So we had 10 cars and around 16 people.
Philip Faithfull, the owner of the Abingdon Collection and his family were there to welcome us and led us round to his museum where tea, coffee and biscuits were waiting for us.
He had a notice up welcoming The Classic Rover Club and had on display a lovely gold coloured case (like a cigar box) with a Rover P6 badge on it. There was a fair bit of banter as a few members offered to buy it, but it wasn’t for sale.
After the coffee we were split into two groups to be taken on a tour. My group went with Philip to see the military part of the museum first. When he opened the door and led us in, we were all completely blown away with the sight we saw. This was an incredible collection of German war memorabilia. The sheer number of exhibits and the completeness of the collection makes it truly unique. Philip walked us around and told us stories about key exhibits on display and answered any questions our members had. We were not allowed to take any photographs in this area.
After this, we were taken into the 50s, 60s and 70s parts of the tour. Again there were many exhibits including cars, motorcycles, signs, juke boxes, photographs, tickets and die-cast model cars. We spent a while in here before returning outside where there were other exhibits on display.
One of the most disturbing for some was a baby gas mask, with a doll in it, in a pram.
He also had a pile of old car magazines for sale and, needless to say, some purchases were made. More tea, coffee and biscuits was provided and we spent some time looking around, talking about the cars outside, and meeting Harley the dog.
This museum is a personal collection which Philip has built up over 45 years and he opens it on a voluntary basis to groups without charge, however any donations are gratefully received in aid of Cancer Research. We took up a collection and made a presentation of it to Philip at the end of our tour. Before we finished, Clifford Rainey arrived to take us all up to his house for a barbecue.
The spread laid on by Janet, Clifford and family was astounding. Burgers, sausages, roast chicken, garlic bread, pasta, salads etc. It was a lovely afternoon just sitting around the garden chatting and eating.
Patsy learned that Janet and Clifford had a piano and asked permission to play it. So, after the barbecue was finished, we all gathered indoors around the piano. Emma Rainey played as well and we also had a very short sing-song. We were then invited into the kitchen for tea and cake to finish the afternoon.
This was a really nice day out. I cannot find words sufficient to express our thanks to Janet, Clifford and their family for such a lovely afternoon. But, thank you.
At the end of our tour Philip asked us to leave a review on Tripadvisor. Just over a week later I did this and the following reply was received from Philip:
“Thanks for your kind words and the Club’s generous contribution to Cancer Research. The two Classic Car clubs visiting that day made a donation of £250 between them. That was our largest one day donation to Cancer Research and they send you their thanks. Hope to see you all back at the collection soon. Thanks, Philip.”
Saturday 9th May dawned a bright sunny day with blue skies – an ideal day for a car show! It was also the day of the Ballymoney Old Vehicle Club’s Annual Show and Family Fun Day, held in the Showgrounds, Ballymoney.
Colin Jeffery, George Crothers, Ellie Martin, Mike & Maureen Curran and Wilbert & Phyllis McFetridge and I exhibited our cars. Richard Sloan also turned up, displaying a Briggs & Stratton stationary engine.
While most of the travelling band met up at Templepatrick Park and Ride, Roxy and I travelled south from Portrush. We arrived more or less at the same time and parked up as a group to set up the Classic Rover Club Stand. Colin and John Jeffery busied themselves with display boards including the history of AOI 426 and produced a startling variety of Rover P6 models. The usual banter ensued and George was momentarily mistaken for Mike’s big teddy bear!
There was a wide range of stalls offering face painting, auto jumble, antiques, health products, various foods and bags of entertainment. Musical entertainment was provided throughout the day by Steve Farlow ‘Ireland’s Music Man’, while Andy Rodgers appeared as Elvis with ‘Uncle Hugo’ providing his own inimitable form of entertainment later.
By late morning the playing field had been largely filled with 214 vehicles ranging from stationary engines, motor cycles, vintage farm vehicles and classic cars.
Cars that caught my eye included the 3rd oldest surviving Mini, in immaculate condition, owned by Alex Louden, and a pair of Jaguar sports cars owned by Jim Carey of the Ballymoney Club. He is the second owner of a 1988 5.3 litre V12 XJS with only 25,823 miles ‘on the clock’ in Cranberry Red with a black leather interior. Alongside it was his 4 litre supercharged Jaguar XKR in Aubergine with contrasting cream leather interior – both immaculate cars!
Towards the end of the afternoon we were all very pleasantly surprised to hear that The Classic Rover Club NI had been awarded the Best Club Stand and that Roxy had been voted the Best in Show in the category 1970-onwards.
I think the Club will have to return next year to defend its title – and we surely have other cars that would be worthy winners of the 1970s class, not to mention earlier ones!
Although final figures are not available, it is estimated that the Show raised in excess of £5000 for local charities.
Gerry Anketell
James started the evening by telling us that the only rule was that if you crashed; you had to put your own car back on the track and that each race would comprise of 10 laps before he made the draw for the first round heats.
The first round saw Michael racing an SD1 against Ellie racing a Metro, with Michael winning. John racing a Range Rover against me, racing a TVR speed 12, with John beating me convincingly but I guess that’s what I get for being the only person not racing a Rover! Next came Richard racing a Metro against James racing a P6 with James winning, his P6 stuck to the track like glue and was a flying machine! The last heat was between Colin racing the Range Rover and Jim racing the Metro with Jim winning.
Again for the second round the names were drawn to decide who would be racing. This saw Michael and James racing, with James winning followed by John and Jim racing, with Jim winning.
Before the grand final, James treated us all to Dominoes Pizza, chips and soft drinks and thanks to the lovely evening we were able to enjoy this outdoors. As we made our way back into the man cave for the final, we were joined by Colin Robson.
The grand final, over 15 laps was between James and Jim with James being declared the eventual winner. Engraved trophies, provided by James Clarke, were presented to the winner and runner up.
The event was eagerly anticipated and there was a great banter and build up to the night. Some people bought new cars for the night; others modified one that they already had, while all James had to do was lift the winning car out of his display cabinet!
I’m delighted to say that the night was a great success, great fun and very entertaining although it did bring out the highly competitive nature of some of our members. I, for one, am looking forward to the next Scalextric Event.
I would like to thank Michael Curran and James Clarke for organising our first Classic Rover Club (NI) Scalextric Challenge and to James for providing the use of his man cave and for providing food and trophies.
Mark Henderson
Once again our meeting point was McDonald’s Sprucefield at 8:00am. This year I was on time and was one of the first there. George, my son John and I went in and had our breakfast. Over the next fifteen minutes or so, quite a number of other members arrived and by 8:30 we were all fed and ready to go.
Again I led the Rover convoy out of the car park and out to the M1. As we passed Moira, Michael and Maureen Curran joined our convoy in their red SD1. A short distance further down the motorway I spotted what looked like a 600 in the distance on the hard shoulder. I was just about to get ready to pull in when I noticed it was Gareth Firth and family and he was sitting with the door open taking photos of us! No need to stop then, so on we went to the Argory.
As usual we were shown straight to the Courtyard and parked up in age order. We have got that operation down to a fine art. We were pleased to be joined by Jim McClure and his son in their P4. Jim has been joining our display at the Argory for a number of years now and is always welcome.
We had a magnificent display of 12 Rovers in the Courtyard consisting of 5 P4s (Patsy McCabe, Michael McKay, Alex Vennard, Richard Sloan and Jim McClure), 2 P5s (James Clarke and George Crothers), 2 P6s (Colin Jeffery and Billy Reilly), 1 SD1 (Michael Curran), 1 600 (Gareth Firth), and 1 25 (Mark Henderson). As we were celebrating the 65th anniversary of the launch of the P4 it was very pleasing to have such an impressive turnout.
Michael, Maureen and Mark erected the ‘History of Rover’ display, which had been modified to give additional information on the development of the Rover P4. It looked great and received a lot of interest during the day.
Maureen had the P4 Supplement and distributed copies to those who receive theirs by post. Some members went off for a read and we received numerous compliments about it during the day. Thanks to Gareth, this one was in colour.
It was good to see the children who were with us having fun throughout the day. Stewart Henderson and John went off for a walk around the grounds and John took some lovely photographs. I must do that walk next year. Later in the morning the Argory staff had organised a chick hunt. John and Stewart decided to have a go and they were each given a map of the grounds and had to mark on it the locations of 20 chicks which had been hidden. When they completed it they each won an Easter egg. They then went back round with Daniel and he got an egg too.
All our members gathered back in the Courtyard at 2:00pm for a special ceremony to celebrate the P4 anniversary. We were joined by some former members and other Rover owners. Patsy had his P4 decorated with bows and banners and he set up a table in front of the car. His organisation was very thorough and he produced a tablecloth, champagne and wine glasses, paper plates and then napkins and even a special spanner wrapped in cling film to stop the napkins blowing away. Then he produced a bottle of champagne, bottles of wine, bottles of water and then a magnificent cake with a picture of his P4. We all gathered round and everyone had a drink and some cake.
At about 3:30 I noticed the Argory staff opening a set of doors and begin to open some boxes. Being nosey, I went over for a look and it was the finisher’s awards. I got mine before the queue started. This year it was an Argory mug.
The Argory Show remains one of my favourites each year. This year was even more special and I would like to thank Patsy for the amount of effort he put in to organising the P4 celebration.
You can see more photos of the event on our Photo Gallery
Colin Jeffery
George and Neale called for me just after 7.30am and off we went to meet up with some other members at Sprucefield. We arrived just after 8.00am and went in for breakfast and coffee. It wasn’t until 9.00 that all who were to meet there eventually arrived.
So, around 9.00am our convoy set off with my P6 as lead car. As we approached Newry, Patsy took over the lead in his P4 and showed us an alternative route around Newry to avoid the traffic. We arrived in Kilbroney shortly after 10.00am and made our way to the area allocated for our Club Stand, only to find it occupied by Triumphs! Not content with their own club stand area, the Triumph Club had erected their tape, parked some cars and put out chairs to book all the spaces in ours as well. Words were exchanged, but we spied a much better place, with no restrictions on size, and decided to move to keep the peace. I offered to push our cars off their stand to make them look more like Triumphs!
We parked up in our new spot and then the new club Gazebo was erected, the windbreakers (screens – not our club members!) were put up, tables and chairs put out and our stand was set. On Friday afternoon I had taken delivery of the new club polo shirts and fleeces and Maureen had the new club jackets. These were distributed to those who had ordered them and we all looked very professional.
As other Rover Cars, who were not connected with any other clubs, arrived in the field, we brought them over to join us and eventually had an impressive display comprising of 5 P4s, 5 P6s, 1 SD1, 1 200 (series 1), 1 25, 2 75s, 2 75 Tourers and an MGZT.
Our theme for the day was a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Rover P6. Maureen had organised a special cake and this was put on display in the gazebo. Maureen also had copies of the Rover P6 50th
Anniversary supplement, which we had just completed a couple of days before and these were distributed to members.
John and I took a walk around some of the other cars and club stands and went to the auto jumble before going up to the café for our lunch.
The weather forecast was not good, but it held up very well. There was a heavy shower, while we were in having our lunch and one other short shower later on.
Back on our stand, at 2.00pm, the P6s were arranged in an arc for a photo session with the P6 owners. This attracted a bit of a crowd, which meant it took a while to get the photos. After this, young John cut the cake and there was a piece for all members and Rover owners and their families, who had joined us on our stand.
The barbecue was lit, the sun really came out, Patsy brought out the wine and the party got underway.
All too soon, the show was over and the field began to empty. It was a really great day and as far as I know, everyone there thoroughly enjoyed it. Those who weren’t there missed a treat. A really great show.
Again, there are lots more photos of the event in the Gallery section of our website, go have a look!
Colin Jeffery
Neale and James arrived at my house around 8.20am and we set off straight away. Neale and James were in the 75 tourer and John and I were in the 820, as the normally reliable P6 had a fuel pump problem. We arrived at our meeting point at Sprucefield before 9.00am. Shortly after we were joined by Peter, Georgina and Claire in their 75 tourer and Colin Bell and family in the P5B along with Bo Simpson in the other P5B. Quite some time later George arrived with Alex and Leslie in the green P5B. We were on our way. Continue reading
The first Titanic Vintage Day took place on Saturday 22nd August 2009.
The event was held at the site of Titanic’s Dock and Pump-House in Belfast. This dock was specially built for the Olympic class liners and, at the start of the 20th Century, was the largest dock in the world. It was once the beating heart of the Harland & Wolff shipyard during the construction of the great White Star Liners – the Britannic, Olympic and most famously, the Titanic. Continue reading
We had a good turnout of 13 cars this year at Hillmount and a good variety on display. I think we again had the biggest turnout of any of the clubs there.
Billy Reilly and Colin Jeffery were first there and George Crothers arrived shortly after to secure the prime spot and put up our banner. Cars in the ‘Rover’ line-up included 1 Rover P4, 3 Rover P5Bs, 2 Rover P6s, 3 Rover SD1s and 3 Rover 75 Tourers and Leslie Millar with the Toyota MR2. Continue reading
We had 14 cars entered for this event with a total of 34 people. An excellent entry and even better considering all entrants this year were club members.
The cars included three Rover P5Bs, four Rover P6s, one Rover 820, one Rover 25, three Rover 75 tourers a Toyota MR2 and a Renault Van.
Our meeting point was at Wilson’s Auctions at Mallusk. Everyone was there for about 10.00am and by 10.15am we were on our way. The first stage of the run was only 17 miles and took us through Templepatrick and Antrim to our first stop at The World of Owls in Randalstown.