ANGLIA & NORTH ESSEX GROUP

[izzy]

January`s News Letter

Hi Guys

Xmas has passed and the end of January is nearly with us. I note that from the new circulation list that this may be the first newsletter that many of you have received from our region, so welcome. The purpose of this email is to update you with what’s happening in our region and our regular club meetings which for those of you have not attended are currently held in the Bunbury Arms Gt Barton, which is just outside Bury St Edmunds. Our meetings are held on the 4th Tuesday of every month and start at around 7:30pm, more about this later as there are some changes afoot.

This week’s meeting was attended by 16 of us which was a good number for such a windy evening in January, your steering committee have decided to hold a round robin process of chairing the meeting so you don’t get fed up with the same chair holding the meeting each month, it also takes pressure off the steering committee as the responsibility to chair the meeting and not to burden it on one person. This month’s meeting was chaired by Lorna, who did a great job, if you were just dozing off, once Lorna started I guess you were well awake, no prisoners taken.

Lorna raised a number of important points, in that the steering committee is there for you, we are all working to support the club in our own little way trying to identify a number of events and meetings for the interest of the members. A calendar of events is shortly to be published detailing a series of club events, national TIPEC events and what we like to call ad hoc events, these ad hoc events are not organised by the club they are events or meetings which are known to the club and or members which may be of interest to you. Some of the events are detailed below. Someone from the steering committee will be along shortly to add a few more and or to correct me;-)

Our Region Attended Events:

DUXFORD CAR SHOW: May 1st, possibly joint event with another TIPEC Region.

LONDON TO BRIGHTON RALLY: 5th June, the event has to be prebooked, we think it is still open, some of us are driving down and staying overnight.

CARS ON THE GREEN: 19th June, Bury St Edmunds, Winners of last year’s best stand, need loads more activity this year, to upset the mini club

CLUB BBQ: August / Sept location to be confirmed.

National TIPEC Events:

TIPEC AGM: 20th March

BLYTON PARK TRACK DAY:16 July

Ad hoc Events:

BOWLING: Shaun organising this one - date to be confirmed but soon!!!
LONDON CLASSIC CAR SHOW: 18th Feb

GOODWOOD MEMBERS MEETING: 19 - 20 March http://www.goodwood.com/74mm

ACE CAFÉ: Bank holiday Monday 28 March 18:00 hours onwards (Last Monday of the Month)

SIMPLY PORSCHE: Beaulieu 5th June

SILVERSTONE CLASSIC: 29-31 July

HELMINGHAM: 07 August

HEDINGHAM: CLASSICS AT THE CASTLE: 04 September

HERTS & NORTH LONDON REGION: The Goat Inn (SG13 7RT) First Sunday of the Month 10:30

More ad hoc events will be published, in the near future

We are trying to promote the clubs Facebook site and I highly recommend that you seek out the site our section is called “Tipec Anglia & North Essex” there are loads of items already posted which are of great interest to Porsche fanatics. There are features available on Facebook which may help us run events or ad hoc events, the more of us on Facebook the better. It will be Ian “Izzy” Jones who is the web master, if you go on the site Izzy can provide you access to post etc.

Other things happening:
New venue. The steering committee has been looking at a new venue for our monthly meetings, all of the members who attended the Jan meeting were canvassed to obtain their opinion, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive and we have decided to relocate to the Woolpack at Fornham St Martin, Bury St Edmunds. The steering committee have visited the pub on a couple of occasions and our thoughts have been shared with the pub landlord, who is very keen on supporting local clubs etc. More information on this will be emailed to you over the next few weeks so it won’t be a shock to the system, essentially we shall start using the new venue on the 26th April 2016.

Izzy, using various devious means been talking to PIE Performance, they are a Porsche Specialist located outside of Sudbury, the business is growing and attracting a lot of interest in terms of servicing Porsches and specialist tunings etc.
The following has been arranged by Izzy:

Tipec day at Pie performance for Saturday 14th May. The owner Chris is quite happy to pop along one night before the 14th May to have an informal chat with us, he’s a bit of a tekkie so if you have any issues with your pork, I’m sure will be happy to discuss these with you.

PIE Performance will also be on our stand at the Cars on the Green show in Bury St Edmunds.

Izzy, in his attempt at world domination, has been asked to produce and article for Torque, to feature PIE and all their good work, likely this will feature in the April Edition.

Can you all put these dates in your diary, it would be great if we had a large turnout at this event, if we strike up enough interest, you never know we may even be able to negotiate a discount for members, Izzy this is you next task;-)

Ok that’s all from me, in the next few days etc, you will be receiving another email providing more info on the change of venue.


Kind Regards

John Briggs

[izzy]

February Newsletter

Morning Guys

Nice frosty morning, spent some quality time with my daily drive this morning scraping the frost from the windscreen, excellent.

Tuesdays meeting was attended by 13 brave souls venturing out on a frosty evening, it was lively evening lots of chat and Chris found some parts from Yvonne’s 993 which were surplus to requirement

Chris advised it won’t be much longer before the car is back on the road and I’m sure we are all looking fwd to this.

Steve chaired the meeting this month with a little help from lorna, but we got there in the end.

Over the next few month’s the meetings and events will start to roll out, I believe the first event is April 29th at the ACE Cafe, will confirm details later, but the plan is to meet up at a service station on the way to the ACE cafe then drive down as a group.

Lorna has issued the calendar of events to everyone, if you have not received a copy please let me or lorna know so we can get a copy sent out to you.

You should also have received advance notification of our impending relocation to the Woolpack at Fornham St Martin (April), I think that quite a few of us are looking fwd to a change of venue, Yvonne will be discussing to move with Manager at the Bunbury Arms next month, for the time being they are not aware of this change of venue so would appreciate it if we let Yvonne manage this on behalf of the club.

Over the next few weeks you should be receiving the next edition of Torque, Lorna has updated all the events which are published in the club magazine and update other club members of our impending change of location, at this time I am not sure if Izzy has negotiated a double page spread in the magazine displaying the green thing, if he hasn’t I’m sure there is a magazine some where which has a photo or two displaying a picky.

Some of you may have picked up on the correspondence on Facebook regarding Pie Performance, they are located just outside Lavenham, Chris the owner is scheduled to come over one evening to meet up with us and talk cars and beer and other such things, we have a coffee morning scheduled with Chris in which club members can turn up and discuss issues with your cars, get the cars up on the ramps etc etc etc. Chris is very knowledgeable so don’t miss out on this opportunity, we are also discussing a club discount with Chris which will be announced later.

Thats all for now, see you next month when the weather is warmer, hopefully.


Kind Regards

John Briggs

[izzy]

March Newsletter

Hi Guys

Easter nearly here, clocks go fwd this weekend (yes it is fwd not back) so one hour less sleep, for some of us eh!

Our meeting on Tuesday was well supported, we had 16 members attend which is strong indicator spring is here and summer on the way, the meeting was chaired by Ian Jones (Izzy) and as there is so much going on Izzy covered all of the up and coming events, which I have summarised below.

ACE Cafe 28th March 6PM
A number of us are meeting up at Birchanger Green Services (CM23 5QZ) at about 4:30pm for a 5pm departure we shall be leaving on the dot so don’t be late, driving down to the ACE Cafe for 6pm (NW10 7UD).

Duxford 1st May
Joint event with TIPEC North London group, we have 13 cars going, payment is £10 / person pay on entry, further details regarding timing ands where to meet will follow.

Brighton Classic 5th June
Several cars from our club are attending and staying over the weekend, the event is still open if you wish to attend the run from London to Brighton, however I believe that hotel accommodation is now fully booked.

Cars on the Green 19th June
Great show last year, we won best club stand at the show, hopefully we can do the same this year but need more members and possibly get the marquee cleaned , we need to push this one fwd and determine how many members are interested to attend, we are in discussions with Pie Performance to be on our stand this year as well. At our next meeting can you please advise if you are attending.

Sheringham Classic 12th June
Busy day last year weather was certainly with us, need to now numbers of cars attending, I'm afraid you’ll have to provide your own bucket and spades, string vests and knotted hankies are optional.

Woodham Walters Car Show 25th Sept
Details of this show detailed on the attached link, http://www.warrenclassic.co.uk/event

John Butcher kindly brought with him some parts surplus to requirements from his mini project which is a passion of his in addition to keeping the 912 in tip top condition, I’ve offered John a range of large cardboard boxes should he wish to bring more bits next month

Next month our venue changes to the Woolpack at Fornham St Martin, most of you know were this is, if not the address is detailed in the web link http://thewoolpackfornham.co.uk/find-us/, same time same date.




Kind Regards

John Briggs

[izzy]

April Newsletter

Hi Guys

Summer arrived over the weekend with vengeance I hope that you were all wearing plenty of sunscreen , we have an event this weekend which I hope many of you will be able to attend, details at the end of this newsletter.

Our last meeting was held at the Woolpack as was attended by 16 members, we had a separate area dedicated to us so we were away from the main body of the pub, most of us had food of one sort or another. As it was curry night a number of us followed the trend and partook of the landlords finest selections of curry, the quality was great and the quantity far exceeded my appetite. I guess from the feed back I’ve had to date the new venue is a hit, cars can be parked out front of the pub so you don’t have to fight for a slot round the back, feed back from the landlord was +ve he’s been talking to a number of his regulars who are turning out to see the cars etc.

As stated at the meeting Vanessa's best attempt to date to put me under ground failed, I survived that round, this week she surpassed herself and I ended up in A&E (twice), this attempt also failed but I now have a stash of drugs at home to stave off the next attempt

About 13 of us attended the Duxford car show on the 1st May, which was arranged by Vince Dallimore, in total we had about 60 cars on show, there were so many cars allocated to our zone there was no room available to put up the tent (thanks to Sam from bringing it). We met up with Vince and his group at around 7:30 ish for brekkie then abled down to Duxford for around 9am ish, it took a while to locate the stand as none of the attendants seemed to know were we should park up, so we had a very pleasant drive around the apron of the air field with a Spitfire buzzing around, great to see these things in the air and the sound of the that engine, nothing comes close not even Izzy’s green pig, and no before you start just because your car spits out flame it is not a spitfire.


And now for the important stuff:

This weekend PIE Performance have opened up their doors for us, we need to have a good idea of who is coming as they need to know how many to cater for and Izzy is on tender hooks as he has gone out of his way to organise this with them and it would be great for us all to see what PIE can offer us all. They are a great bunch of guys, as we all know finding someone we can trust to lay spanners on our pride an joy is a challenging thing, we have all used many of the Indies in the area some are good some are indifferent and some I would trust spannering up my old bike. This is a great opportunity to have a chat and to see what PIE can offer the club and more importantly what they can offer you.

It would be of great value if you could let Izzy know if you are coming, PIE would like to know so they can clear the ramps incase anyone want to look under their cars to find the oily bits, a large drip tray has been ordered for the 912.

Please see a link to their website below, the address being:

PIE
9 Hill Farm
Lavenham Road
Brent Eleigh
CO10 9PE
Tel 01787 249924

The event is being held between 9.30am and 12:30

http://www.pieperformance.co.uk

In anticipation of god weather there is a nice little pub round the corner called the Lindsey Red Rose, good beer and food, suggest we pop down the pub for a sampling exercise?

Red Rose Inn, The Tye, Lindsey, Ipswich IP7 6PP





Kind Regards

John Briggs

[izzy]

May Newsletter

Hi Guys

I have survived another month she has not killed me off yet, notable events include visiting the local A&E in Ipswich, I think she knows I’m on to her tricks and have employed the cat as a food taster so I’m safe for the time being

Just a quick line regarding our meting on Tuesday and up and coming events as discussed at the meeting, we had around 14 members attend on Tuesday, from the number of us who turned up early more than 50% of us were there to sample the food and beer (hic) etc. Car parking is not really a problem as the landlord is more than happy for us to park out front of the pub and not round the back where the cars can’t been seen.

Yvonne chaired the meeting and spoke of the following:

Cars on the Green 19th June
We have been talking to the organisers and we have a minimum of 10 cars booked in, they believe that it may be possible to squeeze in a couple more but this will entail a certain amount of bribery, as the organisers require coffee and doughnuts etc etc etc no problem. A quick straw poll on the night indicated we have around 6-7 members cars plus a few others from invited guests, detailed below, if I have missed any one out please shout as we have a few extra slots available on a first come basis. Mr Butcher has decided to change allegiances this year and move over the mini stand, hoping they will be more fortunate than last year in not winning any awards etc, apparently it was on the basis of a coin toss. The award we won last year will find pride of place on our stand, not that we want to rub it in or anything. Tickets are free of charge as is entry into the car show, it is run on a voluntary basis and any donations are passed on to the chosen charity for the event. The organisers have strictly limited the total number of exhibitor cars to 1000, the organisers will be issuing the tickets shortly, I would suggest that those attending we should arrange to meet on the morning of the show I believe we met at around 8 ish last year at the following location:

Wyevale Garden Centre
‪Rougham Road
Bury St Edmunds
IP33 2RN

This is about a mile away from Nowton park, its an ideal location to meet up as the car park can hold a number of cars and was also used by the mini club. The week following the car show, the was an article indicating that Wyevale had a number of shopping trolleys vandalised, an insider told me the mini club used the trolleys as donor parts for their cars

TIPEC Members Attending
Me
Izzy
Steve
Ian H
Sam
Adam
Julian
Guest cars (poss 3)

So thats 10 cars so we need a few more slots let me know if you are interested, it may cost me a few doughnuts.

and not necessarily in chronological order

Brighton June 5th (I think)
Four intrepid couples are venturing out of the region, with passports and vaccination certificates, off to Brighton for the classic car rally, all bookings have been made and tickets issued and received. I believe that we shall be meeting up at Birchanger Services ‪at 8am, for a drive down to the starting point, I have not read all the details but we start off ‪at 11am on a predetermined route and will be lost at about ‪11.05 am. Hopefully we’ll all meet up in Brighton, were are staying over night, food and wine will be consumed.

Assuming we all survive, a suitable report will be submitted with all the usual smelling mistooks included.

I believe that a BBQ is planned for end of summer dates are to be confirmed for Sept so watch this space.

Summer will be but a memory within a few weeks, so we will need to think about events for next year and lets not forget our xmas meal as well, if you have any events you think other members may be interested in attending or even a drive out for fish and chips just send us an email so we can chew it over with our other members to work out an event list for next year.

Sam, kindly suggested Heveningham Hall, details below, looks like an interesting family day out, the event is being held early July so if anyone is going or has been before it would be great to hear from you particularly if you think it is one for the diary next year.

Now must get back to work see some of you on the 5th of June.



Kind Regards

John Briggs

[Brett928S2]

Hi JOHN

I admire your dedication to your local region and the hard work posting here etc ...

All the best Brett

[izzy]

June's club meet

With the summer sun out this morning, and my fingers we're crossed as to making this meeting without breaking anything else on the car!
I became aware Wimbledon had started and with tennis rain normally follows, we were not disappointed as I opened the garage IT poured down (The Pig wasn't going out tonight) on arrival it was apparent that most of us felt the same !!
Good turnout despite the weather with 11 attending


Past events Brighton & cars on the Green, big thumbs up for them.
Xmas Meal was discussed, voted on and booked for the Woolpack on Sunday 4th 13:30 / 1:30pm for a 14:00hrs or 2pm food fest
Menus costs to follow

Also events

July
Le Mans Classic is the next outing followed by the Silverstone Classic 29, 30 & 31st
You can still pay on the day


August
7th Helmingham Hall


September
BBQ 11th September Lorna is arranging the location will be confirmed due to number expected


Please look at events for the 2017 season

Duxford

Spa Classic (Partners weekend) May

London Brighton

Simply Porsche

Cars on the Green

Track day ?

Silverstone Classic

Avd Old Timer Grand Prix Nurburgring August

Classics at the Castle


Please add to this list


Cheers

Izzy "Mad Pig" Spyder

[izzy]

Hi guys

A very brief newsletter,I think we can accurately say that last months meeting was attended by a small number of members, very cosy in the snug reminded me of a scheduled meeting in Nov at the Bunbury Arms when England were trying to play international football

We are coming to the end of our events program for the year and as I missed last months meeting I understand that xmas dinner has been covered and will be in the Woolpack this year.

I must say that for the few of who attended there was a great deal of discussion, much of it being of great interest in terms of what has been good this year and that which we could do better, from a steering committee position its always difficult if not impossible to arrange things that would appeal to all members, so we need your help. There was talk of doing things that were not car related great !! excellent lets have some ideas thoughts about what you might like to do, would like to do and or if you would be willing to help arranging it. Someone suggested high tops “go ape” at Thetford forrest, great if you like heights and being tied up in harness’s just need a few whips thrown in an we have the recipe for great night, opps moderator has issued a warning letter.

I think there are a few event that we will not attend next year, but there are so many more shows we have not visited, the selection is endless, some of the larger more organised shows are placing restrictions on the time of departure, Cars on the Green was 4pm and was strictly adhered to, the Little Gransden show which is coming up has a departure time of 5:30pm justified by health & safety issues on site. Whilst most of these large shows can be interesting they have both +ve and -ve attributes we need to be aware of before we decide to attend. If we have to travel a reasonable distance it could end up being a very long day, this maybe ok for some but not for others, you may prefer less formalised events

This year we decided not to attend Helmingham Hall as a number of our members who had attended for the past x years wanted something different, I was contacted by a few of our members who still wanted go and we managed to point them in the right direction so they could attend

So we have seen a number of changes this year so I think we are all feeling our way but input from yourselves is both valuable and important, it maybe that because of geography we are all spread out a bit, there is nothing stopping us form visiting other areas we don’t have to be based in Bury St Edmunds all the time, we could change a couple of our meeting to a different day/evening/weekend out on the norfolk coast or more inland. For example the bury meeting for me is a round trip of 70 miles I know that I don’t live the furthest away, I’m sure others would attend but its a bit to far if it means we get to see more of our members it is important to do so, what do you say??

Enough of the that for now, next event is the long awaited BBQ, the location is secret so I’m told, the date is to be finally confirmed but last indication was Sept 11th, followed by the xmas dinner, unless anyone fancies a coast run for fish and chips, or kebab and burger?

Just over a week ago an intrepid collection of ingrates decided it would be a good idea to attend the Silverstone Classic, many of us had never been but had been encouraged by the owner of a green pig to attend, my day started off at 4;30am, shower change of clothes quick brekkie as a bacon sandwich at the other end was suggested but ignored out of turn. A drive in the polo to deepest essex followed by a spirited drive to Standsted to collect the other two jolly lads, a cup of java then off to Northampton. Silverstone was all we expected long Q of traffic loads of confusion then we were in and drove onto the TIPEC site at around 8:30, to be met by Shaun and Geoff. off the the burger van for some much needed sustenance and off to the show. If you have never been Silverstone is a huge site, the organisers have 8 London double decker buses driving around the site, classic car racing is going on all day running everything from the 1950’s to modern F1 cars, you are generally welcomed to walk around the pit lanes and the garages or team tents, the mechanics sorry engineers get a bit sweaty if you start poking around with the cars they are working on but its an open environment and you are free to take as many photos as you want and ask intelligent questions the daft ones you can keep to yourself. There is plenty of food stands and drink tents so there is no excuse for not being feed or watered during the day, which was at times baking. There was a run on floppy hats and sunglasses at one time when a few red heads and sore bits got exposed to the sun. If you have a look on FB you will see numerous photos of cars taken by Izzy and some from Adam who got very tried carrying his massive camera around all day

Facebook has been a success of the year, we started off with a very small single figures number, and have over 25 members now, may not sound like a lot but many of our members if not active look at all for the postings on FB which is encouraging.

Thats all for now, don’t forget that PIE performance has another cars & coffee morning coming up at the end of the month I think it is the 27th Aug, free coffee / buns and lots of chat about all thinks pork, if i’ve got the date wrong someone will come along and correct me.


Kind Regards

John Briggs

[izzy]

August Newsletter

Ruined, ruined, ruined it happen at last months meeting, I spent the previous week cleaning and fettling the car, take it out for a couple of hours and all that hard work was ruined, dead insects all over the front of the PU, bonnet and windscreen, why oh why do we bother (answers on a post card). Over the past few months I’ve been taking a little flack from certain members of the club regarding the cleanliness of my pristine 996, well no more, a quick dust over with an oily rag and that’s it, well I might just hover out the inside and spray a little detailing solution over it, but that is really It, nothing more. Except on birthdays and special occasions, it is a form of OCD can you get tablets for this, cos I think we all need them.

Anyway, last month’s meeting was held at the Woolie, if was such a nice evening we camped out in the beer garden and sampled the food / beer, shortly to be followed by the rest of the club who also joined us, we re-organised our corner of the beer garden commandeering a variety of garden furniture. Whilst waiting for our food the Bantam Chickens and their chicks amused us with their antics, some of us thinking they would go well in the landlords Thai curry.

Lorna, chaired the meeting and we discussed how things were going with the steering committee and if any members had comments and or suggestions on how the club was being managed, the general theme / thoughts were that we wanted more social events for days out and or weekends etc. rather than car show events in the calendar for next year. It was suggested we organise a bonfire night event at Ipswich Speedway, Steve with his contacts was immediately volunteered to arrange this, a coast run for fish & chips was discussed no conclusion to where was agreed a few suggestions Aldeburgh, Southwold or maybe North Norfolk Coast we shall take this up again at the next gathering.

There were a number of very positive comments about how things were going, but we desperately need your input, Izzy has been over to North Wales over the pass week or so and was scoping out the local area for a possible weekend out, driving around some of the more interesting roads of North Wales, scaring a few sheep and co-pilots along with a visit, or two, to the local hostelries. If it comes together it could be a cracking weekend, the only down side could be the Brains Beer, you can’t have it all.

It was discussed that I and Izzy continue to blather away in the club newsletters, Facebook and the odd article or so published in the club magazine, other contributors are very welcome.

Myself and John Butcher attended the PIE Coffee Morning the other week, it was a great morning for driving, very few cars on the road at 8:30 ish, nice bendy bits on the roads around Lavenham etc. Quite a few cars turned out, some of the cars are featured on the PIE Facebook site, I didn’t count but there must have been an excess of 20 - 30 cars, Chris and John did their best to keep all their customers occupied but there were just too many. It was a great opportunity to discuss things Porsche with the PIE engineers and to receive feedback on some of the performance work they have been doing on customer’s cars, deep pockets but a lot of fun in terms of enhancing the handling etc. of these special cars. Tempted am I, in terms of getting the car poly bushed, the car is now 13 years young and some of the rubber bits are either getting saggy or have past their best (I have restrained myself for making any comments) Chris and his guys highly recommend it and I’m waiting for a slot in the very busy workshop at PIE for sort out the saggy bits.

There will be a gathering of the steering committee before year end as we need to work on the agenda for next year.

This weekend we have the annual club BBQ, hosted by Lorna & Steve, the secret location has been published and we are looking fwd. to Sunday.

Work commitments prevent me from writing any more for the time being I hope a normal service will be resumed at some time in the future.

Kind Regards
John Briggs

[izzy]

SEPTEMBER NEWS

Hi Guys
Just a few lines to cover our meeting earlier this month and a catch up of what`s happened or happening in the club. The club BBQ was held on the 11th Sept - it seems like only yesterday! It was a great afternoon which was kindly organised and hosted by Steve and Lorna. The weather was very kind to us and Steve and Lorna fed us all exceptionally well. I was nominated driver so was not able to sample the fridge full of beverages. By the time we went home most of us were suffering a little from third degree sunburn and were seen waddling down the road, more than content, and not requiring food for the next couple of days. If you did not attend shame on you it was a great day, and highly recommend next years BBQ which is already in the planning stages, negotiations are in place for the role of head chef and bottle washer, applications on a post card.
Our meeting at the Woolie was an interesting evening attended by 17 of us, gathering in the snug sampling food and beer. There were a number of healthy discussions and a couple of new faces who had great interest in joining the club.
Vanessa was approached the other week whilst attending Newmarket Race course by Colin Clarke and his long standing and suffering wife Heather, we can’t get to the bottom of if but we believe that Colin has been deep undercover trying to discover how he got a ticket for driving in a bus lane when he attended the last TIPEC AGM. Colin, if you are reading this please drop in and visit us at the Woolpack one evening, you will be more than welcome and we would love to see you. Xmas lunch would be great opportunity to catch up ????
Autumn is here, the log burner has been fired up along with the cussing about the central heating system not working as it should etc etc, mornings are colder and the Porsche will have to be tucked up in the barn shortly. Now we need to consider other matters, Xmas is just around the corner and this years Xmas meal will be held at the Woolie.
The date is confirmed as Sunday 4th December 2016, 1.30pm for 2pm sitdown.
At our last meeting I committed to obtaining a copy of the Xmas menu, it finally materialised and is faithfully reproduced below:
Starters
Soup of the day + crusty bread
Blue Cheese panna cotta, spiced apricot chutney
Guinea fowl and ham hock terrine, marinated beetroot, golden raisin puree
Mackerel pate, toast
Mains
Roast Turkey, turned potatoes, sausage meat stuffing, gravy
Fillet of venison, suet pudding, spiced red cabbage, pomme puree
Cod loin, herb linguinie, baby spinach
Vegetable wellington, mash, kale
Desserts
Xmas pud, spiced cherries orange custard
Treacle steamed pud, treacle tart ice cream
Spiced rum and chocolate pot, biscotti
Orange tart, clotted cream ice cream
Two courses £20
Three courses £25
A deposit will be required to secure your place at this most esteemed feast, I am informed we have the tables for the afternoon and into the evening, a lock in has not been discussed but I daresay it could be arranged, hic
Yvonne, has agreed to look after the bookings, if you are interested please contact Yvonne direct, she will be only too pleased to separate you from your money , as we are getting closer to xmas we need to get numbers. At the next meeting please come with loads of cash as we would like a £10 deposit for everyone who is thinking of coming.
Our events season has come to a close, although getting late in the year we could always squeeze in a run to the coast for fish and chips if there is any interest, your steering committe has already started working on the events for next year and have come up with a few interesting and different activities and or long weekend events / drive outs. Wales has been mentioned along with the Ring. Ian has been gathering interest in his trip to Spa next year several members and wives will be joining him and Mandy for the Classic car event at Spa in May. This time its in hotels not camping (last time it was abit nippy), if you are interested contact Ian directly. We are also looking for new events and or car shows to attend, many have been suggested and we are very interested in hearing of other shows you may have attended that you have found to be interesting etc.
It is with sadness that John Butcher decided to part with his 912 and will be focusing on other project cars of a small variety so he will be making frequent visits to the shopping trolley park at Tescos looking for donor parts
Couple of pickkies to remind us of the 912, I’m sure the new owner will look after the car in the same manner as John has over the past few years.
Right I’m off, need to get back to work
Kind Regards
John Briggs

[izzy]

October News Letter

Morning Guys

Yes I have arisen early this fine day to put hand to keyboard to release this month’s news letter, a bit early for me I know but there are loads of things going on over the following days and weeks in the run up to year end which we must cover to give notice to all our members.
Firstly our meeting at the woolie was attended by 16 members last night, for my penance I chaired the meeting and have suffered accordingly as my better half has taken vengeance upon me for things I may have said during the meeting .
Anyway, this weekend we have been invited to attend the last Coffee Morning of the year at PIE Performance, I understand that Chris has assembled his team for this the last Coffee morning, there will be competitions during the day amongst other activities for you to join in. A number of us will be attending first thing in the morning, my advice is to get there early to grab the donuts and the seek out techie advice from Chris and his band of merry men otherwise they will be swamped, and you will join the end of a very long Q.
The following weekend is bonfire night, a great many of us will be descending upon Ipswich, being the home of the Foxhall Stadium for their Gala Night which features 2.0L Saloon Stock Cars, Bangers and Fireworks (5th Nov 2016) the event starts at 6pm and will end with fireworks, we are planning to meet at my works before trudging across ipswich to the event (address and post code detailed in the footer of this email)
we plan to assemble at 4:30pm then drive across town to Foxhall for parking. As this is a popular event parking can be a premium so we need to get their early to nab the car parking spaces and to grab the best seats. You will need to pay for your own entrance on the day, we are advised the food is limited to burgers, chips etc you know the drill so don’t expect full restaurant services, however I do understand that there are local Kebab joints along with fried chicken and various other take aways in the vicinity
Our xmas meal has been booked in the woolie, the menu was circulated in the previous newsletter, I have been asked what the soup is, and have been informed this will be winter vegetable, we need to take deposits ASAP of £10 to secure your place at the table (4th Dec), I have been advised if you want to choose from the normal Sunday menu on the assumption you want to select something other than xmas meal you can do so. We need confirmed numbers ASAP, please reply to Yvonne directly if you are interested in attending.
During our recent steering meeting it was discussed that the quality of some of the events we have attended this year could have been better, this is not a reflection on the clubs organisation but more so on the events themselves, with the overwhelming pressure of insurance and health & safety some events are no longer as accessible as they once were with restrictions on car movements on site between particular times, basically if you want to leave before an allotted time you can’t. Also some of the events have very little to attract family members or partners with interests other than cars, so we are on the hunt for a different type of event, a number have been identified which we shall follow up next year, once we have firmed up on these events we shall present them to the members at the regular meetings and via this newsletter and Facebook so watch this space. We are also looking into a number of other activities such as long weekends for drive outs etc a few drives have been suggested Wales being one of them, I think Izzy just likes frightening the sheep I shall not provide any further detail for fear of litigation. Mandy, Ian's long suffering wife has volunteered to help with arranging events for the club and will take up the role of our co-ordinator over the coming year, thank you Mandy.
Our last full club meeting will be held at the Woolie in Nov, Chris has kindly suggested we hold an event and has volunteered to hold a race night, Chris (aka Bernie Ecclestone) will be setting up a Scalextric circuit in the club room for all to participate. On the assumption we have the same turn out for this event we anticipate 16 members which will equate to 4 teams, we shall run as many races during the evening as possible, prize will be awarded on the night for the winning team. I have already heard about certain club members talking about their custom Scalextric Cars being brought out of retirement, with trick suspension and tyres with battery boost packs etc, I had no idea Scalextric could be so competitive, in the past its as much as I could to keep the bloody car on the track. So we shall be watching out for ringers and penalties will be applied for drivers and or cars which seem to be just a little out of the ordinary, but please feel free to dust off those treasured cars which may have been consigned to the wardrobe. It promises to be a great night to wrap up our last meeting of the yr.
We shall not be holding a meeting in Dec as the Xmas meal is intended to replace our normal meet, the next scheduled club meeting after Xmas will be Jan, same place same time, if there are any weather issues early next year which may prevent us from holding a meeting this will be posted on Facebook.
Kind Regards
John Briggs

[izzy]

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER / JANUARY NEWS

Hi Guys

February is here and I have not even put out the Jan newsletter, this month I’ve been badgered and bullied into getting the newsletter out earlier but work just keeps on getting in the way. Still we’ve seen a few cold snaps over the past few weeks and I assume that many of our PJ’s are tucked away until the weather gets a little warmer. I’ve been looking at work to do on mine over the past few month’s, the list is long but the will power is weak and the bank balance after xmas is not so healthy, so I will just have to prioritise some of the work until the bank balance starts looking a little healthier.
So whats been going on, our last meeting at the Woolie was well attended, it was a cold winters evening but the meeting was attended by 16+ of us, no footie on the telly maybe , Izzy chaired the meeting minus the pig as its having major surgery at a well known body shop in the south of england.
Thoughts of future meetings, events and weekends being the main topics of discussion, Izzy listed a number of events which cover the warmer events season and I think we concluded there are more event held in the east than one would have thought, essentially we could attened four events each weekend throughout the summer and still not cover them all. A number of the events we have attended in one form or another but the club has in the past focussed on one or two main events and has remained loyal to the organisers, last year we started looking at different events and activities mainly becasue some of the events had become a little stale and were not developing or bringing anyhting new to grasp the attension of our members. A number of our memebers have familys and our better halves to entertain as well as looking at cars, a number of the events don’t cater for this so we need to look further a field, during our discussions a number of events were tabled which I detail below:
APRIL
Easter Sunday 16th World Endurance Championship Silverstone
1st round 6 hour race
MAY
Spa Classic 19th - 22nd, Izzy organising trip:
4 cars booked so far! If interested contact Ian Jones for more info ASAP
JUNE
Weekend away at Simply Porsche Beaulieu 03rd - 04th, Lorna booking trip we understand the Angel and Pig is fully booked, however if you are interested other accomodation may be available (tent maybe )
8 cars booked so far
Staying at the Angel & Blue Pig Lymington
Accommodation availability in the area going fast!
Or just do the show Sunday 04th TIPEC National event 1000+ cars
Suffolk Motor Show 11th at Eriswell Hall Barns Lakenheath
JULY
Wales long weekend 7th - 10th Friday to Monday (contact izzy or see emails)
Silverstone Classic 28th - 30th
Discounts + early bird when booked with club codes see All Torque
AUGUST
Weekend at the AVD Oldtimers GP Nurburgring camping
Thursday 10th - Monday 14th. Numbers required soon, please contact Ian Jones (Izzy) for more Info
SEPTEMBER
Battlesbridge car show 24th
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One of the greatest problems we have as a club is deciding what to do, the events listed above are just a flavour other suggestions being:
Run out to Caister Castle tbc
Meeting with other Regions & their events dates & venues to follow
Cressing Temple car show date to be confirmed
Colchester Classic car show date to be confirmed
Every time someone suggests we do one thing, ten more suggestions are put fwd, as a steering committee it is very difficult for us to pick and choose, so we need your help, just let us know what you want to do you can email me, Izzy, Lorna, Steve and Yvonne to let us know if there is anything in particular you want to do or to give your support in attending one of the event.
Just so you are aware last yr Izzy and Mandy went off to Wales to worry a few sheep, the trip was so good they suggested a the club make a weekend out of it, I don’t know if all of you have seen some of Izzys emails over the past couple of days, but in summary the Wales trip is from friday 7th July to Monday 10th July, accomodation at two locations have been booked Kings Head in Llandovery on the 7th, and the remaining evenings at the Llwyndu Farmhoue Barmouth. These two location being best option to cover Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia. Places are going fast we have a few places remaining, and I do mean a few, if you are interested you need to move fast so contact Izzy if your interested.
Your steering committe is working hard to make this year important we have two weekends booked already and thats without thinking about events, your feed back is important so we can make the difference so please help us with feedback or assistance to run an event etc.
This evening I’m off to the pub and I assume a few others are heading that way as well, so have a great evening and don’t drink too much as the wife has a long list of things which need sorting out on Sunday morning. have a great weekend and we hope to see most of you at our next meeting end of Feb.

Kind Regards

John Briggs

[izzy]

January Newsletter

Hi Guys

February is here and I have not even put out the Jan newsletter, this month I’ve been badgered and bullied into getting the newsletter out earlier but work just keeps on getting in the way.  Still we’ve seen a few cold snaps over the past few weeks and I assume that many of our PJ’s are tucked away until the weather gets a little warmer.  I’ve been looking at work to do on mine over the past few month’s, the list is long but the will power is weak and the bank balance after xmas is not so healthy, so I will just have to prioritise some of the work until the bank balance starts looking a little healthier.

So what's been going on, our last meeting at the Woolie was well attended, it was a cold winters evening but the meeting was attended by 16+ of us, no footie on the telly maybe , Izzy chaired the meeting minus the pig as its having major surgery at a well known body shop in the south of England.  

Thoughts of future meetings, events and weekends being the main topics of discussion, Izzy listed a number of events which cover the warmer events season and I think we concluded there are more event held in the east than one would have thought, essentially we could attended four events each weekend throughout the summer and still not cover them all.  A number of the events we have attended in one form or another but the club has in the past focussed on one or two main events and has remained loyal to the organisers, last year we started looking at different events and activities mainly because some of the events had become a little stale and were not developing or bringing anything new to grasp the attention of our members.  A number of our members have families and our better halves to entertain as well as looking at cars, a number of the events don’t cater for this so we need to look further a field, during our discussions a number of events were tabled which I detail below:


APRIL

Easter Sunday 16th World Endurance Championship Silverstone
1st round 6 hour race

MAY

Spa Classic 19th - 22nd, Izzy organising trip:
4 cars booked so far!   If interested contact Ian Jones for more info ASAP 

JUNE

Weekend away at Simply Porsche Beaulieu 03rd - 04th, Lorna booking trip we understand the Angel and Pig is fully booked, however if you are interested other accommodation may be available (tent maybe )
8 cars booked so far
Staying at the Angel & Blue Pig Lymington
Accommodation will depend on availability going fast!
Or just do the show Sunday 04th TIPEC National event 1000+ cars

Suffolk Motor Show 11th at Eriswell Hall Barns Lakenheath

JULY

Silverstone Classic 28th - 30th
Discounts + early bird when booked with club codes see All Torque

AUGUST 

Weekend at the AVD Oldtimers GP Nurburgring camping 
Thursday 10th - Monday 14th. Numbers required soon, please contact Ian Jones for more Info

SEPTEMBER 

Battlesbridge car show 24th


One of the greatest problems we have as a club is deciding what to do, the events listed above are just a flavour other suggestions being:

Run out to Caister Castle tbc

Meeting with other Regions & their events dates & venues to follow

Cressing Temple car show date to be confirmed 

Colchester classic car show date to be confirmed

Every time someone suggests we do one thing, ten more suggestions are put fwd, as a steering committee it is very difficult for us to pick and choose, so we need your help, just let us know what you want to do you can email me, Izzy, Lorna, Steve and Yvonne to let us know if there is anything in particular you want to do or to give your support in attending one of the event.  

Just so you are aware last year Izzy and Mandy went off to wales to worry a few sheep, the trip was so good they suggested a the club make a weekend out of it, I don’t know if all of you have seen some of Izzy's emails over the past couple of days, but in summary the wales trip is from Friday 7th July to Monday 10th July, accommodation at two locations have been booked Kings Head in Llandovery on the 7th, and the remaining evenings at the Llwyndu Farmhouse Barmouth.  These two location being best option to cover Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia.  Places are going fast we have a few places remaining, and I do mean a few, if you are interested you need to move fast so contact Izzy if your interested.

Your steering committee is working hard to make this year important we have two weekends booked already and that's without thinking about events, your feed back is important so we can make the difference so pls help us with feedback or assistance to run an event etc.

This evening I’m off to the pub and I assume a few others are heading that way as well, so have a great evening and don’t drink too much as the wife has a long list of things which need sorting out on Sunday morning. have a great weekend and we hope to see most of you at our next meeting end of Feb.


Kind Regards

John Briggs

[izzy]

Februarys Newsletter

Hi Guys

Just a quick line to cover our meeting this month, it will be short and sweet as I’m busy as a busy thing today, I’ve been nagged a little about getting the newsletters out earlier so here are, we had 11 members turn out on Tuesday and prior to the meeting we held a steering committee meeting in which we confirmed the events to be held over the forthcoming year.  If any members would like to receive copies of the minutes please contact me and I shall make them available to you.

Our events are detailed below, and I think you could say we will be busy this year, we have a number of weekends scheduled in the UK and also in Europe, there are a number of shows etc. Which we are also planning to visit.  Most of the weekend away slots have been booked some time ago, but if you are interested in attending any of these please advise and we can provide you with the details so you can make separate arrangements to attend.

Events
2017 events many have been already booked the following are essentially weekend/ overnight events: 

May 19th - 22nd Spa Classic
June 4th - 5th Simply Porsche Beaulieu
July 7th - 10th Wales 
August 10th - 14th Old Farts GP Nurburgring

The following are events that have been agreed and we shall attend:

May 14th Kayaking, Upware Cambs
June 11th Suffolk Motor Show Lakenheath
July 2nd Peterborough Speedway, joint event with Peterborough group
September 17th Dullingham BBQ

Further information regarding these event will be rolled out in subsequent meetings and newsletters.

The remaining are ad hoc at this time

Caister castle, facility only open on Sundays entrance is a little expensive.
Cressing temple car show
Colchester car show
Battlesbridge car show.

Members from the Peterbro region have expressed an interest to join us at our next meeting, details to be confirmed, you should have also received an email from Lorna to arrange a trip over to Peterbro to meet up with them as well.

The meeting this month was chaired by Steve, next month Chris is chairing the meeting.

That's it for today any questions please contact me, sorry this is a short one.

Kind Regards

John Briggs

[izzy]

Newsletter (April)

This morning I was full of intensions to get into work nice and early to draft the newsletter, the sun was shining and all was well, unfortunately it slipped my mind that Monday was a Bank Holiday and have spent most of the day catching up with customers orders and queries as they have had far too much time on their hands over the long weekend, its much quieter on a Monday morning when folks are at work and not bothering me, still it pays the wages. I must be turning into an old fart, some say I have already arrived

Last month I did not circulate a newsletter, as I was very light of pocket and could not bring myself to draft anything, it would seem that I have not been the only one as the green pig has had some major surgery as well (keep an eye out for an article in All Torque soon) if you happen to follow the pig please wear ear defenders and keep and eye out for anything which might drop off, Izzy is paying a reward for any parts which fall off, he has also promised to clean your windscreen of any chip fat oil coming out of his exhaust :0. My 996 was in the workshop for a little preventative maintenance for the impending trip over to the Ring in August, for the Old Timer Grand Prix. This will my first trip over to the Ring, the Old Timers meeting is run yearly for those who are interested the following link will point you in the right direction http://www.nuerburgring.de/en/events-ti ... -prix.html. Anyway, my Postmortem started out quite innocently with a suspension refresh I thought it would be a nice idea to poly bush the back end as things were getting a little saggy, anyone following close behind would also agree , I was advised it would be a good idea to also replace the lower suspension ball joints as these can be a pig to remove and may get damaged in the process, this was agreed. We then started discussing the water pump and yes this was also added to the list along with a low temp thermostat, and as we were looking at the water cooling, one of the rads had a little leak, so this was added to the list. As the front PU was being taken off we decided to have a little look at the AC condensers as well, and yes you’ve guessed it it was decided these had seen better days as well and they were added to the list. The piggy bank was getting a little lighter now, and the tea towel holder was nipping up a little with talk of other things, such as, auto transmission fluid service, brake fluid change, yes these were added to the list as well. As the brake fluid was being changed I foolishly suggested the brakes were a little on the soft side and at the time it would not be a bad idea to bleed the entire system to firm up the brakes. By know I think you get the drift and can anticipate there were a few extras that needed sorting and it would be shame not to do these bits as well, idler pulleys on the serpentine belt were worn and needed replacement, all works were agreed and arranged to be carried out, then we found out bleeding the brakes would not produce the expected pedal quality, scratching of head and a few more attempts at bleeding the brakes using vacuum bleeders etc were used to no avail, then the servo was removed oh yes it had some water in the unit and had collapsed, so new servo as well. I can’t divulge the final bill as I would have to kill you after wards and the wife would be seeking a settlement, but what I can say is the car is totally different to drive the steering geometry was set up for the car and it goes round corners very nicely. Can’t thank Chris at Pie Performance enough for doing the work, excellent work guys, I shall be writing up a more detailed review with photos at a later date. Hot news off the press I now also need two new ignition key fobs Ahhhhhhh!!!!!, now living on bread and water for the rest of the month. Well the car is now sorted for a trip to the ring, me thinks the drive over will be as eventful, some cars will be weighed before they leave the UK and on their return just to determine the weight loss as a result of the trip

With everything that has been going on and with the age of some of our cars, we should have a new section to the newsletter comparing repair bills, me thinks the hair dryers will top the list of big bills

Well whats happened over the last couple of months and whats on the cards for things to do, for those who missed out on our impromptu Facebook (FB) gathering(s) we have been out for a Sunday lunch over to The Swan at Little Henny just outside Sudbury, we all rolled up just after 12 noon, filled the car park with pork the sun was shining, no sun tan cream was used and we all went home a little lobster but full of food and beer/wine/pop, if you’ve never been to the Swan it's a worthwhile trip (on a nice day) but get there early for a seat etc. Weekend before last we popped over to Maldon Museum for a Cars & Coffee Morning, Porsche 996 group & Porsche owners UK invited us via FB, we were all parked up in our own little section together with about 20-30 Porsches not all 996’s but a nice selection of 911’s and the odd Boxster & 944 etc. For those who have not attended there were about 100 or so cars on site ranging from european classics to american hot rods and Japanese metal as well, afterwards we found a nice pub for a bite to eat afterwards. It seems that with all of our trips out, if a pub is not featured at some time it's not a day out, so mental note if you are organising an event make sure you list all the local pubs and the quality of the grub as otherwise no bugger will turn up . One of our members has also taken to rating the pubs toilets on a scale of 1-10, if any ones interested in the top ten Sh*t list of pub toilets it maybe published in a future Newsletter, oh dear.

So whats coming up:

• May 19th - 22nd Spa Classic, Izzy and his long suffering wife Mandy have organised this event, we have a number of members going and staying the lap of luxury in a Belgian Spa Hotel, Izzy will be having the odd facial and I understand waxing is on the agenda as well, Back S$%^ and Cr*@& are the main areas of interest. The ladies are working on their shopping agenda, chocolates and husbands credit cards are part of the plan :-0
• June 3th - 4th Simply Porsche Beaulieu, so far we have a booked out a local B&B for our members, Lorna has been working hard to make this a great event Steve has been assisting, the accommodation looks great and so does the bar/ restaurant, looking forward to this event.
• July 7th - 10th Wales. Another Izzy and Mandy event, some time ago Izzy and Mandy took a break in the sheep worrying country and discovered some great driving roads and B&B’s oh and some Brains Beers as well as the odd Purple Moose. I’m sorry not to be attending this one as the itinerary looks great.
• August 10th - 14th Avd Old (Farts) Timer Grand Prix Nurburgring, and this is where all us old farts are gathering in the “Fatherland” Germany. Once again Izzy has been leading the way we have 7 cars and 14 members going over in August, this is Manly a jolly boys outing, as camping is the order of the day & promises to be an eventful few days. We are gathering in the early hours of the morning, sustained by coffee and bacon rolls for the trip over to Mrs Merkels Germany anything we can do to help the Brexit negotiations for good old Blighty will be order of the day, showing our German pork around the Ring and taking it back home to good old Blighty where most of the German car industry is parked, opps too political! Oops reset, hope nobody noticed that slip.
If anyone is interested in joining us our Chunnel train crossing times plus how to book the weekend Old Timer tickets. (you`ll need to book these yourselves)


Our Chunnel (Eurotunnel) crossing time are
10/08/2017 07:20 Thursday Outward
Returning 14:20 Monday 14/08/2017
Get your AVD Oldtimers weekend tickets here:

http://www.nuerburgring-shop.de/events- ... tions=cart

Camping is per head per day
Pay as you arrive

Ps we're travelling via Reims old Grand Prix track as a point of interest & photo opportunities also the Nordschleife is normally open Saturday & Sunday plus the Tourists trophy race is run Friday “Epic”
If you have anymore questions:
Message me


The following are events that have been agreed and we shall attend:

• May 14th Kayaking, Upware Cambs, Lorna has her life saving certificate so if anyone falls in they will get wet, budgie smugglers are not permitted, wet suits are welcome if you want to be harpooned as an escaped whale.
• June 11th Suffolk Motor Show Lakenheath, our new members have organised this event, they are working diligently in setting up this event, postings on FB should have made everyone aware of it by now we need to confirm numbers as we have reserved a plot and need to fill it up.
• July 2nd Peterborough Speedway, joint event with Peterborough group, this event is still in its infancy but interest is gathering, please let us know if you want to attend
• BBQ, the dates are yet to be finalised, its looking like a Sept BBQ, the weather has been ordered.


THE ACE CAFE SPRING BANK HOLIDAY 29th MAY 2017, PORSCHE NIGHT !!!
For those in the know Magnus Walker has posted on FB he will attend as he's in the UK and promises something special.

Several from our region are going, there is also interest from the Peterborough group who may join us, it is suggested we meet up at a Stansted Services (Birchanger) and drive down, the meeting will be rammed so its important to get and early start and to get on site well before 6pm start on the 29th. More info to follow. (4:30 to 5pm)

For those who have no idea who Magus may be follow the link, https://www.topgear.com/car-news/interv ... s-walker#1

Well thats more than enough for this months newsletter, keep an eye out for impromptu FB meetings, if the weather is good and theres a local pub in the agenda it will be supported.

Kind Regards

John Briggs
&
Avd Oldtimers
Ian Jones