September 2025

An excellent International Healey Meeting was held this year in Crewe at a lovely old hotel first constructed in 1615 where 139 of us enjoyed a great few days all organised by members of our Northern Centre. On the first day's trip we journeyed over to Corwen in Wales and boarded a steam train through the countryside to Llangollen. This is a 10-mile heritage line run by volunteers and at our destination of Llangollen we were able to enjoy the sight of the river Dee thundering past the pub at which we were stopping for lunch, very pleasant in the sunshine.

The next day we were off on another route to end up at the site of the Jodrell Bank and the giant Lovell radio telescope. There was a visitor centre with theatre showing film of the galaxy that we inhabit, quite stunning. The meeting ended with our familiar gala dinner and Cornish auction, a staple of our events in recent years. A big thankyou to Northern Centre for their work in staging this event. A full report on the event appears in the pages of this edition of Revcounter. Next year the event is being organised by Thames Valley Centre, so a visit to Windsor Castle is on the cards!

In the first week of August I was off to Prescott for my annual fix of vintage cars tackling the 880 yard hill climb, fortunately in glorious sunshine. As usual the sound and smells of vintage cars at full blast were intoxicating with the type 35 Bugattis, Rileys, Nash's, Morgan's and ERA's giving it 'the beans'.

As luck would have it, I was able to visit another steam railway a few weeks later that I had not visited before, running between Chinnor and Princes Risborough. It only runs for a few miles but must be one of the most picturesque lines in Southern England. Most unusual was the American 2-8-0 loco hauling the rolling stock, over here today on lease. Originally brought over to the UK during the war as part of the lend-lease scheme it ended up in Poland, where it was found and restored.

Our new club insurance scheme with Peter James is going well with many of our Members signing up, which shows I think your support and the value of the scheme.

You will have seen in the recent FBHVC report the need for more money to fund the apprenticeship scheme for classic car trades. If you or your offspring are keen to learn a trade in this area of Heritage Engineering please seek out the facilities at Brooklands or at Bicester.

I'll be stepping down as Chairman of the Austin Healey Club in December after serving the full 5-year term detailed in the Articles of Association. So, although there is a potential candidate in the wings, please approach your Centre chairman for your ideas on filling this post or any other National post.

If you would like to get involved with the European Meeting's plans in 2027 and have already expressed a wish to attend, we are looking for someone who could represent the UK Club on their organising committee.

It was with sadness that we learnt of the passing of Anders Ditlev Clausager. Many of us including myself, will have received our certificate from British Motor Heritage detailing the original specification of our car and Anders researched many makes, including Austin Healeys, with much of the work published in his book.

Keep on Overtaking! - safely!