It is with great sadness that we start this committee news by reporting that our Treasurer for the last 19 years, John Loud, died suddenly and unexpectedly in May. John spent most of his working life in banking and after taking early retirement spent 15 years as a Land Train driver at Center Parcs, Longleat. He became CTP Treasurer in July 2004 and has been a valued member of the committee since then. He prepared regular Interim Financial updates of expenditure and income for the committee and John enjoyed being part of our group and in turn we enjoyed his company as well as his expertise. John was also a lifelong Bristol Rovers supporter. Four CTP committee members attended his funeral service at the Minster Church in Warminster, which was well attended with a substantial representation of his footballing friends. He will be greatly missed. R.I.P. John.
We are in the fortunate position of having an existing committee member who also spent many years in banking, 38 years in fact. This is Malcolm Hitchings who has agreed to take on the role of Treasurer as well as his existing position of Vice Chair.
Since our last Committee News, we have enjoyed the March and April indoor meetings at which there was a small increase in numbers attending.
At the beginning of April, we held the Spring Road Run. There were 24 entries with 19 taking to the road on the day, following a route through the Mendips.
This year instead of the May Quiz Night and following last Autumn’s successful Coach Trip we planned a Spring Coach Trip to Dingles Fairground Museum but sadly this had to be cancelled due to lack of numbers. The committee work hard to organise events for members to enjoy and so it is disappointing to have to cancel them so we would appreciate your feed-back with suggestions of anything you might prefer. We are currently planning the Autumn Coach Trip for October to go to Brooklands where there have been many changes & additions since the last club trip there in 2012.
Our membership of the FBHVC (Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs) was renewed in June with the subscription held at the same level as the last four years. The FBHVC exists to maintain our freedom to use “Yesterday’s Vehicles on Tomorrow’s Roads” and represents over 500 clubs with about 250,000 enthusiasts participating.
As we write this we are looking forward to a fun Skittles & Buffet evening at the Harlequins Football Social Club on Wednesday 28th June and Noggin, Nosh & Natter at The George Inn, Longbridge Deverill on Wednesday 26th July, and of course our new event on Tuesday 22nd August the Historic Bus Ride.