Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2011 9:26:11 GMT
It was good to see West Sussex return to the fold (after some badgering !) a couple of years ago. Looking back, the visit used to be one of the most enjoyable of the fixtures due to the hospitable welcome at the end of a long (and often fraught journey).
As touched on, marshalling the team together and arrangements of transport seemed to take up a huge part of the captain's job in the days before the transport infrastructure that we tend to take so much for granted these days. I can still remember the Horsham to Crawley road being a single carriageway and a deathtrap.
Before improvements to the A23, Hastings was the worst journey - 2 hours following the A272, mainly. In 1978/79 we took two cars, mine and Margo's (then my girlfriend). Hers, an MG1100, developed a leaky radiator on the return journey and we had to knock on someone's door at midnight for a pint of water to get us home ! A year later we were relieved when Hastings were drawn in the other group (yes it was a lucky draw for teams then) and then for the 1980/81 visit I remember I hired a minibus, and when the intended driver was taken ill, I finished up doing the driving myself (which was scary for everyone, as I had never driven one before......)
The best one, again in 1980/81 was our visit to Brighton. The team was ferried in two cars, mine and Gerry McCarthy's - which had developed an intermittent fault. We started out in convoy, and as we got as far as the Crabtree Gerry flashed his lights and pulled into the carpark as he had lost power completely. I had to load his passengers up into my car, six up in a Ford Anglia, three in the back and three in the front with John Slee straddling the gear box and me changing gear between his legs with the long gearstick. ;D ;D ;D But somehow we made it.
As touched on, marshalling the team together and arrangements of transport seemed to take up a huge part of the captain's job in the days before the transport infrastructure that we tend to take so much for granted these days. I can still remember the Horsham to Crawley road being a single carriageway and a deathtrap.
Before improvements to the A23, Hastings was the worst journey - 2 hours following the A272, mainly. In 1978/79 we took two cars, mine and Margo's (then my girlfriend). Hers, an MG1100, developed a leaky radiator on the return journey and we had to knock on someone's door at midnight for a pint of water to get us home ! A year later we were relieved when Hastings were drawn in the other group (yes it was a lucky draw for teams then) and then for the 1980/81 visit I remember I hired a minibus, and when the intended driver was taken ill, I finished up doing the driving myself (which was scary for everyone, as I had never driven one before......)
The best one, again in 1980/81 was our visit to Brighton. The team was ferried in two cars, mine and Gerry McCarthy's - which had developed an intermittent fault. We started out in convoy, and as we got as far as the Crabtree Gerry flashed his lights and pulled into the carpark as he had lost power completely. I had to load his passengers up into my car, six up in a Ford Anglia, three in the back and three in the front with John Slee straddling the gear box and me changing gear between his legs with the long gearstick. ;D ;D ;D But somehow we made it.
