Another week and another event. This time the Garden Party at Kitebrook Preparatory School set in the North Cotswolds countryside between Moreton in Marsh and Chipping Norton. The school and its grounds provided the perfect setting for this charity event in support of the Big Space Cancer Appeal. The charity is seeking to raise £17.5 million to provide improved facilities for the Cheltenham Oncology Centre where the number of patients is increasing by 8% annually. The Big Space Cancer Appeal - Help us transform cancer care in Gloucestershire
The school itself provides education for boys and girls aged between 3 to 13 in a beautiful, calm rural setting …a world away from my school in urban York.
The event was managed by North Cotswold Rotary, supported by the Stow Motor Club, and attendance was by invitation only to 100 selected car owners. No car clubs were invited but being on the organising committee I “negotiated” places for Area 22, and as it turned out we were the largest single marque attending, flying our flag high!
The cars began arriving after 1000 and within the hour had taken their allotted places in the grounds. The sun came out; the band began playing and the Champagne Fire Truck was open for business. An excellent brunch, later followed by afternoon tea, was provided by the school and thoroughly enjoyed by the assembled crowd.
The outstanding vehicle of the event, an Aston Martin Valkyrie, came surprisingly quietly up the school driveway to take pride of place. As expected, it proved to be a magnet for the petrol heads. I had the pleasure of directing it to its parking place and watching its owner, Gregor Fisken, going through the shutting down sequence as the car lowered itself to the ground. The door opened, the headphones and harness came off and Gregor, big smile on his face, lithely jumped out. After subsequent closer inspection we concluded that he was probably the only person at the event who could have done that with such panache!
I had a long chat with Gregor about owning and driving such a vehicle. He said that the car was very “driveable” on the public roads once you had learned the function of all the “knobs”, the external camera system providing him with a clear panoramic view of the world around him. Whilst he expressed pride in owning such a vehicle, “it is a car to be shared” he commented and demonstrated this by giving a young man a lift home as he left. As I drove home myself, I passed Gregor coming the other way, he was in a queue of slow-moving traffic following a farm tractor. I wondered if this was what Adrian Newey had envisaged when he designed the car!!
I should like to thank the members who attended the event for supporting the Big Space Cancer Appeal. A quick photograph with the remaining few members and under darkening skies the day came to a close.
Next week we drink Champagne in the Orchard… bring it on ….!
Andrew