TOC 90th Anniversary Neil Collins Social Gathering 21st Sep 2024

Neil and Caz, his wife, had kindly invited the TOC to visit his emporium on Saturday 21st September so, as the forecast was a bit iffy, Gill and I set forth in Albert, our saloon. 

The journey of about 40 miles was uneventful, but pulling into the Old Garage was a revelation. Neil and Caz only moved in at the start of Covid and the Old Garage needed lots of work but it had loads of space. I was green with envy - if I owned it there would be room for so many more Talbots! 

The first job Neil and Caz did was to convert a barn into a wonderful ‘man cave’ complete with a proper bar with working beer pumps, chairs and sofas, as well as being decorated with much automobilia. Caz had made lots of food, so we were treated to a drink at the bar before tucking into a wonderful spread. We also had to admire the cars that had assembled; as well as Albert (AO75 saloon), Neil had his AV105 VdP tourer out, Stephen Lee had brought his delectable AO 90 Brooklands Replica, Dick Campbell had brought his very pretty AW90/105 Darracq 2-door saloon and Dan Nicholson had motored down from Wakefield in his bargain basement 1929 AG 14-45. These 14-45s are very under-rated and are clearly capable of covering long distances with ease – think Sally Morris as another example. There were others in attendance in lesser motor cars!

Lots of chat, tyre kicking, eating and drinking ensued. It was good to meet up with old friends and compare notes and the afternoon passed very quickly; soon it was time to depart. We arrived home in some gentle rain, but a couple of minutes after our arrival, the heavens opened with hailstones the size of large marbles falling, thankfully not on Albert!

This was an excellent afternoon and our thanks go to Neil and Caz for their generous hospitality; it must have been a lot of work preparing for the event. Neil said he hoped to make it an annual ‘do’ and I hope he does just that!

Ian Potts