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Area 10 - May Update

Area 10 Rep Jeff Sears | Published on 5/16/2025

Area 10 - May report



Our first event in the month was our monthly meeting, AGM and Quiz held at The Bird in Hand.  The venue looked after us very well allocating us the main restaurant and providing prompt service for the food. We spent five minutes on the AGM where I firstly reported on the Area 10 finances.  Our current cash balance was £1755.60, up £635.68 over the year.  The increase was largely due to the excellent turnout for our New Year Dinner – we will budget accordingly next year.  I will just mention that Lloyds have introduced a monthly charge of £4.25 but the club have agreed to pay it until another arrangement can be made.

Secondly, we held our elections for Rep and Assistant Rep – Liz and I had agreed to stand for another year and were re-elected by a unanimous show of hands.  Liz offered to assist any Member who has an embryonic idea for an event to develop it, so do contact Liz 

 


After the elections we proceeded to the quiz in which the quizmasters were last year’s winners; Linda Davies, Michael Turner and Jeff & Jo Sears.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the sometimes-challenging questions and there was a clear winning team, The Sticky Toffee Pudding, who won the prestigious Ten Trophy.  The team comprised David & Jane Cottam, Steve & Helen Cory and Stewart Kay and Sarah Kensit.





Several Area 10 Members responded to the invitation from Area 12 to join the Ferraris and ACs in a display at Hatfield House on 21 April – I hear that it was an enjoyable event with a total of 90 cars on display.


Having been looking forward to the Chicane Open Day on 26 April, I was personally unable to attend but I have had some direct feedback and seen several Facebook posts that suggest that it was a successful get-together.




On 27 April, Drive-it Day, several Area 10 Members joined me in attending Supercar Sunday at the Silverstone 500 British GT meeting.  Unlike last year it was a beautiful sunny day – the Safety Car seemed to love the conditions as it enjoyed a lot of excursions during the day leading to the cancellation of my lunchtime parade laps.  The four Aston Vantages looked great on circuit with Jonny Adam’s Blackthorn GT3 coming 4th overall and local icecream man Andrew Howard coming 2nd in class in his No 97 Beechdean GT3.  The photos are borrowed from the British GT website – in the background of the Beechdean photo you can see the Escapade where eight of us enjoyed an excellent lunch.




Future Events


Our May meeting, on the 8th, will be held at The Dinton Hermit, Ford, HP17 8XH just south of Aylesbury.  See The Dinton Hermit, Pub and Restaurant This will be our first meeting there and the manager is allocating us the whole of the 40-capacity restaurant. Hopefully the weather will be fine and we can spend some time with our cars.

Several of you have been in touch planning to attend The Aston Clinton Hill Climb Centenary event at Aston Hill on Saturday 17 May.  I understand that both “visitor” and “display” parking are now sold out.  I expect that there will be many reports on the action especially regarding the pre-war cars which will be climbing the hill in the morning.

In my last two monthly emails I have included full details for our Pizzas on the Farm evening on Wednesday 21 May at Peterley Manor Farm, Peterley Lane, Great Missenden, Bucks, HP16 0HH.  So far we are expecting 50 people to attend (with a contingent from Chiltern Aston) but can accommodate more so, to assist with catering, please let me know by 11 May if you plan to join us, plus any dietary requirements.  You can join us just for a drink if you prefer. 

On Sunday May 25, the Amberley Museum in West Sussex are holding another of their James Bond events.   The site of the museum was the location of Zorin’s Main Strike Mine in the Bond movie “A View to a Kill”.  It is free of charge for the driver and a passenger in an Aston.  Details were on page 14 of the March AM Monthly and you can still register at:  James Bond at Amberley - Sunday 25th May 2025

Pangbourne College are again holding their Pangbourne Classic Car Show which this year takes place on Saturday 31 May.  They welcome all Astons and will park us together.  For more information or to register, visit:  Pangbourne Classic Car Show | Pangbourne College

Details of the AMOC Spring Concours at Burghley House, Stamford on 7-8 June are on the club website.  Visit:  Concours - Aston Martin Owners Club

I had a lot of interest in our proposed visit to the Bremont Watch Company headquarters near Henley-on-Thames. I have secured 25 places on the visit on the morning of Friday 13 June, but sadly I have had to disappoint some Members. Those of you on the list will have received an email from me on Monday evening by way of confirmation.

The annual Abingdon Air & Country Show will be held on Saturday 14 June.  Area 10 Member Jim Walker has volunteered to collate the Aston Martin entries and forward them to the organiser.  Please register at www.abingdonairandcountry.co.uk and then tell Jim that you have done so at: jim-trish.walker@live.co.uk

Philip Bickford Smith, the Event Co-Ordinator for the Yattendon Classic Vehicle Day being held on Sunday 29 June, has been in touch.  We normally have about 10 Astons at the event, so he has asked me to remind Members.  It is free to display but please register in advance by visiting https://ycvd.co.uk/

I had a lot of interest following our invitation to the Brize Norton 99Sqn Families Day on Saturday 5 July.  They have applied a strict limit of five Astons (they have invited three other marques) and so I have submitted the details of the first five Members to Brize Norton.

Linda Davies is kindly organising the annual Area 10 Ladies Lunch which will take place at Gerrards Cross Golf Club on Wednesday 16 July. The plan is to meet up at about 12.30 at the Golf Club for pre-lunch drinks on the patio if weather allows. Lunch will be served from 1:00pm in the private Centenary Room.  There will be a fixed price menu for either two or three courses but including coffee or tea with mints after – three choices each for first, second and third courses.  Each person attending pays for their own drinks and meal individually.  All Lady Members and partners of Members are most welcome.  For more details and to register your interest, please contact Linda on  linda@altavistacressing.co.uk

At this year’s Tom May Special on Thursday 7 August at the Eton Dorney Rowing Lake, we will be marking the club’s 90th Anniversary.  I will send out the flyer in a month’s time but, meanwhile, please save the date.

Sunday 30 August is Supercar Saturday & Club Trophy Day at Salon Prive at Blenheim Palace.  Tickets are on sale at preferential rates for parking in the Aston Martin paddock: Buy SPCT - Aston Martin Club Paddock Tickets online - Salon Privé

As I mentioned last month, the annual Kop Hill Climb is taking place over the weekend of 20 & 21 September – entries for hill runs and display opened on 31 March.  We usually have an AMOC stand there but neither Andy nor I will be around at that time and so we need a volunteer to man the AMOC stand.  Please get in touch if you can help.

The date of the Aston Meet at The Ace Cafe has been set as Saturday 18 October from 11:00am.  There are usually about 30 Astons attending – no need to register.



Other News



We have some Members who are new to the club, or new to Area 10 over the past month – I would like to welcome Mark & Sandra van Rossum and Mark Lewis.

There have been no volunteers to take a young man to his school prom just south of Milton Keynes on Friday 20 June.  Details in last month’s email if you might like to make his day.

Please get in touch if you have a suggestion for additional Area 10 events.



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