|
The Regis Classic Tour was started in 1998 as
a one-off event to raise some money for charity
and have a great time. Annie Roden & Ali Green
are both long time members of Bognor Regis Motor
Club Ltd and have been involved in organising
many Motorsport events over the years. They gathered
a group of willing ladies to run the event and
what started as a one off event has run every
Spring since 1998. The event was generously and
continuously sponsored between 1998 and 2007 by
BRMC club member Heather Darwin of Line Up Ltd
in Horsham. Her husband Christopher Darwin has
also organised several charity track days alongside
the tour adding to the charity totals.
The idea was to revive an event run by BRMC in
the 1950’s as a tour visiting the “Regis”
towns and villages in Southern England. It was
also to prove a point, that the ladies could organise
a Motorsport event as well as any man! The first
tour left Bognor Regis with 36 classic cars and
raised just over £8,000 for Breakthrough
Breast Cancer.
At the finish many participants asked where the
event was going to next year – and thus
nine years of fun and fundraising has followed,
many running full entries of 60 cars.
To date £193,488.98 has been raised by
the ladies and friends of the club, ably assisted
by their Menfolk. £111,113.71 has been donated
to Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Royal Marsden Hospital
Charity £22,069.81,The Prostate Cancer Charity
£38,211.56. In 2007 two new charities were
chosen Against Breast Cancer and Orchid –
Fighting Male Cancer and both benefited by £11,046.95.
The tour has visited a host of fabulous venues
including: Goodwood Motor Circuit, The Rolls-Royce
Motor Cars Factory at Chichester, Wilton House,
Exbury Gardens, The Sammy Miller Motorcycle Museum,
Eastnor Castle, BAR F1 Factory, The Heritage Motor
Centre at Gaydon and in 2005, when the tour was
based in the New Forest, Lord Normanton generously
hosted afternoon cream tea at Somerley, helping
to boost the funds still further. That year three
Lords assisted in the organisation with Lord March
at Goodwood allowing a drive up the famous Goodwood
House Hillclimb course and Lord Radnor at Longford
Castle allowing us to drive through his beautiful
parkland estate.
In 2006 the whole event took place on the Isle
of Wight, proving excellent experience for the
bigger adventure in 2007. Where we practiced “abroad”.
A great time was enjoyed by everyone and the island
proved to be very welcoming.
 For
2007, the Tenth Anniversary of the Tour, the ladies
planned something exciting - the whole event was
based just south of Rotterdam in Holland. Hotel
Ara at Zwindrecht proved to be very accommodating
and Norfolkline offered very generous return ferry
terms. We visited The Kinderdyke Windmills, De
Biesbosch National Park, Haringvliet Expo, De
Rijke Motor Museum, Jan Blanken Dry Dock and the
Pumphyus on the Saturday. The Gala Dinner highlight
was a pre-dinner drinks reception with entertainment
from the Shantychoir of Zwindrecht who had the
whole place jumping.
On Sunday Gouda and Schoonhoven were the chosen
venues. An optional coach trip to Euromast for
supper on Sunday night proved to be an excellent
finish to a wonderful event. Grateful thanks to
our Dutch friends Carla von Bregt and Henri de
Potter – we couldn’t have run the
event in Rotterdam without their help and support.
|
