:: [ SVVS Summer Picnic, Horne - August 2010 ] ::

The Great SVVS Summer Picnic was held again this year on a pleasant day at Church Farm beside the rather lovely St Mary's Church in Horne. The photos by Tony Oakes, Michel Gosset and Bozi Mohacek.  Please click on any thumbnail picture below to see the full size picture. To return to the thumbnails please click the Explorer "Back" arrow (top left of screen). 

The  SVVS  Picnic  included a quiz/treasure hunt involving a walk round the farm and the next-door Church  looking for clues. Julie Mohacek is a church warden of St Mary's, Horne, and the Quiz helped raise £40 towards church funds. Our Resident Reporter (at the 'Sorry Error') Julian Alderton had again filed his copy which appeared in the Surrey Mirror: 

A PICNIC AT HORNE

Once again, Church Farm at Horne was the venue for the Surrey Vintage Vehicle Society’s Summer Picnic and some 30 vintage and classic cars were arrayed around the field where their owners and friends enjoyed their picnic lunches.

Many interesting cars were on display including a Trojan with its strange two-stroke engine under the passenger’s seat and its fixed rear axle that sometimes makes the tyres squeal in protest on bends, several Rileys and a Lagonda Rapier all with Wilson pre-selector gearboxes that make a strange, characteristic whining sound through the gears, an early Dodge and a Humber tourer of about the same era, a fine Amilcar racing car, also with a fixed axle, owned by Desmond Peacock for more than 50 years and many more of equal interest.

Members were greeted on arrival with a glass of wine and a hot dog and enjoyed a good old natter with their friends in the lovely surroundings of Julie and Bozi Mohacek’s garden. After a suitable time had elapsed for lunch, Julie and Tony Oakes had arranged a quiz with clues in and around Church Farm and St. Mary’s Church and a thoroughly pleasant day was enjoyed by all.




     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     

THE PICNIC AT CHURCH FARM     by Chris Cuss

By a stroke of good fortune this year's gathering at Chez Mohacek did not clash with the Riley barbecue so for the first time for some time we were able to attend. Despite August being an unsettled month, weather-wise, the rain of the previous days kept away and the grassy paddock had dried out well. As is traditional there was a well trained team of sommeliers and chefs to provide the weary arriving motorists with a restorative glass and something warm in a bread roll. On leaving the hard standing we turned left into the field to pass the impressive line-up of the Mohacek family vehicles and made our way to park along the hedge line. Soon it was time to unpack the chairs and goodies and groups formed up to enjoy a social chat and picnic. The small parties dotted around the field were totally upstaged by the magnificent Mohacek repast laid out for the family and their chosen guests. Surely only the odd gust of wind had prevented the silver candelabra being brought out of storage.

Just when we were all well fed and watered and looking forward to relaxing and having a post- prandial nap Oakes came round insisting that we all took part in a quiz that involved having to traipse around the locality looking for clues. Starting from the house we had to circumnavigate the adjacent churchyard as well as the church itself before returning to the farmyard. St Mary's is medieval in origin with the porch dating from 1250. This had recently been retiled with Horsham stone and indeed one of the questions asked for the location of the Horsham stone. Inside the oak screen dated from the 14th century whilst some of the beams were 15th century. For better or worse the St Mary's had not escaped the Victorians passion for renovating old churches but thankfully it had not been over restored. Oakes had to use a hand bell to summon everyone back to the hard standing in front of the barn where Julie was waiting to read out the answers. Question papers were swapped and marked and the winners emerged as Ben Hardy and Lydia Harvey who were suitably rewarded. All this activity had been somewhat exhausting for people more used to spending Sunday afternoons relaxing with the weekend papers so there was a general exodus of vehicles before any more challenges were set.

Starting with the Mohacek line-up, Bozi had his 1984 XJS V12, Simon showed his MG Midget whilst Megasprog now drives a Lotus Exige. Julie's nephew, Ben Hardy, showed his good taste by bringing a classic Mercedes saloon. Neighbours Bob and Jane Kenworthy added their TVR to the array. Once again MG was the most numerous marque. The oldest present was Brian Daley's 1933 Magna L special followed by Thelma Alderton's 1948 Y type saloon. The second modern Midget was owed by local resident Rick Hone who had brought along a completed membership form and joined there and then. Leslie and Sue Harvey brought their MGB roadster and there was a pair of BGTs, Alan Pratt's 1967 example and Rob Hubbard's more modern 1975 model. My recently purchased RV8 is perhaps rather too modern to warrant a mention.

The oldest car attending was the 1920 Dodge tourer belonging to Michael Ireland that we have seen at most meetings this summer. It is great to see newer members supporting our events so well. Next oldest was Peter Dingle's lovely 1923 bull nosed Morris Cowley and then from 1927 we noted Derrick Graham's Trojan 3 door tourer and Desmond Peacock's Amilcar Grand Sport. David Woodburn's Star 12/40 Pegasus left the factory in 1928, the same year as Tony Oakes' Humber 9/20. Still in the vintage era were the trio from 1929; Ian Maclennan's Bentley, Tony Tester's Chrysler and Phil Sowry's Austin 7 fabric saloon. To set the record straight; in the write-up of the Plough meeting I erroneously gave the impression that Phil had undertaken a lengthy restoration of this car. The Riley trio of Brian Lloyd Jacob's 1935 Monaco, Bryan Shepherd's 1936 Lynx and Tony Simmonds' 1936 Adelphi were parked in close formation all trying to ignore the fact that I had left both Rileys at home in order to exercise the aforementioned MG. Frank Hayter's 1934 Morris Oxford Six and John Chapman's 1937 Bentley drop-head coupe completed the pre-war line-up.

Michel Gosset brought his lovely 1960 Jaguar XK150 drop-head coupe and from the same era was Peter Austin-Mepham's 1954 Austin Healey 100/4. The 1980 Triumph Spitfire belonging to Brian Rice had made one of the shortest journeys. In contrast Roger Horstman had made one of the longest in his 1968 Triumph TR5. Michael Harvey's 1998 Morgan is even more modern than my MG, which I promise I will not refer to again. Derek Wright's 1956 Series 1 Landrover looked totally at home parked in a field. Bob Drew's 1970 Morris Minor had barely time to get warmed up in the short trip from Lingfield.

Once again our members are indebted to Bozi and Julie for sharing their delightful home with us and for all the hard work that they put in organising this event.

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