The Mile 2004

24th - 26th September 2004

Broad Farm, Fleggburgh, Near Gt. Yarmouth.

Thanks to everyone who supported the 2004 Event.

The turnout was fantastic, only 20 cars down from last year despite the weather - we had to be unlucky one year. The attendance was down as several pre-bookers decided not to brave the Saturday rain.

Once again the event lived up to the title the friendly show - there were over 70 pre-booked camping pitches as well as those lucky enough to get caravans - an all time record. Again visitors came from across the country - It was great to see Di and Kev Hadfield who called in on their way to race at Brands Hatch from Chesterfield - they really must get an up-to date road atlas.

The sun tried to shine in the morning but totally disappeared at lunchtime and the heavens opened. Unfortunately it meant that the dogs display, Marshall arts exhibition and line dancing had to be cancelled for safety reasons.

At 1:30 p.m. Joe called everyone together to ask what that wanted to do - carry on with the show or bring the voting forward. It was unanimously decided to count the vote early - although some brave souls were still arriving at 4 p.m. So many people voted the count took some time - never mind, ever resourceful Joe arranged a beer drinking competition - Steve from the Triumph Motor Cycle Club showed everyone how beer should be drunk!!

The range of cars was impressive. Due to the turnout last year the cars were displayed closer together which gave the impression of fewer cars. Some visitors had spent the previous week in Norfolk with the show being the highlight of their holiday.

The Triumph Bike Club did us proud; each year they promise and deliver more bikes than the previous year.

The side shows were again popular although takings were down due to there being fewer spectators in the afternoon due to the torrential rain.

• "Smash the Crocks" made a great noise and allowed you to get rid of any aggression - a great noise with the contents of a restaurant to smash!!

• The cake stall was very popular thanks to all those who baked cakes etc,

• The Tombola, Bottle, Hoopla and Lucky dip stalls, all done well being manned by young family members and scouts.

All of the monies raised on these stalls went to EACH.

Once again the public voted for their favourite car in each class. The votes by the public expressed their preferences which was made difficult by the very high standard of the vehicles.

Peoples Choice winners   (click on the camera icon for the appropriate photo)

Once again the Car of Show was not a Triumph; but Malcolm Rodgers Jaguar was a worthy winner - he had even managed to repair the damage to the wing in last years funkhana.

Class	Winner	Runner Up
Dolomite/Toledo	Mr S Brazier LME 216P	Peter Rose LHL803W
GT6	Bill Galloway CRT 345H	Neil Morris POK 308M
Herald	Nick Bareham APA 11	Ashley & Janet Mills TGO 406
Spitfire	Jonathan England FUB 522T	Sheila Haynes BFP 700T, Graham Nobbs BDU 974T
2000/2500	Malcolm Hadley POR 681S	Peter Goodson VGJ 967M
Specials	Laurie Benfield 8310 RO Moss	Bob Rowell A209 EAU Robin Hood
Stag	Stephen Cocks PDW 111R	G Humphreys VBV 535L
TR	Dave Mayes RNF 125J TR6	Dave Murton KWJ 882D TR4A
Vitesse	Ian Mercer XHW 433H	Nick Bareham DJE 564C
Other Triumph	Ashley Mills DGH 321X Triumph Acclaim, which will participate in the Round Britain Reliability Run next weekend	Carol Boyland UAX 628Y Triumph Acclaim
Other Classic Pre 1947	Dave Neil, ABJ 382 Austin 7	Dave Neil DSL 698 Standard Little 9
Other Classic 1947 - 1960	Dave Neil WFF 989 Ford Popular	Malcolm Rodgers XXM 587 Jaguar XK 150 DHC
Other Classic 1961 - 1980	Dave Neil PJL 643J Morris Minor Traveller	Mike Short A779 RCT Ford Sapphire
Motorcycle Pre 1990	Steve Foster MSL 532 Tiger Cub	Steve Foster YLA 662S Bonneville 750
Motorcycle 1990 onwards	Ian Hurley V162 LGF Thunderbird	(Left prior to results) HX04UKX Triumph 2.3L
Car of Show	Malcolm Rodgers XXM 587, Jaguar XK150
Bike of Show	Steve Foster MSL 532. Triumph Tiger Cub

Saturday Evening

The teddy bear auction went well the evening was the most entertaining ever and with serious bidding from the children (many of who have been coming since they were tiny tots) they set things off with bids starting at a under a £1, there was some hard bidding with brothers and sisters competing against each other. The large bear donated by HR Systems Team, Norwich Union raised £120 - the top price ever. Other bears reach fantastic prices. Christine Power had been given a huge tiger by a neighbour for "guess the name" unfortunately the chosen name was not guesses (Trevor) and it was auctioned in the evening raising £80. Thanks must go to all of the syndicates - various clubs and groups of friends - who bid jointly for bears.

Joe once again lost his shirt - £100 was bid for the last Spitfire shirt by Christian Fairbrother

A total of £950 was raised by the auction.

The "dress to the era of your car" competition was judged by the Terry from EACH.Congratualtions to all those who dressed up.

Sunday

The weather was finally kind, the field had even dried up overnight. The four police motorcycles who were to escort the convoy to Great Yarmouth had not arrived by 9:30 resulting in Joe panicking at the thought of how to get 150 vehicles onto the road in one block. However they arrived a few minutes later. In the police pep talk we were told that it was o.k. to go through red lights, and also requested not to move out into the middle of the road in case we took out one of the passing police motorcyclists, as had happened whilst they were escorting another event!! The row of parked Triumphs along the seafront measured 718 metres. There were over 150 Classics and bikes. This was followed by the scenic run going south from Great Yarmouth.
There were over 200 different vehicles that attended the show - as the plaques ran out !

Back at Broad Farm, Archie and Linda agreed to the field being used for the funkhana, after a few adjustments to the course - to avoid the "wet bits" everyone had a good time. This year there were some new features such as the passenger also being blindfolded, bursting balloons - different size overalls (to give the children a chance). Dave and Natalie did not manage to make the hat-trick of wins - maybe it was nerves due to the "handicap" we had been promising them since the Worstead festival !! Winners were John Power and Martin and runners-up Julie Sewell and David Aspinall. A special prize was given to the most entertaining couple - who did not know left from right and for some reason insisted on going round in circles. Fortunately some of the shows sponsors were solicitors - in case of the need for divorce.

Thank you to all of you who expressed their enjoyment of the show, however if there are things you didn't like or you have ideas for improvements, please let us know.

To view pictures of the MOT event click here .

We expect to give in the region of £3250 to East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) the final figure is still be confirmed in addition to the following donations

• £50 to the Norfolk Constabulary Benevolent Fund - in recognition of their excellent management of the convoy;

• £50 to St Johns Ambulance who attend the show;

• £50 to the Scout Helpers who provided tents, equipment and helped throughout the weekend wherever they were needed.

There are lots of thank-you's to make:

• Once again the site was in lovely condition, thanks to Linda and Archie of Broad Farm for making us so welcome and arranging for the Beer tent to be manned

• To everyone who attended either as participants or spectators - we know that you must have spent a great deal of time afterwards cleaning the mud and grass from your cars

• To the committee members for the massive amount of effort they put in, both throughout the year and over the MOT weekend to make the show a success

• To Julie S. and Ian for helping on the Friday and Saturday

• A special thanks to youngsters Adam, Scott, Adam and Abby, for their help on the sideshows. They worked hard all day on the Saturday

• To A-Plant from Lowestoft for sponsoring the brass plaques

• Stealth Explorer Scout Unit (Thorpe St Andrew, Norwich)

• St John's Ambulance

• Norfolk Police for their excellent work in escorting the convoy to Great Yarmouth

• Great Yarmouth Council for coneing off the mile

• TSSC Headquarters for their support of the event and sponsoring of the trophies

• A special thanks to the many sponsors

• Ian Comer Solicitors of Diss, who sponsored the Car and Motorcycle of Show Trophies again this year

• The TSSC for sponsoring the various trophies

• Coors Brewery for donating 2 kegs of beer

• And lastly to Joe and Sue. Without their unbounded enthusiasm the event would never have taken place.
  The last few weeks with non-stop enquiries have been very hectic for them.
  As many of you know, Joe is standing down as Norfolk Area Organiser in November, so this could well be his last Mile of Triumphs.