Welcome to February and it’s a bit chilly out there!
Last week we enjoyed John Macartney’s presentation entitled “British Leyland (Part 1) – From formation towards the wilderness years”. Derek had everything set-up to host the meeting at the Legion in Clarkson for those club members who wanted to get together in person, however, the snowstorm put paid to that. Thank goodness for Zoom though and we had ~ 40 club members tune in. John’s talk was fascinating and it took me back to my time in Britain when the country was in turmoil and run by a left-wing government and workers’ unions. The pound devalued, unemployment went through the roof and industry was held to ransom by the ridiculously strong unions who just about destroyed the country. Maggie and I were fortunate to escape this and immigrated to Canada – the best country in the world – where we immediately felt at home. Coincidentally we arrived in Edmonton on 1st February 1977 … and the first car we saw when leaving the airport was a TR6! I’ve been exchanging e-mails with Robin Searle and we had similar experiences with moving to Canada. We were the lucky ones who got out. There is a Part 2 to John’s story which we’ll hopefully organise for next year around this time. I would really like to share his stories with all of you however because of copyright issues I’m unable to record and publish his presentations.
At the end of the John Macartney talk I had the pleasure of presenting The British Car Council Order of British Car Enthusiasts Award to Derek McAllister for his focus on digital media which is certainly a must in today’s world as well as organizing many drives in his area over the past few years. Derek is in very good company as in past years this award has been presented to Rob Ragsdale, Keith Stewart, Terence McKillen, Wayne McGill and David Tushingham. Congratulations Derek!
On Friday 10th February we will be celebrating Sir John Black’s birthday again when hundreds of Triumph owners from across the world will be Driving Your Triumph. Well maybe not in Ontario, but hopefully you will be able to take a suitable high-resolution photo of your Triumph tucked-up in its garage or even venture out onto your driveway to take a pic. Then e-mail it to Rye Livingstone at driveyourtriumphday@gmail.com along with some basic information including your name, year & model of car, and where the photo was taken (city, province, country). You will have already received an invitation to participate but if you want to check out the photos from previous years go to https://driveyourtriumphday.shutterfly.com
Tuesday 21st February will herald Terence McKillen’s annual TTC Quiz. I asked Terence what we can expect and this is his response. Beginning with the early years of the Triumph Company, questions will pick up intensity through the 1920s and the ‘Glory Days’ of the 1930s and then the War years until the revival of the marque under Standard-Triumph in the 1950s, Leyland in the 1960s, and British Leyland in the 1970s / early 1980s. Questions will focus on the cars and some of the personalities involved. Sometimes, an encyclopaedic knowledge of Ragtop articles or memories of previous quiz questions could help provide an answer! I know one thing for sure, it will be challenging. We will hopefully be setting up a combination in-person / Zoom meeting again so stay tuned for the invitation. Maybe the weather will cooperate this time.
The winter Ragtop has been printed by UPS and has arrived at Pillar for distribution so you should be getting your favourite magazine in the next week or so. As always Terence and his team have put a fine issue together and here’s a teaser of what you can expect …
At our January board meeting the focus was on the 2023 calendar of events. It certainly is shaping up nicely and here are a few of the events that we know about so far:
All of these are included on our Events Calendar and we are looking at a bunch of other activities for the summer including celebrating Triumph’s 100th anniversary & TTC’s 40th anniversary, various tours of garages and facilities, a BBQ in a fabulous new location and more. The very good news is that Derek has volunteered to take on the Events Coordinator role for this year and I know he will do an excellent job. Derek can’t do it alone though so please contact him at derekmcallister@gmail.com if you want to help out or organise an event in your area.
In closing, I’m looking forward to photographing our TR250 on Sir John’s birthday and forwarding it to Rye Livingstone. I hope you do the same thing. In the meantime, stay safe and stay warm!
Cheers; Dave
Dave Sims, President, Toronto Triumph Club