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The
Parliamentary Run – Queen Elizabeth and HRH Prince Philip's 60th
Diamond Wedding Anniversary, March 2008
" How fashionable you
Country People are! "
Imagine our surprise when right
out of the blue we received a call from Peter Lockley, the
Chairman of the Standard Motor Club, asking if we would like to
represent the club with our 1947 Standard Flying 8, at the above
event.
Chris took the call from Peter
and was heard to say he would need to check with the wife and ring
back. After explaining to me that we had been invited to join the
celebrations and getting a very enthusiastic response, he rang
back to confirm. It was a great honour to represent the Club and
have the opportunity to meet HRH the Duke of Kent.
Monday 17th March
found us at Exeter Services, only this time we were not there for
our usual Devon Vintage Car club run, but to meet Kit and Lynda Le
Marquand, who had also been invited with their Austin 16, for our
trip to the "Big Smoke".
This event had been organised by
John Cole, of the All-Parliamentary Motoring Group and we were
attending along with sixty vehicles in manufacture during 1947 the
year of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh’s wedding, including
commercials and motorcycles, one vehicle for each year of their
marriage.
(Click through any of the
photos to see an enlargement)
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The
cars on Horseguards Parade
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We set off in
fine spring weather, Kit and Lynda leading the way in
their lovely Austin 16 and us behind with our little
Standard Flying 8 on a trailer. We felt although our car
is more than capable of handling the distances, the M25
and A3 roads were just a little too much with a top speed
of 45mph!!
We made good time and
soon arrived at Kit’s friend John and Mary’s house, on
the outskirts of Woking, approximately one hour from
London. John had kindly agreed to let us leave the
borrowed trailer (thanks Steve Lovegrove) and our cars on
his drive, overnight.
This proved no mean feat,
as John was the proud owner of no less than five pre-war |
| Austins, all
regularly used for weddings and quite a bit of maneuvering
took place to get the trailer on to the drive.
After settling into our
hotel Chris and I left for a "40minute" drive to
Brian Parkes to purchase some spares which Chris had
previously ordered from Brian. Chris had quite a big
shopping list and Brian and his wife Betty, made us very
welcome. The journey proved to be a little more difficult
than the maps lead you to believe, with quite a few wrong
turns, but we eventually returned triumphantly with a boot
full of spares for our Standard cars and enjoyed a very
pleasant evening with Kit and Lynda.
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| The big day
arrived, involving a return trip to collect our
"proper cars" from John’s, before we set off
for the one hour drive into London. This was our little
Standards first experience of the London traffic and she
coped very well, keeping pace with Kit’s Austin 16 (tow
rope distance) as he safely navigated us through the
streets, to arrive nicely in time for a roadside stop for
a cup of tea, just outside the Tate Gallery, who also
(unknowingly) provided the comfort break.
Suitably refreshed, Kit’s
skills brought us safely to Horse guards Parade at the
agreed time for the initial rendezvous. Our invitations
had asked if we could come in period costume if at all
possible, and Chris and I decided to join in the fun.
Thanks to a local period costume shop and good old Ebay,
we made a passable effort at complementing our car for the
day. |
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The
Devon Group |
I was
initially very dubious at dressing up, in fact I was very
reluctant to leave the car at all whilst at the Tate, but
Chris reminded me that this is London, where everything
can be seen, if you wait long enough.
By the time we arrived at
Horse guards we were happy to step out and join those car
owners who had also entered into the spirit. We spent a
very enjoyable hour admiring the wonderful selection of
cars assembled on the parade ground, normally reserved for
the changing of the guard. We were joined by lots of the
public who certainly seem to appreciate the free display. |
When the order came to return to
your cars, a magnificent queue of cars snaked out of the parade
ground and into the London traffic, it really was a sight to
behold.
Despite our very best efforts
with the traffic we soon became hopelessly lost, but as if by a
miracle, Kit and Lynda appeared in our sights and with the help of
the photographer, who had nabbed a lift with them, guided us
safely to our final destination, St Kathryn’s wharf, right
beside the Tower of London.
| Unfortunately
Kit’s Austin 16 took this moment to come to a complete
halt further investigations under the bonnet revealed a
broken petrol pump. An easy job to fix, but with no
spares, an impossible task and the car was later relayed
home to Devon.
All vehicles assembled on
the wharf and we went to have a cup of tea in the assembly
rooms of the Tower of London. Later we were joined by HRH
The Duke of Kent, prizes were given for the best dressed
man and woman, each receiving a years free car insurance,
donated by Peter James. A prize was also given for the
greatest distance travelled which went to a car owner from
Jersey.
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Line up
leaving Horse Guards |
| Altogether
£5,000 was raised on the day for Leukemia Trust and The
Stroke Association and many thanks go to those who kindly
sponsored our attendance. Following the speeches we were
asked to return to our cars so that the Duke could meet
the owners and inspect the vehicles.
The public had been
admitted to the wharf by this time and we spent a very
pleasant time chatting to them and having our photo taken
with the obligatory Japanese tourist, who may have
mistaken us for Madame Tussauds!! |
To his credit, The Duke of Kent
kindly gave time to each car owner and slowly made his way down
the line. Our Standard 8 was the last car in the line up and we
waited with anticipation for our moment to meet HRH.
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The
view of Admiralty Arch from a Standard 8 |
On walking
over to our car The Duke of Kent firstly said to Chris he
did not immediately recognize the model (not an unusual
comment for a Standard owner to hear!!) he also asked the
most frequently asked question of all, "how long did
it take you to restore it?", bursting into laughter
when told it was a good 27 years.
HRH kindly admired Chris’s
workmanship and I even managed to get a little comment in
about Chris attending night school just to learn how to
weld. All in all it was a very pleasant experience and we
were very impressed with his genuine warmth and interest.
The rest of the afternoon
was pleasantly spent chatting with those who came to
admire the cars and fellow exhibitors, admiring each
others costumes and generally behaving like tourists
ourselves. |
Later we were given a free
viewing of the Crown Jewels which added to the whole experience.
We waited with Kit and Lynda
until arrangements had been made to collect their car, leaving
London as night fell. The journey back to our hotel, with just 6
volt electrics, was a very interesting and at times hair raising
experience. It was also a little cosy in the Standard with
four
| "fully
grown" adults, but it did keep us nice and snug and
gave us a sense of security as Chris magnificently
negotiated the evening traffic out of London.
Kit’s wonderful
navigational skills and Chris’s confidence in his car,
brought us safely out of London and Kit, a long standing
Austin owner of 40 years, with as many Austins in that
time, was very impressed at his ride, remarking that
"every Austin owner should have a Standard car as
backup".
Our car did us proud,
successfully outrunning taxi’s, "Chelsea
tractors" (Four by Fours for the uninitiated) and the
completely suicidal bike riders who amazed us with their
death defying driving between the lanes of traffic. |
"every
Austin owner should have a Standard car as backup". |
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We returned to
our hotel in Woking for a very pleasant meal and to
reminisce about the wonderful day we had had.
The following day Kit and
Chris drove the Standard 8 back to Kit’s friend, loaded
up the little car with everyone’s suitcases and Lynda
and I followed on in a taxi. After dropping Kit and Lynda
home to Newton Abbot, we went home to relax and look at
our photo’s of the wonderful day.
Our special thanks go to
Peter Lockley for asking us to represent the club with our
Standard 8, |
this was a great honour, to Kit
and Lynda for their lovely company and Kits’s navigational
skills (having run a transport business through London for many
years he was The Expert!!) and everyone for their support,
sponsoring and good wishes, which we took with us to London.
Linda Bowden
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