MVPS COASTAL CAPER 2007

Friday 4th May 2007 saw several vehicles of considerable age together with their drivers and passengers (most of whose ages can be described as ‘young at heart’) depart from the Midlands at varying times from as early as 6.15 am!  All had the same destination programmed into their personal ‘sat nav’ with the help of a route provided by Phil Bissell who had organised this year’s Coastal Caper to Scarborough on the east coast of Yorkshire.  Our particular group consisted of four vehicles – the Bissell’s 1935 Vauxhall V14, the Bateman’s 1949 Riley RME, our 1955 Standard 8 and Jason’s 80’s Scimitar with regular contact with the Statham’s 1933 Austin – and we all made steady progress with tea stops in Lincoln and Beverley.   

Everyone made themselves at home in the Majestic Hotel overlooking Peasholm Park at the northern end of Scarborough settling in for five days of fun and ‘frolics’ in and around the town.  Needless to say quite a few events throughout the stay will make it memorable, for example driving across the North York Moors wondering why the occupants of the Vauxhall had one or other hand up all the time only to realise, once mobile phone signals were available and the message was received that we needed to stop, the sun roof had come adrift and they were actually having to hold it on!

On the trip to Goathland, where Heartbeat is filmed, our vehicles provided extra interest in the car park and also at Scripps Garage where several rather sad old vehicles are permanently on display.  In fact they generally caused interested glances wherever we were.  At one place a gentlemen stopped and told us that he used to play cricket for the Standard Motor Company many years ago and had driven one of the very first Triumph Heralds!

On Monday we had intended to travel to Whitby on the North York Moors Railway but there was a special LNER weekend taking place and ticket prices seemed rather high as a result so we all drove and parked in the harbour car park where Dave Bateman (who is well known for doing his best to find free parking) nearly had a heart attack as the parking fee was £5!  Whilst walking around Whitby we all disowned Jason Wilkinson as he ferreted through a skip in the middle of a busy thoroughfare!  Perhaps we should call him ‘Skippy!’  One of the highlights of Whitby was a ride on a steam bus sponsored by the Old Glory magazine which took us on a trip up the S bends from the harbour, along the north cliff and back through the town which included quite a steep road past Pannet Park back to the harbour.  Here we were treated to a display of flames in the cab and I am surprised Vernon, the driver and Bernie, the firewoman have any eyebrows!  Needless to say Ken Warburton managed to sit up front watching every move and had a long chat with the driver when the trip was over.  Strange that he wasn’t half as interested in the boat engine when we took a trip along the coast, all the while watching a huge black cloud hovering over the town.  Luckily it had blown away by the time we got back to dry land – in fact I think we had no more than a handful of spots of rain over the whole weekend!

Jason and Debbie didn’t appear at breakfast one morning but Andy Warburton’s mobile phone rang and he disappeared out of the dining room returning several minutes later to tell us they were locked in their bedroom!  It took several people and several minutes to free them - they left their door unlocked after that.

Generally we all provided our own entertainment for the evenings by playing cards, board games or just chatting.  However the hotel put on a quiz on Sunday evening which kept us all racking our brains with anagrams and cryptic clues for musicals and old fashioned sweets.

When he booked the hotel Phil Bissell was asked what sort of meals they should prepare for the youngest member of the group, Luca Warburton, who is only 3 years old.  I think they were surprised when told to give him the same as everyone else, and not only did he eat his full English breakfast and his evening meal each day, he also demolished jacket potatoes and beans, fairy cakes and fruit etc during each day!  Perhaps he will grow up to be like Jason who surprised us all on our last evening walk along the sea front – not only had he had his full English breakfast and evening meal, but we had also had a lovely meal whilst in Whitby to celebrate Kim Bateman’s birthday yet he still found room for the most enormous ice cream I have ever seen in my life – it must have been all of a foot of waffle cone filled with five or six different flavours of ice cream!  And he is supposed to be on a diet too!

Most people tend to walk further at the seaside than they would normally but perhaps the champion walkers this weekend were the Taylors and Pollocks who walked the full length of Scarborough including the southernmost cliff to find the building used in The Royal on ITV.  In fact I don’t think their cars moved out of the car park the whole weekend.  But then that is what Coastal Capers is all about – we are there with other members of the society but we all do our own thing and enjoy discussing each day’s activities over dinner and in the bar.  If you have never been before we can thoroughly recommend it – Margaret and Alan Taylor have been every time – a total of 21 capers – so if you want any more stories just talk to them.