Winter 2011 / 2012 Meetings

a dirty autumnal spridget

We hope that you can join us at our meetings over the winter on the second Saturday of each month at Ye Jolly Farmers Inn, Dalton near Thirsk, from 12:30pm onwards. A warm welcome and great homemade pie awaits! Map here. 

Sarah & Tim

October 2011 Meeting

at Ye Jolly Farmers on the Canada Run, early October

October’s meeting at Ye Jolly Farmers was a complete contrast to the heat of the Canada Rub in early October, as it was on a wet autumn day, but was well attended with Jason & Michelle, Mike in his frog (bravely without roof), Ken in Little Red, Steve & Barbara in their midget, and John in EEV the Sprite. Good company, good banter, and excellent homemade grub.

Sarah & Tim

MASC joins the MGCC Canada Run

Mike's frog and Ken's "Little Red"

On the first Saturday in October, a group of spridgeteers from MASC joined the Yorkshire area of the MG Car Club on their end of season Canada Run, around the WW2 Canadian RAF bomber bases of the Vale of York and Vale of Mowbray, organised by our own Ken Cothliff. The route was excellent and the weather even better - in fact the hottest day of the year!  It was great to be joined by Claire & Ian, Roger & Caroline, Mike, Granville, Rob & Jenni and Ken & Julie.

There is a really great set of pictures here

Sarah & Tim

September 2011 Meeting

How many MASCites to change a rotor arm?

September’s meeting at Ye Jolly Farmers on a day of variable weather was well attended with regulars Rob & Jenni (in their Series 2 Landrover for a change), Dave in Dinky the Mk2 Sprite, Peter & Leonie in their 1500, Pete in Ariel the Mk 3 Sprite, Ken in Marmalade his MGB, Sarah in Daphne, Tim in Sebrina, and John & Carol who were sans spridget. As ever the homemade pies, halves of tasty real ale, and company were excellent. 

Pete had to get back to Wakefield and was one of the first to set off after lunch, but unfortunately Ariel ground to a halt just outside of Topcliffe, so the Yorkshire MASC rescue brigade set out en mass (with assorted breakdown tourists) to give him a hand. Suffering what was clearly an ignition problem, over the next hour a new rotor arm, condenser, and spark plug were fitted at the roadside along with points being opened and carb dashpots being topped up. All of this resulted in getting the car started, but as it was still running very rough, Pete got it into the village and safety of a pub car park for recovery. A valiant team effort by all. Ariel now has electronic ignition!

Sarah & Tim

MASC joins the MGCC Dales Run

views over Nidderdale on the Dales Run

On August bank holiday Sunday, a group of midgeteers from MASC joined the Yorkshire area of the MG Car Club on their annual Dales Run. Whilst the weather was variable and quite cold at times, it kept dry for the bulk of the day, and the route was fantastic. It was great to see Frank, Granville, Ken, Rob & Jenni and Peter & Leonie out and about on the day (even if they weren't all in their midgets).

There is a really great set of pictures here


Sarah & Tim

August 2011 Mtg at Ye Jolly Farmers

EEV and other spridgets after lunch

We were surprised at August’s meeting to see Jason & Michelle turn up with some new-fangled form of eco-spridget, aka on a tandem bike! They almost had us believing that they had cycled the 70 odd miles up from Doncaster to Dalton, but later they were caught red-handed loading it into the back of Jason’s van... 

It was also good to see regulars Rob & Jenni, along with new folks John and Carol who have recently bought an Iris blue frogeye and Peter & Leonie in their 1500. It was also good to see the “Spridget Family” aka Paul and Lorraine in their Weller-wheeled 1500 and sons Sam and Adam in their newly restored red frogeye of which they are rightly proud. John came in EEV, his daughter’s Sprite which he is fettling and which was partially stripped down, but at least he’s managed to cure its overheating problems since we last saw him. 

After excellent pies at Ye Jolly Farmers, a few of us had a little run up to Hawnby for afternoon tea and cakes.

There is a really great set of photos here.

Sarah & Tim

MASC National Gathering at Silverstone Classic

Steve passes Silverstone fire tender

MASC had its national gathering at the Silverstone Classic, and Yorkshire Area was represented by 3 cars including Steve in his RWA Midget, Jordan & Tanya in their IOW frogeye, and Sarah & Tim in Sarah's Sprite. Several other Yorkshire folk were about such as Andy, Matt and Ian, but sans spridget. Hopefully some more of you can join us next year...

On the Sunday we got 40 spridgets out on track to drive 2 parade laps of the full new F1 circuit.

There are some great pictures here and here.

Sarah & Tim

July 2011 Mtg at Ye Jolly Farmers

ecurie Saunders

After June’s bumper meeting, July was a much quieter affair with only 5 midgets venturing out on a showery summer’s day.

After helping Sarah fix the lights on her new white 1965 Sprite “Daphne”, Rob & Jenni in the k-midget followed Sarah in Daphne and Tim in Sebrina (aka Ecurie Saunders) to Ye Jolly Farmers, where we were joined by Mike Bainbridge in his frog, and ultimately by Tony in his 4AGE Midget. Unfortunately Tony had to walk the last few hundred yards as his alternator gave up the ghost, but at least the waiting time for the recovery truck was long enough for a chip butty and refreshing half.

Sarah & Tim

Midget 50

Anita, Rob & Jenni at Midget 50

After the June meeting, a group of us set of down the A1 in the general direction of Burghley House for the Midget 50 celebrations the following day. This included Anita & Mark, Ken & Julie, Harvey & Lesley and for part of the way Rob & Jenni (and of course Sarah & Tim). En route we met up with Peter & Leonie in their newly acquired 1500 Midget.

The event was well supported with over 800 spridgets of all varieties in attendance. It was great to meet up with and see so many Yorkshire MASCites at Midget 50, who had all made the journey down in their cars in the face of bad weather forecasts of heavy rain, which sadly came to pass. Despite it being such a wet day, it was amazing to see so many spridgets together in one place again, and to be reminded of how well supported spridgets are by Yorkshire folk and to see so many old friends we have made over the years through our fun little cars. There were too many of you to mention here, but you know who you are and it was great to see you.

There is a fanstastic set of photos of Midget 50 here

Sarah & Tim

June Mtg at Ye Jolly Farmers

Sprites leaving June's meeting

We had a fantastic turn out at June’s meeting, with 11 spridgets and a couple of modern cars in attendance, figures doubtless being boosted by former area reps Anita & Mark’s attendance during their holiday from Australia, and by folk driving together down to Midget 50 after the meeting.

In addition to regulars Rob & Jenni in their k-midget, Harvey & Lesley in their Austin Sprite, Ken & Julie in their Mk 1 Midget “Little Red”, and John & Jeanette in their 1500, we were joined by Mike Bainbridge in his frog, Geoff & Hilary in their frog, and Tony in his Toyota 4AGE powered Midget. Guy & Hazel from Cumbria in their Austin Sprite called in en route to Burghley House and Anita & Mark were over from the Gold Coast in Anita’s Mk 3 Sprite “Kevin” which had been taken out of storage for their UK visit.

Finally, in addition to our own Sebrina (Sarah’s new Mk 3 Sprite “Daphne” staying under wraps this month), we were joined by Steve from Peterlee in his very pretty Peugeot french blue midget on its second ever day out after restoration.

Pictures from the meeting are here.

Sarah & Tim

May Meeting at Ye Jolly Farmers

May's line-up

May’s meeting had a good mix of old and new spridget friends with Peter & Dorothy travelling across the Pennines in their newly finished white frog with rather posh new hood; Paul who came down from South Shields in his lovely and very freshly painted red & white frog, giving the car a decent length test run; Paul & Lorraine from Great Ayton who had bought a set of Weller wheels for their RWA, but a 1500 with MOT came attached, so they thought they’d bring it for a test drive; Dave in Dinky (Mk2 Sprite) which now has a completely new floor welded in and is back on the road after a long break, and last but not least, Rob & Jenni in the k-midget. Embarrassingly for us, everyone’s cars were immaculately clean apart from ours… maybe Sebrina will get a wash before June's meeting!

Pictures from the meeting are here.

Sarah & Tim

Royal Wedding Run - 29 April 2011

in Dalby Forest

In order to avoid a day in front of the telly, Yorkshire area of MASC held a celebratory Royal Wedding Run on 29th April. We had 8 cars participating and enjoyed a great day of driving in the Wolds, Carrs and North Yorks Moors. The morning started at Tadcaster and we ended at Robin Hood's Bay, via a great lunch at the Gait Inn in Millington and Dalby Forest.

It was fantastic to see some new faces and cars that haven't been out with us before. There are some really great photos of our day here.

Sarah & Tim

Drive It Day 2011

the joy of the open road...

Drive It Day saw six spridgets come out to play on a glorious day, although unfortunately a weeping brake hose on Sebrina (only spotted the day before) annoyingly meant that we had to come in a “modern”, safety first being paramount. It was great to meet up with Ian & Claire, John & Jeanette, Frank & Val, Harvey & Lesley, and Trevor & Pam, providing a colourful range of cars from frogeye to 1500. We were also joined by Harvey & Lesley’s son in his rather large 1966 Dodge Coronet drag-racer, which made the spridgets look even smaller than usual!

We started with a tasty carvery at the Royalty on Otley Chevin before an informal drive north to the privately owned Clifton Castle near Masham, which was holding a charitable open garden. This was a rare opportunity access some beautiful walks along the River Ure which are normally out of bounds, and the homemade cupcakes were pretty good too. Geoff & Hilary in their frog, who had been chasing behind all day, caught up with us there. There are some really good photos of our day here.

Sarah & Tim

April Mtg - Sat 9th April

Pete & Lu on the road in Ariel

The glorious spring sunshine brought out the midgets (and the sprites) in April, when we got to see Ken’s Mk I midget “Little Red”, along with Pete & Lu’s Mk 3 Sprite “Ariel”, both for the first time. Rob’s paint job on his k-midget is slowly progressing as well, with one side shiny and one side matt – doing all the work outside, maybe with the good spring weather by May he will have been able to finish the job!

After the meeting we had an impromptu little spridget drive south to Tadcaster to make the most of the lovely day - you can see some great photos of our drive here.

Sarah & Tim

Meeting on Saturday 12th March 2011

at Nunnington Hall

March’s meeting at Ye Jolly Farmers was a small but select gathering of the North Eastern chapter of the area, with Dave & Ann travelling down from Northumberland in their bright yellow frog, Rob & Jen calling in on their way up to Northumberland in Rob’s newly painted k-midget, and Eric & Nicki coming down from Wallsend in their big Healey (Eric’s frog being mid-way through a 20 year restoration).

After a really good lunch we went for a bracing roof down scenic drive through the Hambleton Hills to Nunnington Hall with its peacocks for afternoon tea and cakes. Given the number of members in the North East, we had some discussions about possibly holding a trial meeting somewhere near Newcastle in the summer, so watch this space for more details over coming months.

You can see some great pictures of our drive to Nunnington by clicking here.

Sarah & Tim

February 2011 Meeting at Ye Jolly Farmers

valentine's sprites at February's mtg

We had another great meeting at Ye Jolly Farmers in February, with 4 sprites and 2 midgets in attendance, plus plenty of others in more modern cars.

It was a pleasure to welcome several new members to the meeting this month. Pete & Lou and their kids who have recently acquired a Mk 3 Sprite which is still having some work done on it, came up from near Wakefield, as did Chris & Phil whose car is also under restoration at the moment. John came down from Richmond in his daughter’s 69 Sprite which has been having some overheating problems, which several old hands tried to diagnose (and admired the rather nice paint job).

It was also great to see old friends Roger who had driven up from York “roof down” in his Sprite and Harvey & Lesley who had come across from Wharfedale with hardtop on the Austin Sprite, in addition to local monthly regulars Rob & Jenny in their k-midget, Kevin in his RWA, and John & Jeanette in their daily driver.

April promises to be busy. Due to the proximity of Easter to various other events, we are not having a Hot X Run on Good Friday this year. Instead we will be organising a road run on Drive It Day, Sunday 17th April, and then on Friday 29th April, The Royal Wedding Run (for those who wish to avoid being sat in front of the telly all day!). More details follow here shortly.

Sarah & Tim

Happy New Year - January 2011

"Mr OJ"

January saw our third monthly meeting at our new fixed venue of Ye Jolly Farmers Inn in Dalton. Luckily the snow had washed away, but roads were still icy, as was the pub car park. However despite the weather we had our best recent turn out, with 16 Yorkshire Spridgeteers enjoying the real ale and some new flavours of excellent homemade pie. And amazingly for Yorkshire January weather, 4 spridgets!

The “Member From Afar” award went to new MASC member Davey from some way north of Newcastle up in Northumbria, who made a lengthy journey in his newly purchased bright yellow, orange juice coloured frog which has a number plate conveniently including the letters “OJ”. Yorkshire is Davey’s nearest meeting with a round trip of 160 miles, and although we don’t expect to see him every month, it was great to meet him and we hope to see him on some of our events in the Spring.

Hardy Rob and Jenny made the journey from York in their K-midget roofless and heaterless, as per usual. Kevin brought his midget up from Easingwold, and Sebrina our Sebring GT Midget started first time and was very well behaved despite being rested since November.

It was also great to see some old faces we hadn’t seen for a while with Geoff and Hilary, Claire and Ian, and Dave Wigley coming in modern transport. Jason and Michelle and Frank Clough also joined us and contributed to the general bonhomie, along with new members Ken and Julie who joined us for their second meeting.

Sarah & Tim