CANTERBURY ALL BRITISH DAY

Iremember the day well; it was back in 1988. I was sitting in my conservatory / spa room reading. The phone rang; I answered. “Colin here, what are you doing?” My reply, “Actually, I’m reading a story about an all-british day in the Australian Restored Cars magazine.”

Colin replied, “That’s a great idea. I’ll start one here” — and so the Canterbury All British Day was born. Thirty-one years later, and here we are in 2018 and Colin Hey is still at the helm.

This year’s annual event was held on 28 October, as usual starting at the Vintage Car Club ( VCC) Canterbury Branch grounds at Mcleans Island. The weather was as perfect as you could wish for — starting off cloudy but breaking mid-morning into a bright, sunny day with virtually no wind. An added bonus was that the VCC annual Veteran Rally was being held on the same day, with both rallies coordinated to use the same start and finish venues, making the variety and ages of the vehicles more interesting for everyone taking part in either event.

The oldest car present was George and Sue Lee’s 1905 Alldays. This twin-cylinder veteran won the restoration of the year award back in 2000. George is now restoring a singlecylinder 1904 Alldays.

As has become the tradition for the event, a series of three runs departed the VCC Canterbury grounds, consisting of a short, medium, and long route. These all finished at the Kirwee sports and recreation grounds about 20km away, with the longer routes circumnavigating the district before finally finishing in Kirwee. The grounds themselves were in perfect condition, and, being surrounded on three sides by large trees and with excellent facilities, it would have been hard to find somewhere better to be on such a nice day.

At 2pm, a brief prize-giving was held, with the winners of each of the rally routes decided using the closest to the average time for all who submitted their rally sheets at the end. The Best of British Trophy was also awarded again — this being decided by people’s choice voting.

The event motto has always been, “If it’s British and roadworthy, bring it”, so, if you have a British vehicle that meets those criteria, and you live in Canterbury, mark Sunday, 27 October 2019 in your diary now.

The money raised at the 2018 event was once again for the van Asch Deaf Education Centre, located in Sumner, Christchurch.