Fantastic news this morning from the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. We’ve been provisionally allocated a Spitfire AND a Hurricane, to display together at 14:25 in the afternoon.

To have not one but two BBMF fighters over Prescott is a tremendous first for PWP and underlines the massive level of support we receive every year from the Flight.

The allocation is provisional at this stage and will be confirmed in May, but the already announced presence of the Flight at nearby RIAT for that weekend gives us confidence that this provisional allocation will be confirmed, barring any operational issue.

Because the hill must be closed during aerial activity, we will be requesting the BOC hold their lunch break slightly later this year, from 1:30 to 2:30 and the MG100 cavalcade will re-open the hill for the afternoon climbs as soon as the fighters have departed.

Your target for 16^th July – Prescott! 

We are honoured and highly delighted to be able to bring you the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’s fabulous Avro Lancaster PA474 once again this year.  Three bombing runs are timed to commence at 1415 hrs precisely.

2022 marks the 80th Anniversary of the first Lancaster bombing operation, when on the night of 10th March 1942, 44 Sqn Lancasters attacked Essen from RAF Waddington.  44 Sqn was the first RAF squadron to convert to the Lancaster.

 

 

A Tiger Moth’s view of the hidden gem of Colesbourne Park, the lake, arboretum and church

This year, we are planning something very different from the usual Sunday pub lunch on our Sunday Navigation Rally and parallel Scenic Tour, Sunday 17th July – the day after Pre-War Prescott and an integral part of the weekend.  We are planning a Vintage Picnic!  This is being organized at the hidden and seriously delightful Colesbourne Park in the heart of the Cotswolds.  We will gather on the formal lawns in front of the house – see above – around the fountain.

Here is what you need to know:

You can bring your own picnic or you can pre-order sumptuous picnics and refreshments from Revills Farm Shop in Defford.  These picnics will be collected from the farm on Sunday morning so will be crisp, cool and fresh.  You place your order, and your picnics will be awaiting your arrival at the Park.  The Picnic Menu will be e-mailed with this Newsletter and is also available here.  I will also be e-mailing it to everyone who has already entered.

Immediately adjacent to the Park is the Colesbourne Inn and also the very special Old Rectory restaurant for those who do not wish to picnic.  If you wish to take up one of these alternative options, you should pre-book lunch as follows:

The Colesbourne Inn (50 covers currently available)

The Old Rectory restaurant (25 covers currently available)

Fuel will also available at the Gulf station in Colesbourne on Sunday if your car also needs a top up.

 

With the approach of the Pre-War Prescott weekend and the increasing pace of planning and other developments, it is time to start circulating more frequent updates than just the details provided in the monthly Vintage Minor Register Newsletters.

To kick off this update, as of this morning, we have 154 weekend entries, including 141 Pre-War Prescott entries and 305 climbs have already been pre-booked. As I mentioned in the March Newsletter, now that we have reached 300 climbs, the number of pre-bookable climbs will now be ‘throttled down’ from two plus a free one, to one plus a free one. I will be adjusting the online entry form and the paper entry form accordingly. If your entry is already on the way, I will honour your climb bookings, but going forward the new limit will be applied. The reason for this throttling down of climbs is to make sure that climbs are still available for future entries and 50 climbs will be held in reserve for the day so that those of you who cannot commit to enter before the day have a chance of a climb. In due course, as in the past, pre-bookable climbs will be further reduced to just the free one.

Many of you will know that 2022 marks the Centenary of the Austin Seven and a vast number of surviving examples will be gathering to celebrate in nearby Moreton-in-Marsh during the week immediately after our weekend. The Austin Seven will be the featured marque at Pre-War Prescott and ALL spectating Austin Sevens will be given completely FREE entry to Pre-War Prescott and parked together in the Orchard.

Next, I have just this morning received the following vital information from the Bugatti Owners Club which succinctly explains how licensing and advance signing on works. These arrangements are exactly the same as last year, but this year, we hope to have many more entrants correctly credentialed BEFORE the day so as to ease pressure on the BOC office on the day. If you obtained your RS Clubman License last year, you will need to apply for a new one for 2022.

RS CLUBMAN LICENSE: https://rsclubman.motorsportuk.org

Please note anyone going up the hill in any capacity must have an RS Clubman license. We suggest saving them as a photo from email, or printing it out due to the lack of phone signal at Prescott.

SIGNING ON: https://forms.gle/qagqFhy1oewkvECg9

Please note everyone going up the hill in any capacity must have signed on. If they do so online, they will show on our system. If they have not, they’ll need to do it in person at the BOC Office which is quite time consuming for them – and a lot of people can get quite frustrated!

Once they are signed on and have presented their license, they will be handed a wristband to show the marshals that they are eligible to go up the hill.

Full details of the entire three days of rallying and socializing can be found at http://vintageminor.co.uk/Summerrally2022/Summer_Rally_2022.html

Entry for any of the weekend’s events can be made at https://prewarprescott.com/?page_id=161 and the running entry list can be monitored at https://prewarprescott.com/?page_id=547 which is continuously updated as entries arrive. If you have already entered, please check your entry against your expectations and let me know if you spot any discrepancies or omissions. Tickets will be distributed about two weeks before the weekend.

Camping at Prescott. To repeat from the March newsletter:

Camping will be available all weekend in the Prescott Orchard – from Thursday night to Sunday night inclusive. And, unlike recent years, camping should be booked through the Register and not through the Bugatti Owners Club. I don’t want to complicate matters by adding camping to the already 2-page entry form, which is already out there anyway. So if you wish to camp or bring your camper van, just let me know (vintageminor@gmail.com) and I will sort you out. Fees are £15 per night for campers and caravans, tents £10 per night.

Additionally on camping, please be aware that the Peugeot Sports Club of the UK (PSCUK) will be holding their day at Prescott on Sunday 17th and I am co-ordinating with them to ensure all goes smoothly over the weekend for both clubs. Some PSCUK members will be camping over the weekend and we will need all campers to pitch their tents or campers at the BACK of the Orchard – that is anywhere between the farm in the lower corner and the bridge at the top of the Paddock, and NOT along the track across the bottom of the Orchard, between the Bugatti Trust building and the farm. This will allow the PSCUK staff to stake out the main area of the Orchard on Saturday evening for their spectator parking requirements for Sunday.

The Charity Action. This traditional auction, run in aid of the RAF Charitable Trust will take place as usual in the lunch break, in front of the Vintage Minor Register marquee. Please bring along any surplus quality items of automobilia and drop them of at the Vintage Minor Register marquee in the morning and please plan to join in the auction during the lunch break.

The Raffle. Plans are also being made to assemble a range of tremendous prizes. Each pre-booked entry comes with a free £5 raffle ticket and additional tickets will be available on the day. If you think you might have a suitable prize to offer, please get in touch – your offer will be greatly appreciated. The draw will take place directly after the Charity Auction in the lunch break. Last year, many great prizes, including the Tiger Moth flight went unclaimed because the winning ticket holder were AWOL! These were then auctioned off to the highest bidder. You have been warned!
A word about Friday. Following the tremendous success of last year’s Friday Tour, we’re mounting another one this year. Like last year we will foregather at the Royal Oak at Gretton where their wonderful bacon butties and hot drinks will be available before meandering eastward to a visit and special Ploughman’s lunch and optional tour of the historic Victorian Hook Norton tower brewery where the local museum and brewery shop will also be open for us. The route will be provided for every entrant in the form of a Tour Handbook issued at the start which will also include informative comments on various places of interest that we will be visiting along the route. These will include a country distillery and also a visit to a farm near Chipping Norton that you may have seen on Amazon TV! The afternoon will conclude with cream teas at the charming Plough Inn at Ford, a venue which we frequented many times in the early days of the Register’s Prescott events.

And of course, we will also be running our traditional and highly popular Sunday Navigation Rally and parallel Scenic Tour. This will also start at the Royal Oak but unlike Friday, we will head south this year. Lunch has been organized at an historic Gloucestershire pub, but because of the Navigation Rally, the location must remain secret until the day! In other good news, after being closed for the whole of 2021, Stanway House will be welcoming us once again this year for our Sunday afternoon cream teas, courtesy of Lord Wemyss.

I think that’s about it for now. Keep an eye on this website for breaking information.  And do get in touch if you have any questions or special needs.  In the meantime, if you have not already entered, now would be a splendid time to enter what will undoubtedly be one of the best vintage motoring weekends of 2022.

Finally, could I ask you, and in particular other Club and Register officers to forward/publish these notes to all whom you consider may be interesting in joining us over the weekend.

With thanks to the participating Clubs and Registers – Pre-War Prescott 2022:

The Alvis Owner Club
The Alvis Register
The BMW Historic Car Club
The Bristol Austin Seven Club
The British Salmson Owners Club
The Herefordshire Austin Seven Club
The M.G. Car Club MMM Register
The Morris Specials Group
The Octagon Car Club
The Railton Owners Club
The Railton Owners Club
The Riley Register
The Talbot Owners Club
The Wolseley Hornet Specials Club