Area 10 - April Update
Area 10 Rep Jeff Sears | Published on 4/7/2025
Area 10 April 2025 Update
The month of March kicked off when a dozen or so Area 10 Astons accepted the invitation to attend the Petroyle Restorations Car & Coffee morning near Burford on Saturday 1 March. It was a nice sociable occasion with the opportunity to visit the workshops where several cars, including 1950s Astons were under restoration. It was good to meet Jean Moss and Chris Adams, but more about them much later. Coffee mornings are held on the first Saturday of most months so I am sure that they would welcome you if you dropped by. They certainly did their best to accommodate over 100 Porsches which turned up together – not very practicable, but at least they didn’t stay long! On the way back, Jo and I stopped off at The Farmer’s Dog, Jeremy Clarkson’s pub, and were pleasantly surprised, especially as the car park attendants clearly had a soft spot for Astons – we shall return.
We held our monthly meeting for March in The Spade Oak, Bourne End where 30 of us took over the Snug whilst 10 Astons were rather overlooked in the car park – the evening will be lighter for our next meeting. We welcomed new Member Paul Barrow to his first meeting – he was looking forward to collecting his first Aston very soon so I am sure we will see him again before long.
We held our monthly meeting for March in The Spade Oak, Bourne End where 30 of us took over the Snug whilst 10 Astons were rather overlooked in the car park – the evening will be lighter for our next meeting. We welcomed new Member Paul Barrow to his first meeting – he was looking forward to collecting his first Aston very soon so I am sure we will see him again before long.
Fifteen Astons turned up bright and early (before me) for our brunch at the Renegade Brewery. The food and company were excellent, but we departed before the threatened midday influx of Porsches – there are a lot of them about. Thanks to Rob Smith for organising.
The weekend of 22 and 23 March was a busy one – on the Saturday there was a steady stream of Area 10 Members (and a few other customers) attending the Aston Martin Reading post-winter service clinic. The showroom contained a wide range of models from Vantage to (a rather shy) Valkyrie. There was additional interest with a 2025 F1 Aston in the latest livery, plus a simulator if you wished to prove your F1 driving prowess. Welcome refreshments included coffee and crepes. It was good to meet very new Member Oliver Sharpe who attended with his recently-acquired DB7 Vantage. He took advantage of a Vehicle Health Check which confirmed that he had made a good purchase.
And on the Sunday, 13 Astons and a Merc delivered 25 Members to The Games Room Company where the owner, Alexander, told us the fascinating history of the company following the war, and guided us through the range of products that they restore and manufacture – jukeboxes, arcade games, pinball machines, pool tables, drinks dispensers, and more. In 2019 they purchased the Rock-Ola Jukebox company in California so you can still have a 1950s jukebox with your selection of 200 songs (100 7” discs). After the tour, 18 of us headed for the Brooklands Hotel for Sunday lunch. Our thanks go to Bob Brittaine for organising the day for us which also raised £160 for the Thames Hospice.
Our April meeting, on the 10th, will be held in the restaurant at The Bird in Hand, Knowl Hill where we will be displacing their regular poker players. The meeting will feature our annual quiz and our AGM. At the brief AGM I will summarise our Area 10 accounts and hold our elections for rep and assistant rep. Both Liz Constance and I are happy to continue for another year and, as I write, no other candidates have come forward. We usually have a good turnout for this meeting and so I suggest that you get there on the early side if you plan to eat there. We will aim to kick off the quiz at 8pm.