Morris Register National Rally
11th & 12th August 2007

The Yorkshire Centre of the MGCC was one of the Clubs invited to take part in this year’s Morris Register National Rally on the 11^th & 12^th August. The event has been held at Thoresby Park in Nottinghamshire since 1993 and is by invite only. The public are not admitted to this area of the park and this made for a relaxed weekend with no overcrowding and yet busy enough to be attractive.  The weekend was held in splendid weather, quite a change for August! The register organised camping on site with alternatives for those who prefer bricks and mortar shelter in local B&Bs. Food and ice cream sellers were on the park all weekend and over twenty stallholders provided the Autojumble.

Visitors came from all over the world including Australia and New Zealand where early Morris vehicles are popular. Other overseas visitors traveled with their cars and vans from Germany, Holland and Belgium including one early van in Royal Mail livery driven over from Holland, these vans had a top speed of about 55mph so it would have been a steady run!

The Saturday morning featured a road run of about 25 miles in the local countryside finishing at Bilsthorpe where lunch was available at the Copper Beech pub. In the evening live music and a bar was enjoyed in the Old Riding School, an extensively restored stone built block in the grounds of the Hall.

click on image to enlarge

The main event, the vehicle show, was held on the Sunday and on view were not only a fine display of Morris products but also examples of MG, Wolseley, Austin, Reliant, Triumph, Sunbeam and even a Clyno belonging to organiser Malcolm Dixon.

Thanks are due to the Morris Register for inviting the Yorkshire Centre to their main event of the year.

Review by

Geoff Norcliffe
South Yorkshire