Hampshire Morris Minor in 2026
- Feb 9
- 6 min read
The calendar of events for 2026 is starting to fill. We’re pleased to have had confirmation from Wilton House, Salisbury that they can accommodate our Annual Branch Rally on Sunday 28th June. A new event under consideration is a run out on the weekend of Mother’s Day. Probably on the Saturday (14th March) rather than the Sunday. Hopefully something that will appeal to the ladies.
REPORT ON CHRISTMAS FUNCTION 16TH DECEMBER 2025
Ann B published some great pictures on our Facebook page to give an idea of the atmosphere.
The Tuneless Choir were engaged again. We did our bit to add to their talent! It’s probably wise that we stick to cars and they stick to singing, but lack of talent doesn't equate to lack of enthusiasm or enjoyment. Pete J, the only member of our Club who is also a member of the Locks Heath Tuneless Choir didn’t attend – on holiday in Canada – too far away to feel responsible. As always the Tuneless Choir got us into the festive mood very quickly. It was a great evening, providing members the opportunity to reflect on the successes or tribulations of the year and liaise with fellow members to discuss and plan the events they will attend in the forthcoming year.
THE BOXING DAY TRILOGY
John & Nicky K recommended that we visit meets at Wickham, Port Solent and Locks Heath on Boxing Day, so we elected to set out on the Boxing Day trilogy. The weather was Baltic, but John & Nicky were pretty much the first people to get to Wickham, arriving at 6:45am.
They were soon joined by Steve L in his very tidy traveller and shortly after that our "Spanner in the Works", Dave E turned up and was rapidly marshalled into position with the two other Moggies before the space was “bagged” by somebody else. Kevin S just missed parking with the HAMMOC Moggies, so had to park elsewhere, but consoled himself with an enormous breakfast roll from one of the burger vans. Steve H turned up, without a Moggie and Artur N arrived around 8:45am in his Police saloon. No sign of Stephanie C, despite the fact that she is a Wickham resident; but perhaps a later riser?
I returned home to collect Mary, who had emerged from hibernation by this stage and we headed off to Port Solent. The closure of the M27 and the routing of traffic through Fareham meant that the roads were jammed; mostly as far as we could make out, with many classics already heading in the opposite direction towards Locks Heath. The Port Solent meet has a different complexion to Wickham.
There were many more American “muscle” cars and moderns such as Lamborghini and Ferrari. However, they are mixed in with the classics such as the VW Beetles and unusual “project cars”. Unlike Wickham, this is an official event with marshals in fluorescent tabards, although they appeared to be much more interested in photographing the cars than marshalling them.
We were feeling a bit bereft of our own classic car, so nipped home to collect Mary’s Moggie for our final visit to the Locks Heath event.
Again, a different feel to this gathering in the Strawberry Field Tavern carpark. John & Nicky and Artur & Tania + children & dog had already migrated there.
An immaculate Model T Ford in tinsel provided atmosphere. A more gentlemanly bunch we thought at Locks Heath.
We concluded our Baltic Boxing Day classic car trilogy with a welcome mug of hot chocolate, which perhaps we didn’t need after the excesses of the preceding day – but, hey, it’s Christmas. Despite some commonality, it didn’t seem as though we had attended 3 of the same events – each was different.
FOR THE LOVE OF GEORGE
It was with great sadness in 2021, that we were informed from Cornwall that Leslie’s brother (George) had passed away. George was a man of simple pleasures, his family, a pint of Proper Job ale, Cornish Pasties, The Times Newspaper, fish and chips by the sea side and his beloved 1958 4 Door Morris Minor saloon. We remembered the car fondly from our Cornish summer holidays with trips to the seaside and the pub with George at the wheel.
Every year we spend at least a week in Cornwall catching up with family and it was with gloom that we peered at the Morris through the windows of George’s garage – who was going to love it now that George had gone? So, in the summer of 2024 we made the family an offer that we would re-home and restore it and return it to them once we were unable to look after it through age or health.
On a warm September morning in 2024 it arrived on a low loader from Cornwall. Fair to say that it was in a lot worse condition than we remembered from those balmy summer holidays. Its last run was in August 2021 to George’s funeral and since then the battery had been removed but that was it in terms of maintenance as nobody had managed to get it to turn over since then. Fortunately, our good friend is a mobile mechanic (albeit for modern Forklift Trucks) and he came over later that morning – hitched it up to his mobile battery – did some fettling with the points and it started – we all nearly choked as plumes of smoke came out the back - but at least the engine turned over. It is fair to say that our initial optimism turned quickly to despair as we realised that there was a considerable list of works that needed to be carried out. Leslie is not a mechanic but with the guidance of his friend, some U Tube Videos, a Haines Manual he undertook most of the tasks. Were we naive? Almost certainly, has it been an enormous drain on our resources (both financial and time)? Definitely. After 6 months of fettling on every dry weekend, both our mechanic friend and Pat had run out of love for the Morris. No job was ever straight forward; one item was fixed only to find that we had unearthed another issue. Pat had got sick of being a canteen service at weekends – for endless cups of tea and coffee and bacon rolls. Our mechanic had got fed up with banging his head on the bonnet catch and finding almost every nut and bolt was seized and Les’s enthusiasm was dwindling.
However, in the background we continued to attend the Hampshire Morris Minor Owners Clubs Meetings and Coffee Mornings – for advice – A huge thank you to Dennis who sent us a wiring diagram, Phil J for his sage guidance and all the other members who didn’t scoff at our complete lack of competence and skill.
In order to see some progress, Pat booked us into some shows – namely “Moggyfest” at Beaulieu, she thought that would fast forward the fettling and finally get the car road worthy and it sort of worked. We had a trial run out to Garsons Garden Centre in May for a HAMMOC coffee morning and apart from losing a mirror (a reoccurring theme) and complete loss of indicators we made it. The car ran well - much to our surprise. Electrics fixed we attended “Moggyfest” only to realise that our car was probably the shoddiest in the row – but hey we were there (we even had 2 coffee cup stains either side on the roof) – but Moggyfest was a turning point – we finally began to see the joy in driving and owning a Morris Minor and Pat’s initial scathing criticism turned into a warm affection for the Morris now named George.
Other events have come and gone – some we managed some we didn’t as a new fault had arisen or Les hadn’t carried out the paperwork properly (Wings and Wheels – We are booked for 2026!).
But slowly George has become a part of our family and we hope that Les' brother is looking down on us and raising a pint of Proper Job. We also hope that we will pass the car in a better state to the future generations.
We will leave you with this quote from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” But some motor cars are different. If you get to like them and understand them.... you will find, you may find, that they become almost like persons – more than ordinary persons: MAGICAL PERSONS”.
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