HUNTS
|
|
TREASURE HUNTS |
| Page updated November 2009 |  |
In the past these foreign Treasure Hunts were often based in France, but not always. For the last event of this type everything was changed, and the venue moved to Belgium, with two nights in the magnificent city of Bruges and three in a hotel actually on the battlefield of Waterloo, so competitors got to see Flemish as well as French Belgium.
Competitors crossed to the continent as they wished and then travelled to the start for the first get-together. The event then lasted for five days, involving much eating and drinking and general jollification, with that little extra tease of the Treasure Hunt competition as well, most of the clues being from various visits, to places like the chateau of Gaasbek outside Brussels, the Duke of Wellington's headquarters in the town of Waterloo, a walkabout in the town of Bruges, and more. There were visits and tastings, of chocolate as well as wine (well, it was Belgium, after all), and lots of gourmet and unusual meals. Incidentally, please do not believe the oft-repeated rubbish that you can't get a good meal in Belgium apart from moules-frites, because we proved that comprehensively wrong. The event ended with a final dinner in the middle of the battlefield of Waterloo. Oh all right then, in a restaurant in the middle. We weren't actually sitting in a field, you know. Winners were Mike and Julie Sanders from Somerset in their 1960 S2 Bentley Continental.
.The longer version is what we used to do, and may well do again in the future, but in early 2007, in response to many requests, I put on a much smaller event in England, a bit more intense (actually a hell of a lot more intense!) because it was shorter, only Friday night to Sunday lunchtime. And for this one, since it was in the depths of winter when a lot of classic cars are safely tucked away, it wasn't really a Classic Car Event as such, more a People event, a gathering of friends who admittedly had originally met because of classic cars, so that side was in it too. The trouble with all of this was that I contacted the normal people, the Usual Suspects, so to speak (and I quote), and it filled up so fast things got positively blurred. Certain people who missed out were thus disappointed.
So in 2008, in response to even more of those "when are you going to do another Treasure Hunt?" cries in the form of letters, Christmas cards, emails, whatever, I announced another of the smaller ones, set in the historic town of Wells in Somerset, with more hotel rooms available this time. And that one promptly filled up immediately just the same.
Spring 2009 passed without one, as all energies were being directed towards the last-ever Claret & Classics, but once that rallying was over, the Treasure Hunt requests started again, more vociferous than ever. So at the end of July I announced electronically another one for early November, to be based near Bath, and whoosh, before you knew it everyone was positively baying to do it as before. How nice to be so popular, he purred smugly.
And this event was: Remember, like all of the others this was NOT a rally, but a problem-solving devious Treasure Hunt, Deeley style. The driving there was in it was purely to get from place to place by the competitors' own route. There was a smattering of classics, but it has to be admitted that most people were in moderns, not surprising considering the amount of rain there had been in previous weeks - though as it turned out, for the event itself we got away with only the one brief, if heavy, shower.
It took place in and around the city of Bath (what a setting!), on Saturday in Bath itself, on Sunday morning charging around the little lanes north of the city looking for scattered clues. But along with all this Devious Deeley skulduggery during the whole weekend, the important thing was the gathering-together of friends, enhanced by some excellent food in the hotel. There was dinner on the two nights of Friday and Saturday, and after the escapades on Sunday morning, everything finished off with a gourmet Sunday lunch when the winners were announced.
These overall winners were Chris and Jane Hunt Cooke, and behind them came Gerald and Carol Westcott. First in their class also were Trevor and Vanessa Schofield, first-timers on a Deeley event on Claret & Classics in June, and now clearly gluttons for punishment.
The event was so popular that the cries of "when is the next one?" have started already, and as a result Roger Deeley has changed his mind about not doing any event in 2010. Now something completely new and different is being planned, a smaller event so as not to detract from the big Port to Port rally in April 2011, but this one a combined Rally and Treasure Hunt together. How's that for something new? Keep your eyes on the LATEST NEWS page later in this month.
THE BATH BONANZA : 6th - 8th November 2009
DEELEY CLASSICS ORGANIZES SIMILAR EVENTS FOR CLUBS AND SOCIETIES (WE REGULARLY RUN THE JAGUAR DRIVERS CLUB ANNUAL RALLY, FOR INSTANCE) AND ARE ALWAYS WILLING TO DO THE SAME FOR ANYONE ELSE.
|
Deeley Classics 50 Uphill Way Uphill Weston - super - Mare Somerset BS23 4TN England |
 Tel: +44 (0)1934 626136 Fax: +44 (0) 1934 626146 E mail: deeley.classics@virgin.net |
©2001 Deeley Classics Designed by Chris Shrapnel of Momentai Revised 23/9/01 |