THURSFORD CHRISTMAS - “Truly” - SPECTACULAR

We set out on Wednesday morning in the bright autumnal sunlight so special at this time of year and after an uneventful journey arrived at Fakenham Racecourse, our base for this rally. We were immediately greeted by Ted and Ron, two of the rally leaders, and invited to join Jan and Heather, the other half of the rally team, in the Vine room where they were hosting the “Get Together” with fellow ralliers. It was an opportunity to collect rally paperwork, tickets for the show and resolve any queries we had about the program but most importantly we were able to renew old friendships from rallies past.

Thursday had been scheduled as a free day and some chose to get stuck in with a bit of shopping and some (the more adventurous as it turned out) took up the offer of embarking on a nine mile walk organised by Sandy and Jo Sanderson. It turned out to be a truly memorable walk not least because of the ever changing landscape, the varied wildlife and the meal in Nelson’s local at the halfway point. But perhaps it was mostly memorable because of the shot blasting we all took from the hail coming off the North Sea at what felt like a hundred miles an hour. Nevertheless, we all survived, got back to our vehicles before the light faded, warmed up and acquired yet another tale on which to dine out on. Little did we know that this was the prelude to some truly spectacular weather over the next day or two.

It seems that we got the snow ahead of most of the rest of the country and whilst not as deep as in some parts of Britain; it did reach a respectable and at times daunting six inches or so. Problematic you may think when the programme required our attendance at the Crown of Colkirk for lunch and later that day, at Thursford for the main event, the show itself. Nothing of the sort, the ICA spirit kicked in and all travel difficulties were overcome with the usual level of assistance and co-operation typical amongst ICA members. The meal and the show were very well received, both living up to their well established reputations.

Saturday was another free day, again revealing the varied interest of ICA members, some shopping, some sampling the public transport (courtesy of free travel passes) and some like us digging out the outfit in readiness for the journey home next day. Saturday evening brought the official events to a close with a quiz night (courtesy of Ron and Heather) when we had the opportunity to finish up the remaining drinks, mince pies and nibbles left over from our previous attempts at doing so.

It has to be said that the weather did impact marginally on the programme but the rally leaders were more that up to the job with a bevy of ideas and a willingness to rearrange things for our benefit. The Boules competition, quite naturally had to be cancelled (six inches of snow you know), but undaunted Ted replaced this event with a demonstration of snow clearing from a massively overloaded awning!!

Rally leaders Jan and Ted Elgar and Heather and Ron Rogers were thanked in the usual way for a most enjoyable and well-organised rally. We also thank Pam Parker who organised the show tickets once again.

P.S. No apologies for the slight change in title for this rally but I thought the amendment more accurately reflects our experience of the event.