.
The Club met once again to enjoy our Reunion Dinner, returning to the New Lanark Mill Hotel in the village of New Lanark, a former 18th century cotton spinning mill village located on the banks of the Falls of Clyde.
The venue had proved very successful in 2024 and therefore we returned for 2025.
VSMA Chairman Chris Paton was pleased to welcome 76 members and guests to this our 11th reunion.
The day started in the early afternoon as there was work to do setting up for the AGM and also finalising the table plan for dinner.
As always there was a good mix of rallying and racing buffs and a few hill climb fans joining together for an excellent meal and several refreshments.
Our guest speaker this year was Barry Wood, describing himself as “an old car racer”.
Barry was born towards the end of WW2 in North London and lived for 23 years in the Hertfordshire town of Barnet (home to the famous garages of Gerry Marshall and John Britten). His first contact with motor sport was in the early sixties with the local Klaxon Motor Club where he was introduced to navigational road rallies, driving tests, circuit sprints and autocross and very much enjoyed their Sunday night meets in the local Cuffley pub.
In 1995 a chance walk past Scottish Motor Services in Glasgow’s Woodlands Road led to much more fun with classic cars. The purchase of a Red 1955 TR2 and a Green Morgan were the first of many, enabling Barry, his son Tony, Tony’s wife Niamh, her dad Eddie and a number of close friends to race classic cars throughout the UK, Europe and as far afield as Macau, achieving many podiums. Barry’s favourites include:-
Winning in 2002 the Spa 60 car, two-hour Gentlemen Drivers race in our 1959 Lister Jaguar
Winning in 2009 at Portimao the first Stirling Moss Throphy Race for 50’s Sports Cars in our 1959 Lister Jaguar.
Winning the 2011 RAC Woodcote Trophy for 50’s Sports Cars in our 1952 RGS Atalanta Jaguar.
(click image to expand – press ‘Esc’ to return)
Barry had brought along a slide show of some of his extensive collection of exotic cars, some of which he still enjoys taking out on road trips..
Next we were treated to a quiz set by David Fotheringham which proved to be very tricky but was eventually won by “the mens” table.
The Andrew Cowan Achievement Award
We are very privileged at the VSMA to have been given the responsibility of being the custodians of the “Andrew Cowan Achievement Award” which was commissioned by Linda Cowan in memory of her late husband Andrew and his long and distinguished motor sport career.
The award is inspired by the picturesque Luskentyre Beach on the Isle of Harris, a favourite spot of Andrew’s where he loved to fish and relax away from the pressures of business.
The award this year was given to Billy Cater in recognition of the immense amount of work he does behind the scenes of several events.
Billy is currently Secretary of the Meeting at both Doune and Bo’ness, but this does not come close to describing his commitment to these two and also to Forrestburn Hillclimb.
Doune has 4 meetings a year, with many championships which include rounds of the British, Scottish plus 4 other championships and an Historic event.
Billy is there days before and after, living at the venue (been known to sleep in the loft above the paddock office!) to ensure their smooth running.
He thanks/blames Kenny Allen for getting him into the sport and says that he raised his head at the wrong time at a Lothian Club meeting and ended up on the committee! The Lothian Club has won the Hillclimb and Sprint Associations Award for Doune as the best organised Event of the Year on a number of occasions.
He lends equal enthusiasm to the Bo’ness Revival Meetings.
He is well known throughout the UK Hill Climbing family as he has, for years, travelled the country accompanying Scottish competitors who go south of the border, to support and assist their efforts.
He has never restricted himself to a rigid job description of any official post he has held over the years, but has become “Mr Fix It” for anyone competitor or official who needs help. He can direct you to fellow competitors who may have spares, welding and has even rescheduled runs to ensure everyone gets a chance to compete. Possibly everyone in Scottish Hill climbing has his phone number! (And many in England too!)
Click on the image below to view the Programme.
