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| My Shadow Badge Bar - a guessing game! |
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| 4th May 2020 |
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| 4th May 2020 - with a 'far-distanced' CCC member and photographer Błazej Żuławski The 'HRH' ('His Royal Highness') registration indicates that this car once belonged to the fleet owned by the Sultan of Oman at Wargrave nr. Henley I found it amusing to keep...but actually it is a Hull registration For more on this interesting 1974 Silver Shadow SRH18723: https://casualcars.blogspot.com/2015/10/rolls-royce-silver-shadow-50th.html |
May 4th again!
My sentimental celebration of the 116th anniversary meeting of Sir Charles Rolls and Sir Henry Royce at the Midland Hotel Manchester in 1904 rolls around again.
But today it falls in the middle of this ill-named 'Crown Virus' lock down. I am feeling desperately deprived. In a fit of optimism, this morning I rang the Hotel Bristol, hoping to celebrate this important day with a glass of champers as controls are mercifully slightly relaxed in Poland today. The hotel will be closed until June.....
And here I thought my gregariousness had overcome any obstacle!
No matter how carefully a project is planned, something may still go wrong with it.
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
[The best laid schemes of Mice and Men
oft go awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!]
Robert Burns, To a Mouse (Poem, November, 1785)
A few RREC members and CCC Members gather at the historic Bristol Hotel Warsaw for this convivial occasion. After Poland gained its independence in 1919, the famous pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski became the Prime Minister and held the first session of his government at this hotel. By some miracle the Bristol survived the war with minor damage, standing isolated in the rubble of the destroyed city.
We usually meet in the Secession style Column Bar (possibly designed by the noted Viennese architect Otto Wagner) for champagne and tapas in what was known in more glamorous times as 'the cocktail hour', 5.30pm - 7.00pm.
This small Rolls-Royce club gathering has become almost an institution at the Bristol over the years. It was a pleasant occasion and I was particularly gratified as I used to celebrate the historic meeting alone. In the past, for some like company whilst sipping my flute of Deutz champagne, I would take along a few Rolls-Royce Bulletins and the Yearbook I had not had time to read. Anyone in those days entertaining the idea of the formation of a Polish Section of the RREC would have been considered a suitable case for treatment. Remarkably it has recently come to fruition.
I hope my bout of, yes, admittedly rather privileged nostalgia, for happier, more civilized days can be forgiven in view of the horrors besetting Europe and abroad - particularly those countries torn to shreds whose destinies rarely seem to reach our news bulletins - Yemen, Syria, Brazil, Ecuador, India and Africa....
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| Holding the magnificently laid out and informative 20-Ghost Club 70th anniversary commemorative book |
Thank goodness I kept this record at least..... I shall be raising a glass on my terrace alone it seems which takes me back to the original way I celebrated this day....RR books, magazines and occasional fond glances at my parked Shadow, owned for 33 years.
Part of the Speech made by Sir Charles Rolls at the Dinner following the 1905 Tourist Trophy Race:
Mr. Royce is one of those unassuming, hard-working men who devote their lives to the study and solution of difficult mechanical problems, and to whom indirectly are due the general advancement of civilization and the high position which Great Britain holds at present in the engineering world.
* * * * * * * *
My maternal grandfather was British by birth. His name was George Mason (b. 10 June 1895 in Liverpool) and he was a professional boxer. During the Great War he fought with the valiant Gordon Highlanders in the Battle of the Somme on the Western Front. He was wounded twice but returned to action on both occasions.
After the Armistice he tried to set up fitness centers in New York in the 1920s (way ahead of his time) but lost all his money in the Wall Street crash and unfortunate Australian investments. For some years he was then the Physical Education Instructor on Cunard liners to the Prince of Wales (King Edward VIII) and other dignitaries including his friend the explorer Sir Earnest Shackleton, the Oxford and Cambridge Olympic Track Teams, the notoriously erotic dancer and scandalous Maud Allan of Oscar Wilde Salome fame as well as coach to the American professional boxer Jack Dempsey.
These luxurious liners crossed the Atlantic from Southampton to New York (RMS Berengaria, RMS Mauretania, RMS Aquitania). They boxed across the Atlantic – in those days it was regarded as a ‘masculine’, fashionable and attractive way to exercise! Still is for some! Mason made a great deal of money coaching at this high level. At the time he was married to an English lady from Hampstead and they went on to settle in Australia.
These luxurious liners crossed the Atlantic from Southampton to New York (RMS Berengaria, RMS Mauretania, RMS Aquitania). They boxed across the Atlantic – in those days it was regarded as a ‘masculine’, fashionable and attractive way to exercise! Still is for some! Mason made a great deal of money coaching at this high level. At the time he was married to an English lady from Hampstead and they went on to settle in Australia.
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| George Mason (Rt.) sparring on the RMS Aquitania |
During WW II he fought in the Australian Army in Papua New Guinea and contracted scrub typhus from which he never fully recovered. After the war worked profitably for Tattersall's Club, a lottery and gambling organisation in Sydney and took to farming property at Penrith in New South Wales. He also part-owned the Apsley Arms Hotel in Walcha, a small town 425 kilometres by road from Sydney at the intersection of the Oxley Highway and Thunderbolts Way.
During this time he owned the Rolls-Royce motor car 56WJ. I know little in detail about his period of ownership except he carried lambs in the rear compartment at times! Ill health precipitated the sale of the car to a mysterious Punjabi Mr. Doabi who was in the mining business. He carried heavy samples of rock for mineral testing, also in the rear compartment! Australian Rolls-Royce motor cars often experienced a tough life.
During this time he owned the Rolls-Royce motor car 56WJ. I know little in detail about his period of ownership except he carried lambs in the rear compartment at times! Ill health precipitated the sale of the car to a mysterious Punjabi Mr. Doabi who was in the mining business. He carried heavy samples of rock for mineral testing, also in the rear compartment! Australian Rolls-Royce motor cars often experienced a tough life.
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This is the 1929 Phantom II, chassis no. 56WJ with Thrupp
& Maberly landaulette de ville coachwork. It arrived in Australia in 1936
and was owned in Sydney by Dr Hugh Poate. My grandfather was the second Australian owner, acquiring 56WJ in
1950 and registered in NSW AP-112. It appears he bought the car
from Dr Poate and perhaps ran the car for six
years, possibly just a little less. In their book Rolls-Royce and Bentley in the Sunburnt Country: The First Fifty Years of Rolls-Royce in Australia (Tom Clarke & David Neely), they recorded it as last noted in Tasmania in the 1970s. He is sure this car used to have a de ville front portion (now sealed), and the rear landaulette portion was also sealed. 56WJ is illustrated in two photographs on p. 192 of Rolls-Royce : The Derby Phantoms by Lawrence Dalton and was displayed at the Scottish Motor Show of 1929. The first owner was Sir Howard Bowdon. He was the son of the international business tycoon Sir Frank Bowden, 1st Baronet. He was the chairman and chief executive of the world famous Raleigh Bicycle Company founded by his father from a tiny enterprise. Bicycling as exercise had saved his father's life - doctors had given him 6 months to live. He built a huge industrial enterprise from this experience. From 1930-34 he was Chairman of the British Olympic Association. (Tom Clarke by email with thanks)   |
20-Ghost Club visit to Poland June - July 2017
Some 20 Silver Ghosts (1911 -
1925), two 20 HPs (1927 and 1928), a Phantom I (1931), five Phantom IIs
(1930-1933), one 20/25 (1934), one 25/30 (1937) and a Range Rover support
vehicle took part at various stages of the tour. Such a large group of pre-war Rolls-Royce
cars visiting Poland was completely unprecedented in the history of the
country and was covered enthusiastically
by television and other media.
The tour started on Sunday on 24
June 2018 and was of two or three weeks duration depending which option was
chosen. The total distance was approximately 1,100 miles (980 miles to 1,420
miles, depending on options chosen and excursions taken). First the great city
of Gdańsk. The cars were collected from Gdynia Docks followed by a full visit
to the Hanseatic Baltic town. The next halt was a visit to the monumental
Teutonic Castle of Marienburg (now Malbork) and another Teutonic Castle at
Kwidzyn. They then drove to Warsaw along the Vistula River, stopping at Płock which has the finest view of the
Vistula River from the escarpment.
In Warsaw, accompanied by Frank
Tiemann, Head of Corporate Communications Europe (East) and CIS for Rolls-Royce
Motor Cars, I welcomed them with a glass of champagne and a refreshing
towel at the door of the Victoria Sofitel Hotel. We had dinner together twice
on consecutive nights and I gave a short talk on important sights to see in
Warsaw. A modern Rolls-Royce Ghost supplied by the Polish distributor then
joined the group for some six days driven by the photographer Błazej
Zuławski.
The next day they pressed on to Kraków
and the wonders of the Wieliczka Salt Mine. Then the Tatra Mountains with visit
to Niedzica Castle, Auschwitz-Birkenau
(the Centre for Peace & Reconciliation) and historic Tynieuc Abbey. Forever onward to Niemcza in the Sudeten
Mountains of Lower Silesia and Świdnica
to see the stunning polychrome 17th
century Lutheran wooden church. Near here at Gola Dzierżoniowska they were
joined for dinner by the Chairman of the
Polish Section Dariusz Brudkiewicz in his 1948 Silver Wraith. The former 14th
century synagogue at Strzegom and Książ Castle (sometime home of the
Englishwoman Daisy von Pless whose published diaries are remarkable) near the
mining town of Walbrzych were also of great interest. Barbeque and folk dancing
and music at the Renaissance Palace at Kamienna Góra. Hardy climbers reached
the 14th century Chojnik Castle located high above the town of Sobieszów on top
of the Chojnik Hill within the Karkonosze National Park, overlooking the
magnificent Jelenia Góra Valley.
All the members of the 20-Ghost
Club assured me of their surprise at the historical fascination of Poland and
its extraordinary modern development over the last thirty years.
I was even subsequently elected a 20-Ghost Club Club member - a rare honour as I do not own a Silver Ghost, merely a humble 1974 Silver Shadow - but it is still a Rolls-Royce and I am Secretary of the Polish Section of the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts' Club!
And then the great 70th Anniversary 20-Ghost Club Dinner and Annual General Meeting on March 6th 2020 at the indescribably opulent Goldsmiths' Hall London.
A most attractive extremely high quality Menu had been prepared of Marinated Salmon, followed by aged Fillet of Beef, then Orchard Apple Tart Tartin with Bay Leaf Ice-Cream and Caramel Sauce with coffee. Excellent wines from Italy and Spain. Grace was said, a Loyal Toast, Toast to the Royal Family and a Toast to the Hon. Charles Rolls and Sir Henry Royce were pleasantly scattered through the dinner.
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Sir Michael Kadoorie explaining his saving of the priceless 1907 Silver Ghost 'AX 201' for the nation following a seamless, Rolls-Royce smooth, Annual General Meeting |
Real candles by the hundreds lit these candelabra - an extraordinary experience!
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| MM 20 Ghost Club Dinner |
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| 4th May 2016 Together with the Chairman of the newly formed Polish Section of the RREC, Dariusz Brudkiewicz who had driven from Opole with his family, some stalwart CCC members assembled (Ian Booth, Michael Kenny, Blazej Zulawski, and a 'new chum' Max Filipowicz and the ever ebullient Michael Kenny). |
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As Rolls-Royce remains one of the greatest brand names and industrial British Institutions (despite changes of ownership) I always celebrate this meeting of the founders every year. Well someone in Dam Buster spirit has to fly the flag after all, even an Australian living in Poland!
I headed up to the historic Bristol Hotel in Central Warsaw near the Presidential Palace, the CCC base of operations.
We had numerous glasses of Deutz Champagne, tasty snacks provided by the hotel, excellent Tapas and chatted about cars, leafed through some of the past Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts' Club Bulletins and RR books. It has become an annual commemorative ritual.
Most important much politically incorrect banter was in evidence and we laughed a lot...yes, a lot....
Michael Moran
We had numerous glasses of Deutz Champagne, tasty snacks provided by the hotel, excellent Tapas and chatted about cars, leafed through some of the past Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts' Club Bulletins and RR books. It has become an annual commemorative ritual.
Most important much politically incorrect banter was in evidence and we laughed a lot...yes, a lot....
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| 1927 Royce‘Twenty’ (GXL80) with coachwork by Simpson and Slater of Nottingham Garden Atrium of the Hotel Bristol, Warsaw 4th May 2017 |
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| 4th May 2016 |
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My 20 year badge from the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts' Club
More May 4ths from the CCC past ...
and
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