Classics on the Common 2008
Classics on the Common
Wednesday 30th July 2008

Copy of an email to entrants from the organiser, Peter Madden dated 22.7.08

Forget the downturn in the economy, ignore how much more the petrol has cost you and enjoy yourself. Among regular friends and visitors this years first time entrants include a young man of 18 with his first Mini, a slightly less young man of 80 with a camper van, and entrants driving down from Glasgow and Holland. I hope you all enjoy the evening.

Thank you for your entry, with the night rapidly approaching, a final email to advise you all of facilities available on the night. Many of you will have seen similar emails in previous years for some this will be your first Classics on the Common. Please take a minute to read it, There is something new for everyone and some good news.

Please ensure that your entry pass is clearly displayed in the windscreen of your car on arrival at the Common, motorbikes please try to display your pass as best you can! Please park as directed by the marshals, if you wish to park with friends please arrive together and we will park you together. Please do not try to save space for later arrivals, this ends up as dead space that no one can use. Vehicles without passes will be directed to the spectator parking area.

Spectators
For any of your friends, family, or acquaintances who are planning to come down to the Common under their own steam, we would advise that if they are local they are well advised to walk down. For those coming from further away to avoid the heavy traffic they are advised to consider arriving in Harpenden by train which is a short walk from the Common. For those arriving by car, subject to ground conditions, spectator parking will be provided on an area of the Common between Cravells Road and Walkers Road, with entry from Cravells Road and exit onto Walkers Road. A decision on the ground conditions will be made on the day of the event by the Town Council and as long as we can use it it will be signposted. If we are unable to use the area spectators will have to park in the Town or Station car parks. Thanks to the support of Harpenden Town Council Lydekker car park in Sun Lane will be free of charge from 4pm, please note all other car parks will be pay and display as usual as they do not come under the control of Harpenden Town Council. The spectator parking area is not wheelchair accessible, spectators with disabilities are advised to use the Town car parks or disabled bays with level access to the Common.

Catering
Harpenden High Street can cover most tastes, there will be two catering vans on the Common again this year one serving burgers etc the other serving fish and chips. At the Silver Cup PH they will be doing their usual selection of quality food, they will also have a full bar service outside the pub. There are also several others pubs in the vicinity of the Common who will gladly welcome your trade.

Toilets
We have resisted putting mobile toilets onto the Common and instead negotiated with all of the Public Houses in the vicinity of the Common and they have kindly agreed that entrants and members of the public are welcome to use their toilets during the course of the event. A list of the pubs follows at the end of this email. There are also public toilets available at the bottom end of the High Street outside Pizza Express.

Safety
Please drive slowly on the Common, be directed by the marshals, and watch out for pedestrians and picnickers when manoeuvring your car.

Admin
If your pass has 'owes' written on it, it is because your entry fee was not received for some reason, possibly my fault in not finding a cheque in the envelope, payee on the cheque was wrong, or you might have forgotten, in any event please pop £5 into the control point on the night. Those of you who forgot to include an SAE I have of course written and stamped one for you, you might like to drop 50p in the pot on the night.

Plaques
As usual plaques will be available from the Control Point, three white pop up gazebos, which will be just to the right of the entrance to the main area of Common. The plaques are a little different this year to mark the 15th anniversary and my last year as organiser. I am greatly indebted to Autoglym, Classic & Sportscar Magazine and Pan Auto's all of whom have generously sponsored the plaques so I can give more of your money to charity. If your pass does not have an L preceding the number then your entry was received in time to qualify for a plaque. Please collect you plaque before 7.30pm. If your entry was received late, i.e. it

has an L before the number then please come to the Control Point after 7.30pm and any remaining plaques will be released on a first come first served basis. There are normally enough for all who want them. Plaques from some previous years are also available.

Stands
As usual there will be just a select few stands on the Common, they include

Pan Auto's; John Tarbox the owner has always participated in and supported the event, this year he is again sponsoring the Rally Plaques.

Autoglym; Needing no introduction and sponsoring the rally plaques.

Keith Mundy; Selling model cars.

Institute of Advanced Motorists; promoting their organisation.

Volunteers
If you can spare an hour or more of your time, setting up during the day, on the evening as a marshall, or the next morning tidying the Common, please contact me for further information.

The future
Most of you will know that after 15 years I'm standing down as organiser, during the course of this year I have been shadowed by a team of four enthusiasts all of whom are regular entrants at Classics on the Common. They are;

Chris Small Harpenden Village Rotary Club
James Hobson Carpenters Arms Classic Car Club
David Law Harpenden Village Rotary Club
Peter Cox Harpenden Village Rotary Club

They will be taking over the event from 2009. I'm only imposing two conditions on them 1. That they take great of care your personal information and that it is only used for Classics purposes and 2. that the Carpenters Arms Classic Car Club name stays with the event. I have no doubt that they will give you a great event in the future. They have my complete support, and will have my assistance if they require it.

Meguiars 2008 UK Car Enthusiats of the Year
I was delighted to be nominated for the above award and quite stunned to win it. I firmly believe that the real winner of the award is Classics on the Common itself, and the people who take part and are involved in it, that's you!. As a result of the award the event is being covered this year by The Telegraph and is being filmed for transmission in the US & Canada on the Speed Channel. It will hopefully also be available in due course at www.carcrazycentral.com . I also hope to have a couple of old police cars from the Metropolitan Police Historic Fleet on the Common.

DVD of 2007 available
A professional program was filmed and produced of the 2007 Classics on the Common event by Production Company Chapel Kensington http://www.chapelkensington.com The principle of which David Richardson is a long standing Harpenden resident. The footage was shot for either a DVD or Television Documentary and has only recently been compiled into a complete 30 minute program, for which to date no further schedule has been decided. The final program is of high quality and has been subject to over a weeks Video Post Production.

David has agreed as a limited edition, Chapel Kensington will run off individual DVD to order for £5 plus £1 postage and packing. If any people connected to Classics on the Common would be interested in a copy, a special E-mail address has been set up to deal with DVD enquiries which is classiccarsdvd@aol.com If you express an interest you will be mailed a mini trailer as a Windows Media File.

Lorraine and I have seen a copy of this DVD we both liked it and thought it captured the spirit of Classics on the Common. David has agreed to make a donation based on sales which will of course be divided amongst our charities.

Looking forward to a good evening.

Peter Madden

Public Houses in the Vicinity

The Silver Cup - Opposite main Common
The Harpenden Arms - South end of High St adjoining Common
The George - South end of High St
The Slug & Lettuce - South end of High St
The Inn on The Green - Leyton Road
Royal British Legion - Leyton Road