W elcome to the website of the Bexhill 100 Motoring Club.

If you are interested in classic, veteran or even more modern cars, then you'll find many like minded people here. Based in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, we have members restoring vehicles, being involved in local projects such as the Elva project at the Bexhill Museum and attending many shows in the South East. The club is also closely involved in the local community, organising amongst other events, the Bexhill Classic and Custom Car Show held annually on August Bank Holiday Monday raising much needed funds for local charities. We hold regular social evenings on the fourth Friday of every month and members receive a copy of our "Flagman" magazine every two months.

Here we are in August and that can only mean one thing - The Bexhill 100 Classic and Custom Car Show is just around the corner! So cancel all other engagements, mark the date indellibly in your diary and come on down to the Polegrove Recreation Ground, Bexhill on Bank Holiday Monday for a fantastic day out at what has become known by exhibitors and visitors alike as a really friendly show. With over 350 cars of all shapes, sizes and ages expected, trade stalls for some "off High Street" retail therapy plus entertainment for the younger set, we aim to please the whole family. Don't forget too that local charities benefit from funds raised by the Show which helps some very worthwhile causes.

June and July have, as ever, proved very busy months with many shows and other outings amongst which the Bexhill 100 Motoring Cub's float entry in the Bexhill Carnival really must stand out as we won First in our class - a magnificent achievement and a real credit to the team. This years theme was films and our chosen epic was "Titanic" with a superbly constructed sinking "Titanic" bow being towed behind a Jeep ingeniously disguised as a lifeboat, both accompanied by Jack, Rose, a Captain, officers and crew members and other characters from the film.

Our seafront displays too have been tremendously successful with both June and July shows being held in fine weather and attracting over 40 cars each day. Coming in the midst of a very busy season, this is a real reflection of the enthusiasm of the Club, so well done everyone! Outside of our own shows, we have had great days out at a fair number of shows, including amongst many others The Darling Buds of May show at Pluckley, the Rare Breeds show at Woodchurch and The Smallholders Show at Ardingly.

The season is well under way now and overall it's been a pretty good start! The Easter Bonnet Parade started things off in April with some highly immaginative entries amongst a good turnout on a chilly day. Supporting this year's FBHVC "Drive it Day", a terrific array of club cars got together at the De La Warr Pavilion on the morning of Sunday 25 April to travel to Bateman's - Rudyard Kipling's impressive house near Burwash. On arrival we found we had very kindly been allocated all to ourselves a special area of the car park right in front of the main entrance. What a sight! It really did create quite a stir with a couple of Rolls Royces, several Morrises from c1934, sports and saloon cars from the 1950's - 1970's and later ranging from Aston Martins, Triumphs, to a Mini and a lovely Hillman Minx convertible. After Bateman's it was off to the traditional end of run pub meal!

More recent events attended have been a selection of club cars helping out at the St Richard's School fete for the 1066 Specials fundraising day and the club visit to Magnificent Motors at Eastbourne over the first May Bank Holday weekend. Unfortunately due to the less than magnificent weather on the Sunday the club attendance was severely curtailed on the second day! Capping off a busy couple of months were a display at Windmill Hill, Hermonceaux as part of the National Mills Weekend, an enthusiastically accepted invitation to join in a local A30/A35 Club run and our first seafront display of the year where over 33 cars turned out to interest the promenaders. Well done everyone! June looks a little quieter but there's no real let up as other than various shows, there is still the Bexhill Carnival to prepare for and the work continues for the Polegrove Show which will be upon us before we know it!

It's 2010 and we're off!! The New Year Run was, overall, a great success despite some very ominous weather first thing in the morning. Over 30 cars turned out, nearly 50 drivers/ passengers - most of whom made it round the course and enjoyed a very (ahem.....) relaxed meal. The weather improved hour by hour and it ended up being a beautiful day. Many thanks must go to Dave and Roger and all those who helped organise this great start to the season. We were also grateful to be given a full page write up in the Bexhill Observer. The Events page on the site is now updated with 2010 club and other shows. If you have any events you would like included or if you do by any chance notice any mistakes, please let me know (through the link on the contact page). There's a really wide range of events so do come along. Whilst on the subject of events, we have a couple of club nights and then our first event of the new season will be upon us - the Easter Bonnet Parade. If previous years are anything to go by - weather permitting - it should be a really fun display. April continues with the AGM on the 23rd and the "Drive It Day" run on 25th for which I am assured another interesting destination venue is under consideration.
2009
The Bexhill Classic and Custom Car Show
One word - stunning!! What a fantastic day. Our 5th show and by almost any measure our finest so far. Blessed by superb weather, graced by an absolutely magnificent display of around 300 vehicles and delighted to welcome a huge number of visitors, all the months of preparation and hard work on the day was made well worth the effort! It was so gratifying to see so many happy faces and to receive so many postive comments from visitors, exhibitors and trade stands. If you have any comments good or otherwise, please do take a moment to either let us know here or post on the forum as it all helps us to find out what works and maybe what doesn't, so we can try and improve the show further next year. Massive thanks should be extended to your Show Chairman Lee Dunn and his organising group. Many thanks also to the tireless efforts of everyone who helped on the day - the gate staff, marshalls, catering team, admin staff, to John Black for his terrific commentary which each year adds so much to the atmosphere and also to the Mayoress who kindly spared us several hours to visit the show. Finally thanks to everyone of you who came to visit, helping us to raise funds for local charities.

There have been some excellent events and shows so far, none more so than our 10th Anniversary Seafront Display at the end of May where a superb array of over 50 cars were displayed. There was a superbly decorated cake (which hopefully everyone present managed to get a piece of) and loads of interest in the club, so thanks to everyone for their efforts in making this special display so successful. Another very well attended event was the "Fish and Chip Supper" club night held at Three Cups Corner.

Other displays of note have been the show at the Blue Cross Equine Rescue Centre, Northiam where the club had it's own display area adjacent to the main show arena, the June Seafront display and the recent Darling Buds of May show. We also had a very well appreciated show of cars at the St Richards School fete. All of these were blessed with excellent weather so here's hoping that continues!

Thanks to everyone who turned up on Friday 24th April for a successful 2009 Annual General Meeting. Congratulations to Dave Smith on his election as the new Club Chairman and to Lee Dunn for his well deserved award. Special and very sincere thanks must be extended to Digger for his tenure as Chairman during which the club has gone from strength to strength. He leaves the club in fine fettle and the future for the club is one which we can all look forward to with a great deal of optimism! The committee's efforts over the past year must also be recognised and the incoming committe will certainly benefit from and deserve all the support you can give them.

On Sunday 26th of April we held our FBHVC (Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs) "Drive it Day" club run, this year to Brenznett Aeronautical Museum. Despite several unavoidable absences, there was an excellent turnout and a great day was had by all. Thanks to everyone for their support - keep it up, as events like this are what brings the club to life! Some pictures can be seen here

These two events represent a curtain raiser for the season now swinging into full flow with several major events to look forward to in May - Magnificent Motors in Easbourne and most importantly - well to our club anyway, the club's 10th Anniversary Show on May 31st where we are hoping to put on a very special show. This 10th Anniversary is a tremendous achievement for the club and is testament to a lot of hard work, commitment and effort by club and committee members both past and present. It is something we should all be very appreciative of and be very proud about. There will also be a club stand at the Hastings Trolley Bus Show on 17th.

April's opening event was the Easter Bonnet show, this year blessed with good weather. There was a strong turnout with imaginative entries ranging from daredevil chicks to Roger's Lanchester which looked as though it had taken a diversion through a florist's shop and come out with half the stock attached to the front of the car! Tony S. very kindly sent me some photos of some of the entrants, see here for more photos.

February and March were traditionally quiet months but just to let everyone know that the Events page on the website is now fully updated and all the changes listed in the February newsletter are included. The Events page will be updated as soon as any changes are made known, so keep checking for the most up-to-date info!

A quick plug too for the Flagman. Do try and take the time to put together articles for inclusion and get them to Mike - all offerings will be very welcome!

Happy New Year and welcome to 2009 with Bexhill 100 Motor Club - and what a year it promises to be! Not only is 2009 the 10th anniversary of the formation of the Club, it is also the 50th anniversary of the both the Mini and the Triumph Herald, two iconic British Motor cars - anniversaries which are likely to play a large part in the club's activities this year

On the subject of anniversaries, as shown in the heading banner right hand photo we have for this year special 10th Anniversary wallets and shoulder bags, which is the perfect opportunity to remind everyone that we have a great range of regalia for sale including polo shirts, fleeces etc. Please click here for price list. Remember too that 10% of all regalia revenue goes to club funds. <

January started the New Year with the Club's New Year run held as ever - not surprisingly - on 1st January! With a record number of cars and over 50 drivers/ passengers involved it proved to be the most successful New Year event so far - one which has grown year on year. A great turn-out and a super start to 2009! With the "off" attended by the Bexhill Observer and the run blessed with dry if very cold weather and a great pub as the destination, gratifyingly, comments received from those who came along were all very positive - and another run is promised for Summer. Many thanks to Roger, Dave (DS) and Dave (Scotty) for their efforts in organising it and also to Sheila and Iris for putting up with it all!!

The second major event for 2009 is the January club night auction of a 1985 Mercedes 230E in excellent condition and with only 75K miles on the clock - see this months newsletter or click here for further details (and for the very minor sale condition!!). The car was generously donated to us to auction off to raise funds for the club. The auction will be conducted by Adrian Bootle of Newhaven Car Auctions and promises to be a really exciting evening, so everyone - cheque books at the ready.

Something new for the site. At least one eagle-eyed member has noticed it hiding away in it's development stage spot at the bottom of this page (hellooo Richard) but now that it seems to work thought it was time to unleash the new message board here . Please do take a moment to register - it's dead easy to do, and see what use you can make of it. See you there!
A very big thank you to everyone who helped organise and who attended the 2008 Show on August Bank Holiday - either as visitor, car entrant or stallholder, for contributing to another very successful show at the Polegrove Recreation Ground, the less than perfect weather notwithstanding! This year we had nearly 300 vehicles on show and around 2,000 visitors, with most of the promised attractions present including an unexpected surprise in the shape of a fantastic 1902 replica steam car. Further thanks must go to all who attended the Gala and Awards evening on Sunday 7th September when we were delighted to present cheques for £1,000 to each of the local branches of the 4 chosen charities: Multiple Sclerosis Society, Bexhill Care and Community (Dial-a-Ride), Homecall and ESDA. This is a terrific achievement, equalling the amounts donated last year when we had much better weather, so huge congratulations to Lee and his team for their sterling efforts in organising this years show. Also for those of you who have kept those valuable raffle tickets, a list of unclaimed winning tickets is shown on this page

Due to unseasonably inclement weather and the unusually early Easter, it was decided this year to hold the annual Easter Bonnet parade as a Spring Bonnet parade on 17th April. This proved an inspired decision as the parade was an outstanding success. Thanks go to George S for the photos.

The weather also had a major impact on the club's three seafront displays this year with poor conditions on the first show limiting the number of cars on display to under 10 whilst on the final show - which had fine weather, nearly 30 cars were shown. A fine effort by all concerned!

The club was recently delighted to receive as a donation an Austin A35 Estate which although structurally sound needed some extensive cosmetic renovation. Following club members' considerable efforts and generosity, an astonishing transformation was achieved and the finished article can be seen here and here.

You can find out more about the history and activities of the club together with information about Bexhill's involvement with British motoring history through the "about us" link above. Talking of links, there's now a links section on the contact page so if anyone would like me to add a link to their site, please get in touch. The first link is to Lucie's site "E & P Motors", all about Penny and Ernie's car collection - so do give it a visit.

Check out the calendar. If you are interested to find out more about any highlighted date just click on the date and it will take you to the events page or to further details!

Comments and suggestions are essential. Please let me know what you think - go to the contacts page and send an email. It's good to know you're out there.