Saturday, 27 May 2017 dawned with some rather dubious drizzle, as I drove to Stowe for the eighth successive annual Classic Car event. This display was the brainchild of John Arkwright (Cobham 69) and has become very popular over the years, with Old Stoics, current parents and Friends of Stowe attending with various vehicles which are displayed on the North Front just before all the parents arrive for Speech Day. Our very efficient Stewards had over 100 cars parked beautifully in decades looking very neat. It really makes a wonderful spectacle and fortunately, for us all, the weather improved and turned out to be a beautiful day later on.
Once again, we were extremely lucky to have some special cars in attendance, including the 1939 Daimler DB18 drop head coupé, with its history and photographic evidence of having once belonged to King George VI, a 1929 Ford Model A Phaeton and the beautiful 1908 Renault Tourer.
An extremely good lunch, sponsored by Hagerty International, was had by all at which both John Arkwright and I had decided to hand the reins over to the next generation for this event in the future. Marcus Atkinson (Chatham 90) will take over from John and my successor, Sasha Moss, will be ‘in the driving seat’ this year. John received a locally sourced hamper of food and a huge surprise to me was the very generous presentation of a most amazing model of a 1939 Bantam Midget Racer and inscription plaque.
After lunch we went back the North Front where John Dennis, the owner of the 1907 Berliet Curtiss very kindly treated me to a lap of the ‘North Front Circuit’ in this most wonderful of cars. It sounded like jet engines going off and I was slightly nervous of going over the sleeping policemen rather too quickly! However, the most difficult thing was trying to maintain my dignity whilst getting in and out of the car in a skirt!
More photographs can be viewed on: www.stowe.co.uk/school/news/photo-gallery/classic-cars-at-speech-day-2017
This year’s event will take place on Saturday, 26 May 2018 and please let Sasha know if you would like to bring your Classic Car by emailing oldstoic@stowe.co.uk with full details of the car.
Caroline Whitlock, Old Stoic Assistant