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Another fun run out in the Peaks today! A couple of mishaps that I'm sure @Julie Hall - Peak District AOwill elaborate on 😁 Before we even started I had to use my portable battery pack for the first time when the car wouldn't start at Matlock Sainsburys petrol station! Had to do the push of shame 😳 so I could pop the bonnet and get to the race gel battery (I may have to sacrifice some weight for reliable starting 😢). I'd recommend everyone gets one of the battery packs/power banks, certainly saved the day for me 😂 Had a good look at Julie and Glens relocated battery solution, looks really neat (as does everything on their car!) and something I'll investigate further. My 16 year old son Lewis came along for the first time today and loved it (although didn't seem too enthusiastic at 8am when I woke home though 🤣) Great roads, great company and a very tasty West African curry for lunch! What more could you want on a winters day! Happy new year!

I’ve been laid up for 4 wks after an op on my back and as the weather is looking sunny I’ve decided to go for a blat to CAFFINE and MACHINE. I would have loved to go to the Peaks run out tomorrow but can’t ,as it looks sunny ,and not the usual drab on Monday I’m inviting anyone that wants to come . I live off the track a bit so I’m thinking of meeting up just off Jct 2 on the M6 at McDonald’s Coventry 10.30 ,That makes this open to people in Leicester,Coventry,Birmingham and anywhere else . Ive never tried to organise anything like this before but at the end of the day it’s just a run out ,come or don’t those that will do will enjoy and those that don’t will be none the wiser .Im also on kit car blats U.K. and have a cobra owner from Solihull that fancies it so let’s see where this goes . Steve

The chap came over afterwards asking what was under the bonnet!

Well @OrangeCrush I don't know where he gets his bad habits from, but the first thing Tangoman did was to be unfaithful to me and jump over to the car next door that he rather fancies, 'Oi, get back here!' After we all introduced everyone to everyone Max wanted to experience the panorama dance, I got it right first time, I should, I practice it enough! Rob and his 16 year old son, Lewis, Andrew, Matt and his 11 year old son Max, Richard and his better looking younger brother, Stuart met us at Sainsbury's Glen was keen to show off his rather shiny engine bay, I wondered why he has been in the garage a lot over Christmas We showed Rob that we had done away with the small motorcycle battery and put in a full fat sized car battery instead, plus Glen has sited it down in the middle of the nose cone too. A crowd had gathered to wave us off and film our departure Through Chatsworth we went Over the bridge, if you went fast here you could take off, all 4 wheels I reckon Through the parkland, deer on one side and the magnificent house on the other Chatsworth House Silly little sticks on the grass verge Richard locked up his brakes, applied a bit of defensive driving to avoid bumping into Matt, and ran into the silly little sticks, we all pulled up while he sorted his indicator pod out, anyone got a spare one for sale? We were soon back up and running and within 2 minutes my rear view mirror emptied again. I presumed that Richard had a problem and turned around to find that Andrew had broken down. We all pulled off the road and it was found to be a problem with the fuel pump. We later found out it was the relay to the fuse that had broken. In true Top Gear style we left Andrew to wait for a tow truck and went for curry, there are less pretty places to breakdown though. With all this palaver we were running late, so I cut out a bit of the route and got us the the lunch stop only 10 minutes late. We were greeted by this very happy lady who has a passion for cooking and was welcoming and wonderful to us. Apparently a photo of our cars is on instagram already?? The curry is as hot as you wish to make it as she puts a small dish of fiery sauce out to help yourself to. Max was a bit worried about if the curry would be too hot, so we let him try the sauce. It was hilarious, he is such a lovely character and after putting a single drop on his tongue he was reaching for not only the water but the milk as well Richard and Stuart ladled the sauce on and were looking rather red for doing it. Stella was happy to photograph us all enjoying her food. West African chicken curry with proper imported ingredients was a taste sensation, yum, yum She was disappointed that we weren't staying for pudding but I explained that we were chasing ice cream to cool our tongue's down, she laughed and loved that one, bless her. Maybe we can return for coffeee and cake in the near future as it is in a lovely setting, quite in the middle of nowhere. We had a less dramatic run to Tagg Lane, no stops, no dramas and made some good progress, steady round the slippy corners, hammered it on the straights. @Andy Westwood has trained us to eat a lot, so it was cake AND ice cream, although I opted for the custard cream ice cream and the bounty ice cream because I just couldn't choose between them A 'dad and lads' moment is so sweet to see. Matt and Max Rob and Lewis, you are a week late, it's not the Santa Run today After much merriment it was unfortunatley time to head home, I hate the short, dark early days. Bye bye to Richard and Stuart Bye bye to Rob and Lewis And following us back, bye bye to Matt and Max The weather has been very benign today and once we got home we cleaned our car to a beautiful sunset Thank you to everyone who joined us, it has been lovely to have a bit of a family day and I hope that everyone enjoyed it as much as we have xxxx

Well that didn’t quite go to plan, let me explain. Wayne was on call last night and got a call out at 7.25 this morning, so he chickened out. When me n terry met up we phoned Wayne to wind him up, anyway he'd just finished so we scrapped our plan to go north to Settle and headed to Wayne's house instead then on to Holmfirth for some food in the oil can cafe then over to ladybower and the Woodhead pass.😎

Cracking run out today calling at Llyn Brenig for breakfast, good turn out for the time of year, 7 Westfields

That is a great photo of the railway bridge on the Monsal trail, makes a great noise too when we drive under it!!

Also, the Peak District is relatively central for people coming in from a huge swath of the country, from Lancs to Lincs, Cheshire to Derbyshire and even from Yorkshire and Warwickshire. As a result, there’s a lot of us spread across five or so “Areas” that know each other from Julie’s runs and other events, so of course, you also go to catch up with old friends. Plus there’s cake.

About 2000 years ago the Romans invaded and conquered England. The Romans had regular orgies so for convenience they were scantily dressed in togas. This attire proved unsuitable for the Scottish climate so they went no further than Northern England were, to keep out the icy northern winds, an engineer called Hard Ian built a wall across the country; a sort of medieval draught excluder. After many years of unpleasantness and anti-Romantic comments from the English the Romans went home. After the Romans left the Scots and English could concentrate on fighting each other which continued for centuries. By 1700 an agreement was reached between England and Scots ‘noblemen’ to stop fighting and sell Scotland to England for £20K ( £4 Mn in todays money; and a snip). Although this was a dramatic Nationalisation, luckily citizens didn’t have to endure endless debates on the subject nor vote as democracy hadn’t yet been invented. In 18th century Scotland there was a sort of closing down sale called the Highland Clearances, but with no bargains for the locals it caused much bitterness which continues to this day. Scots were usually shorter than the English as Scottish water had less bone-building calcium. Avoiding water, Scots had two orange-coloured drinks; fizzy iron-brew for warm days and fiery spirit Skotch for cold days. Over the centuries the consumption of these drinks turned the entire nation’s hair ginger. As well as having warming effects Skotch had hallucinogenic properties making imbibers think everyone was their friend. This made it globally popular and was Scotland’s 4th biggest export after people, football and shouting. In Scotland an official heatwave is any sunny day with a temperature of 16C or above when sunbathing and sunburn are mandatory. Poverty, diet and harsh climate affected longevity and male life expectancy in some poorest inner city areas was 59 which shocked many an Amazonian tribesman. A major political force in Scotland was the SNP (Skotch, neeps and porridge party) whose leader in Commons House was Ian BlackPud, a powerful orator. Party policy required SNP politicians to say Scottish or Scotland on average every 5th word in speeches thus:- ‘the Scottish people demand that Scotland’s voice must be heard and Scotland’s interests taken into account’. This bored the @r5e off the English MPs who promptly fell asleep delighting the SNP who could (correctly) claim that Scotland was being ignored. The SNP claims were many and varied including claims on land and sea, fish, offshore oil, oily fish, fracking gas (which is more polite than it sounds because I checked) etc.. The most recent claim was that Scotland wasn’t getting its fair share of global warming. This had been highlighted by a schoolgirl scientist who travelled the World checking temperatures. The facts were indisputable; while gardeners in Southern England appeared on TV flaunting the avocados they’d grown, the only thing that grew in the Frozen North were beards; and even then only sparsely and mainly on men. SNP Leader, Nicola 1 expressed concern about a UK Brexit as Scotland didn’t like it. She viewed it with as much concern as someone watching an old televison set drop from a high-rise flat heading for a baby’s pram below, merely being able to hope it would turn out well. In the Dec 2019 General Election SNP got 45% of the vote in Scotland, which was exactly the same as they got in the failed Independence Neverendum of 2014. This coincidence clearly indicated it was time for Indy Nev 2, although England wasn’t keen as were still trying to finalise the Brexit after 42 months. The 2014 Indy Nev was supposed to be ‘once in a generation’ but as it was only 5 years ago they must’ve meant dog generations. A Mass-tricked Treaty loophole allowed new entrants to have budget deficit above 3% and SNP hoped to get into EU if Independence was granted. The Conservatory PM said he wouldn’t allow Indy Nev 2 so it looked like there would be plenty arguing ahead-----'twas ever thus. =========================================================

Thanks for organising @Julie Hall - Peak District AO, great day out. @RallyVW - Richard, thanks for your quick reactions; I hope the damage is minimal and you get it sorted quickly. Here’s hoping for many more in 2020; Happy New Year All.......

No offence taken ( it is after all a car club and that involves driving) 😀 Believe it or not in Manchester we are blessed 😇 Within one hours driving we have. starting closest going clockwise. The forest of Bowland. the Lancashire moors. the Yorkshire dales. the Penines. the Peak District. north Wales. the Lancashire coast. and last but not least the Lake District . and the reason you see many of us out and about in the Peak District is:- the roads and the AO organises lots of runs, there are many reasons for that Julie and Glen are very like minded people with probably fewer commitments than many of our AOs. Edit to add. Another thing to bear in mind is that some folks living in the south and east of Manchester can actually live within the Peak District boundaries.

Don’t want to offend anyone but I'm from a dead area where I have to travel an hr or 2 to meet other members . It does puzzle me ,why with the roads you have ,I meet so many of your lot in the peaks?

Some small snipits of brid run yesterday taken on my front and rear dash cam for reference my Not had chance to edit properly had 4 hrs of film to look front and 4 hrs reverse but heres a few bits in no order thanks john

Thanks Captain.

I have another 2 kits joining me for tomorrow’s outing so hopefully we’ll be in majority and we won’t have to pay parking as it’s not a weekend! 😎

I really do hope we do the curry trip again some point, really sorry to have missed it, looks lovely. Looks like you had a great day though, what a spectacular sunset, to round it off.

Sorry meant inc vat..

Is this correct, now fitted seats and harness's. However the label shows on the harness's, is this correct. Picture attached.

Should be there around 11.30 Luke ,see you there 👍

That's good isn't it? Non regulars showing an interest, the regulars have already discussed this at the meetings. cmon new or not so new guys if you don't come why don't you come? tell us and maybe we can do something to make it more attractive to you👍 Theres a run out tomorrow, come along and meet us, we haven't got two heads you know 🤔 Details here

des was braging about his heated seats on the run home he had a spare battery and more wires than the national grid to power it up his A*** was on fire but is car was not

Correct!

I was slightly worried that the sump might not be salvageable and I even went as far as to buy a replacement to modify but after a good dousing of degreaser and the old glazing paint had been stripped off I was pleasantly surprised to see that we metalwork hiding beneath was actually in remarkably good condition. A quick check was made for any leaks and then it was ready for paint.

When the forums were free to post: It had good information but you often had to wade through a sea of rubbish, sniping, sarcasm, abuse and idiots to find it. Fine people were put off by the boorish, childish behaviour of a few keyboard warriors who thought they had the right to say anything because they were “entertaining “. Genuine requests for assistance were met with unhelpful replies like “do a search”, putting them off from every asking or contributing anything again. It was less about Westfields and more like a boys locker room. There was a lot of posting - and at least 50% of it was unrelated tripe. The club was losing money hand over fist paying to run a forum full of people and non-members with little or no interest in anything but being irresponsible children in a sandbox. Forum moderators were kept busy every day. The forums were littered with spam and scam. After the forum was for paid club members: Not only was the good information there, the rubbish stopped contaminating it, making it easier to get answers. Many more people felt able to post questions and give answers without fear of being abused. The idjit factor dropped continuously until we had the finest, nicest, friendliest bunch of petrolheads I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. Nobody brushes your question off with “do a search” - quite the opposite, they’re eager to help. It’s a forum first and foremost about Westfields with a bit of fun. Gentlemen, ladies and children can safely use the forums. Club membership doubled within 18 months and it’s finances improved drastically. Forum moderators rarely need to intervene. Scam and spam has been wiped out. I’m the first to accept pay to post isn’t for everyone. I was sceptical when it was first proposed. I’m happy to say I was wrong and my scepticism was misplaced. It was absolutely the right thing to do, Clubs aren’t for everyone. There aren’t one size fits all solutions. But the WSCC comes pretty damn close. Yes, membership costs £27.50 to renew every year, but I’ve saved that a dozen times over with insurance discounts, special offers, discounted parts, fixing the car myself instead of paying for garages and many other things. Membership is pretty much like putting money back in your pocket if you use it as intended. I’d also point out that the forums (apart from Members Only section) are searchable and viewable via Google or other search engines. The club didn’t have to do that... but it did. There will always be those who think everything on the Internet should be free. I’ve found that things that are free usually come at a cost, one way or another, or are free because they’re worthless. It is said that a sceptic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. I always try to do my best to prove sceptics of the WSCC wrong, and the actions of my fellow members do that loud and clear every day and in millions of ways.

I did the Blyton end of Dec track day a few years ago. It was an interesting experience. We knew we were in for an interesting day when my mate in front towing his Westie on the trailer on the way to Blyton, was sliding on the ice in his 4WD! The first hour or so the track was closed while they de-iced it, after that it was a very slippy track but still good fun and very memorable track day 😀. Enjoy!

Well what a day. Thanks to @Julie Hall - Peak District AO For a great run out as usual. Well @MattV I can only say I'm glad I was taught by one of the best drivers I know, it's a shame he's no longer with us to tell me off for going off but he would of been proud of the fact I chose the grass. Pesky sticks didn't do too much damage thankfully and in true Westfield style a quick snip with the wire snips to remove a floppy indicator and some brute force to straighten the cycle wing bracket we were on our way again. Apologies if we gave you a fright @MattV. Kids in bed now so car stripped and ready for some new parts before our next adventure.