Classic Cars at Speech Day 2019
29 May 2019
Classic Cars at Speech Day
We’re still reeling from the excitement at this year’s Speech Day, which took place last Saturday. Huge numbers of Old Stoics and parents flocked to Stowe, helped by the glorious sunshine, which encouraged the Stowe community, turned out in droves. This year’s Speech Day had a special twist, which tied in extremely well with the Old Stoic Classic Car Display. Our guest of honour was eminent Old Stoic Film Producer, Michael Deeley (Bruce 50). 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of one of his biggest hits, The Italian Job, so, with the help of our sponsor, classic car specialist insurers, Hagerty, we choose to theme Speech Day around the cult classic film by decorating Stowe with as many classic minis as possible!
The Old Stoic Classic Car Display welcomed 52 classic minis to its collection this year, along with a selection of replica vehicles from the Italian Job, including the infamous bus! As a result, we hosted a record number of classic cars at Speech Day, with 143 registered to attend, and the majority making it to join the Display. The Old Stoic Marquee was packed to the brim all day, serving drinks and bacon rolls to our drivers, Old Stoics and guests. We also laid on lunch in the State Dining Room for a record 200 people this year.
We remain extremely grateful for the continued support of our ever-loyal Classic Car drivers, without whom the event would not be possible. With the display now in its 9th year, we are overwhelmed by the continuing growth and success of this event, which has become a real highlight of the Old Stoic calendar.
This year, we had some special cars in attendance, including the 1912 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, a 1935 Daimler Light 15 and a 1925 Type 37 Bugatti.
As you may know, each year Hagerty Classic Car Insurance sponsors our Classic Car Display, with their Marketing Director, Marcus Atkinson (Chatham 90), giving his time and expertise to ensure the Display runs smoothly. Without Hagerty’s loyal support, it would be impossible to lay on such a wonderful day out for our drivers, let alone serve such a delicious lunch.
This year, Hagerty masterminded an extra special addition to Speech Day: an Italian Job inspired film titled Blowing the Bloody Doors Off. The film was the grand finale to the Speeches on the South Front, following Dr Anthony Wallersteiner’s interview with Michael Deeley (Bruce 50). Click here to watch the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPlWucEzl3E
Each year, Hagerty present the, ‘Steady Barker’ Speech Day Trophy to a person or vehicle with a story that really stands out, in memory of Ronald ‘Steady’ Barker (Grenville/Walpole 38). Steady was an internationally renowned motoring writer, with a passion for motor cars. In his later years, worked tirelessly with Caroline Whitlock to secure some very special cars for our Display. This year, Marcus awarded the trophy to Katie Forrest, who was a guest of Vera Steinmetz (Lyttelton 01), for her beautiful 1912 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, affectionately known as Nellie.
Katie has kindly suppled the story of her car for publication:
“Rolls-Royce Bombay ordered Nellie in 1912 to be used as a Trials Car (demonstrator) to attract the untapped and lucrative market in India. She was fitted with several special features still seen on the car today, which include a louvred bonnet, tropical carburation system, a larger fuel tank and a pair of entirely unique "chain mail" front mud flaps to prevent Oxen hooves from flicking up and puncturing the rear tyres. Before leaving the factory, Claude Johnson, General Manager of Rolls-Royce, personally named the car "Taj Mahal" with a distinctive name plate, in another of his clever marketing initiatives.
After six months as a Trials Car, she caught the eye of the Maharaja of Nabha who bought her at the end of 1913, and although she was rarely used, she remained in the family, passing down the generations for over 70 years. During World War II she was requisitioned by the British Armed Forces and due to the scarcity of tyres, she was fitted with army truck wheels and repainted a dull Battleship Grey. She remained like this after the war and was virtually untouched until she returned to England and was purchased by my father, Tim Forrest, who began a gradual programme of conservation to restore the car to her former glory.
I named her "Nellie" because she was big, grey and came from India, the car very much became a part of the family. With the assistance of P & A Wood to help conserve and maintain the car, she has enjoyed many long distance tours around the world, including two Anniversary Alpine tours, a 4,000 mile Australian Outback Tour, the London to Edinburgh Top Gear run, as well as numerous shorter English and European tours. Despite travelling over 75,000 miles with her current owners, she has never failed to bring the family safely home on every occasion.
Since my father’s cancer diagnosis in 2016, I have taken over custody of Nellie and take great pleasure in driving her. Much to the annoyance of my father, I seem to have mastered the car very well and he rarely gets the privilege to drive the car himself! Despite Nellie's rarity, being one of the few Ghosts with original bodywork and engine, she is still much loved and much used, and hopefully will be for many a century to come.”
A wonderful day was had by all and we simply could not have done without the all the help received from Marcus, our wonderful catering teams, classic car drivers and Stowe staff. A great many thanks to all who lent a hand at this year’s display, thank you for being part of our largest display to date.
Next year will be the 10th anniversary of our annual display, so please do save the date of Saturday 23 May 2020 and let us know if you would like to bring your Classic Car and take part.
Click here to see photos from the day: https://www.stowe.co.uk/school/gallery/photo-gallery/os-classic-cars-at-speech-day-2019