Sunday 17th July 2011

Our summer meeting and picnic this year was held at National Alfa Day, courtesy of AROC, at Basildon Park near Reading. Unfortunately the weather in the early morning was pretty awful and this put off a number of would be attendees, particularly Spider owners with inadequate weather gear! Nevertheless 13 cars braved it to the event, 7 Spiders, 4 Sprints, Peter Yaxley’s Ti and Hugo Moss’s SS. Bart Baljon’s lovely early lightweight Sprint had pride of place in the main AROC display at the front of the House and Paul Wignall was on hand in the trade area with his spares business but without Giulietta.

The weather managed to brighten late morning and more or less held through the afternoon. Kate Gregory again provided a splendid picnic lunch for all attendees, thanks Kate, and the winners of the informal concours were announced by Paul Gregory as Tony Ives (Best Spider), Paul Morris (Best Modified Car), Peter Yaxley (Best Other Model i.e. not a Sprint or Spider) and overall winner Salvatore for Best Restoration with his super Sprint Veloce.

There were lots of other lovely Alfas to admire, and a visit to the house and garden proved worthwhile with its interesting family history. All in all a good day out, spoiled a bit by the weather which was awful again on the way home, at least for me!

Tuesday 21st - Tuesday 28th June 2011

This year we went somewhere different for our European tour, the north west corner of Spain known as the Green Spain because of its verdant countryside. Another first was that the tour was organised locally by STS, a Spanish travel company specialising in classic car tours run by Raul Aranda a Register member and Regis de Nicolas another Alfista of long standing.

8 Giuliettas, 6 Spiders and 2 Sprints, made the ferry trip to Santander to be met by Raul, Regis and their friend Michael Galy driving an SS and 2 Duettos. A quick blast through the Picos de Europa mountains took us to our first overnight stop and there followed 5 glorious days of touring through this beautiful part of Spain. Our route took us inland following the Camino de Santiago, the ancient pilgrim’s way to Santiago de Campostella, where the disciple St James is buried, and returning along the northern coastline. A final detour through the magnificent Picos on the last day took us back to Santander and the ferry home. The weather was fine, if a bit too hot at times, the cars ran well with no major breakdowns, food and drink was consumed with the usual enthusiasm, and of course the company was excellent.

Thanks go to Richard Hampton for organising another successful tour and to STS whose arrangements were excellent, very thorough and professional, and also very nice people. They can be highly recommended so look them up if you would like to tour with your car in Spain, at www.spaininatwoseater.com .

The tour will be covered in full in the next edition of the Giuliettaletta due out at the end of September. Look out too for preliminary details of next year’s tour in the December issue. See you next year?

This years AGM was held, once again, at the Fosse Manor Hotel near Stow-on-the-Wold, a convenient and popular venue for UK members, on Sunday 10th April. Over 30 members attended with their partners and friends, a great turn out, providing a stunning display of 21 Giuliettas and 101 Giulias comprising 10 Spiders, 8 Sprints, 2 Ti's and James Wiseman's SZ. It was good to see Peter Yaxleys Ti and Paul Morris's Sprint back on the road in beautifully restored condition after their accidents on the European Tour last year, and Kate Gregory's Spider restored and resprayed in lovely Celeste Blue.

The business of the AGM passed swiftly before members adjourned to the bar and lunch. Your committee reported that the Register was in good health with sound finances, membership up in 2010 to 421 from 394 the previous year and a full programme of events organised for 2011. The Elsie May trophy was awarded to Barry Farr in Australia for his excellent articles on Giulietta life down under, and the Chairman's award went to Paul Wignall for his tremendous success in rallying his Giulietta and for organising the highly enjoyable Yorkshire Dales and upcoming Three Counties tours.

As ever this event provided a great opportunity for socialising, gossiping, meeting new members, lifting bonnets, sharing plans and generally discussing matters Giulietta. Why not come along next year and have your say in how your Register is run.