MEETING AT THE SEVEN STARS PUBLIC HOUSE
Stroud, Near Petersfield - Sunday 25 January 2004

It was the first meeting of the New Year and was a fine, bright, cold winter's day. We began to park up soon after 11am. About fifteen minutes later, to my amazement, about twenty-five small sports cars also arrived and started to park. They turned out to be an Internet car club calling themselves 'The Piston Heads' who get together at short notice and find a pub with a large car park in which to meet. The manager of the pub did not know they were coming and I certainly didn't either!

With thirty or so members and others stopping for lunch, the pub found difficulty coping - they also had two staff short. This meant the people arriving later had to wait rather a long time before they could order their food. I had previously tried, unsuccessfully, to reserve tables, which would have been more satisfactory from our point of view. However, the food was excellent and I think most members had a pleasant lunch with friends they had not seen since last year.

Tony Leach - Section Chairman