Norfolk Tour, September 2024
Autumn Rally to North Norfolk, 12-15 September 2024
We were blessed with continual blue skies and sunshine for this rally. The Sea Marge Hotel was built between 1908 and 1912 as a country home for Sir Edgar Speyer, an American-born financier and philanthropist. After being used for several purposes, in 1996 the Sea Marge was bought and restored by Marc and Liz Mackenzie, a local family who re-opened it as the historic Grade II listed hotel it remains to this day. It is set in five acres of parkland leading down to the cliffs overlooking Overstrand beach.
David O’Connor, ably assisted by Colette Tedden, organised a packed schedule. On the Friday we drove 26 miles along the coast to Holkham Hall where we parked for a photo shoot. The Hall was closed but there were picturesque grounds to explore, and a large shop and restaurant. After lunch we drove to Holt where we had a reserved carriage on a steam train which took us to Sheringham; after a short stop we returned to Holt.
On the Saturday we drove the 20 miles to Landamores Custom Boat Builders at Hoveton near Wroxham. There we learned a lot about electric-driven boats (Landamores speciality) from our enthusiastic guide. The slow cruising boats use conventional lead-acid batteries (they need the weight for ballast) but fast outboard-type speed boats need high-powered modern lithium batteries. After a cruise along the river Bure into Wroxham Broad, we returned for a long and leisurely lunch on the balcony of the Wroxham Hotel overlooking the river.
That evening we held our Gala farewell dinner, after which David entertained us by playing some ancient 78 rpm records, and asking us to guess the (then) famous pre-war singers. Some of the lyrics were very risqué indeed, by modern standards! David and Colette were profusely thanked for all their work in organising a most successful rally.
20hp cars in Norfolk
49G1 1923 Garrow and Helen Shand
GOK2 1926 Mike Mutters and Jan
GOK15 1926 Nigel and Katharine Tucker
GOK52 1926 Larry and Christine Riches
GZK64 1926 James Emery and Jayne
GYK91 1926 Alan Harris and Mary
GXL39 1927 Tom and Linda Jones
GEN18 1929 David O’Connor and Colette
