Crossley Register car meetings

2025 Crossley Register UK National Rally - North Buckinghamshire

The 2025 Crossley Register UK Rally was held between 26 and 28 June and was based at the Villiers Hotel in the centre of Buckingham. It was organised by Martin and Caroline Jacobs and John and Brenda Cole. The Villiers Hotel is an old coaching inn and we had exclusive use of the courtyard for our parking. The entrance to the court yard was narrow and the road outside busy so the traffic stopping powers of the organisers was very welcome.

2025 Crossley Register rally — Tucked away in the Villiers Hotel courtyard.

Most people had arrived on the Wednesday so there was no excuses for not getting away for the 10am start and amazingly for one of our rallies this actually happened.The first excitement was a road closure only discovered on the day before. There were to be more of these as the roads of Buckinghamshire seemed to be having a much needed dose of re-surfacing. Getting back on track took us to the village of Quainton and its historic and working windmill where we had an excellent guided tour and chance to climb to the top. This was followed by a substantial buffet lunch at the George and Dragon pub in the village. It was a hot day and Dan Cole had sorted out the overheating problem with his Torquay by removing the bonnet sides which apparently worked well.

Leaving Quainton we travelled on along narrow country lanes to Kingsbridge Farm where we had time to explore the six acres of garden that the owners had created. From there it was back to Buckingham in time to experience its traffic problems.

The evening was the occasion for our annual dinner and prize giving.

Friday was again a 10.00 am start with this time a left turn out of the Villiers narrow entry. From there it was back into the narrow Buckinghamshire roads and, of course, some unexpected road closures. Following a certain amount of head scratching it was on to Irvinghoe beacon with spectacular views over the surrounding hills including the Whipsnade Lion, a chalk cut figure dug in 1933 to advertise Whipsnade Zoo.

Descending from the beacon it was a short run to the Grove Lock Pub and our lunch stop.

After lunch it was off again under the bridge that was the site of the 1963 Great Train Robbery and onwards to the National Trust property of Claydon House which dates from 1620. There was an opportunity to visit the house with its ornate interior.

It was here that one of our members, Richard Edgell had magneto trouble on his 19.6. Several people remained with him to assist and got the car going only to find they had been locked into the grounds and a National Trust person had to be recalled to let them out.

Back to Buckingham and for some off home while others visited a restaurant in town, had a wander around before leaving on Saturday morning.