Vintage Minor Register

The FBHVC's Drive It Day is coming round again next month and makes an excellent excuse to get the old Morris out and take it down to the local.

Who is planning to go where this year?

We hope to join the "Stilton Run" again this year with other MR friends from Uppingham in Leicestershire to Stilton in Cambridgeshire.
Last year we had to pull out due to the massive oil leak we suffered. That is now corrected and providing I get the car back together in time (rebuilt rear suspension, resprayed rear wings and new upholstery) we will be dioing the 150 mile or so run - the first of the new 'season'.

Out and about on Drive It Day.
The Scotswood Bridge over the Tyne at Blaydon.
Nearby is this standard, commemorating a Tyneside’s Legend - Henry Clasper, oarsman and boat builder (1812 - 1870).
Rowing was the mass sport of the working class before football and huge amounts of money was bet on races, here on the Tyne and on the Thames.
Harry became world rowing champion, along with his three brothers and his ‘awld’ Uncle Harry (all of 42 years of age), in June 1845, bringing the World Championship to the North East for the first time. 
A feat he repeated a further eight times from 1845, making him the most famous rower in the world. The Tynesiders beating the ‘unbeatable’ Thamesmen caused a national sensation.
He was also an innovative boat designer pioneering the development of the racing shell and the use of outriggers. He is said to have invented spoon-shaped oars.
The song the ‘Blaydon Races’ may well have been written for Harry Clasper (although it is now more associated with the horse races that began at Blaydon around the same time).
It was premiered at Balmbra’s Music Hall in Newcastle in 1862 at Harry’s testimonial. £600 (equal to £25,000 today) was raised, which meant Harry could buy his first pub, the Clasper Hotel, on Scotswood Road.
He ran 10 pubs and that was his eighth, but it was the first one he owned. He still found time to have 12 children with his wife Susannah, who was also his cousin.
In 1870, at age 58 he died. At his funeral 130,000 people crowded the streets. The population of Newcastle would only have been about 70,000 or less at that time. It’s an indication of just how big Harry Clasper was.
This stretch of the river is still used by rowing clubs for races and events.

Peter,

Thanks for another superb portrait and fascinating historical background. Please keep them coming!

Ian