We just hit another Milestone with our YouTube channel - 140 subscribers! ​

Thanks to all who have subscribed - and if you haven't yet, please do - it will help us produce more great stuff for you to enjoy. Just click this link to subscribe (it's 100% free of charge):​https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyJ158q2hAcRNwLSr_ak8jA?sub_confirmation=1

We hope this short video will put a smile on a few faces and give us the opportunity to share our best wishes with all our members for a very happy Christmas and - hopefully - a 'returning to normality' Happy New Year.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed in any way to another strong year for the group - plans for 2022 are already in hand and there's much to look forward to.

Social Media is changing rapidly - the pleasure to be had from simply sharing photos with each other is now becoming old hat. People are increasingly expecting more - to help them feel more involved and engaged. Specifically they now want video to entertain them in whatever subject or field interests them.

This changing landscape has given us the push we needed to branch out into video production. From car shows to member profiles (including their pride and joy classics of course) to club runs and other club events, we plan to capture it all as it happens. In this way, members who are too distant to take part in person or dont own a classic themselves will be able to get closer to the action.

As you can see we've already begun, and whilst it's a steep learning curve we are confident that we can produce ever-improving video content for you to enjoy as our experience grows - but we can't do it without your help. 

No, we are not talking about money. At present we are on only the most basic type of YouTube channel - which limits the features and benefits available for us to use to make better content for you.

​We need to grow our current subscriber numbers from the current level of 130 to a minimum of 1,000 - this will unlock a number of important features we want to use and just as importantly showing us that you are interested and it's worth the cost, time and effort involved in producing video content for you.

You can help us even more by:

• Clicking "Like" on each of our videos
• Adding comments on our videos

All the above helps raise our ranking with YouTube; in return they will put us in front of more YouTube users as a suggested channel for people with our interests - and so the channel starts to grow.

Moving into 2022, we plan to film the following and more:

• NEC Resto Show
  
• Classic Motor Show
• Member profiles - focus on their classics
• Club runs/driving tours
• Other club events

If you have ideas for other subjects worth filming, let us know. We do this in our spare time but are keen to make a success of this, so please subscribe via the button below - it only takes a moment and really is completely free.

You can subscribe to channels you like in order to see more content from those channels. You can find a Subscribe button under any YouTube video or on a channel's page. Once you subscribe to a channel, any new videos it publishes will show up in your Subscriptions feed. 
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You may also start getting notifications when a channel you subscribe to publishes new content. By default, YouTube only send you the highlights from the channel. There is no cost when you subscribe - it merely flags to YouTube that you want to see more from a particular channel. Click the image below to play a short video explaining YouTube Subscriptions and how to do it.

In memory of my dear friend Lesley who passed away earlier this year. For the past few years we worked together providing tours of the area using our classic cars - Lesley in Buttercup (her 1928 Ford Model A), and me in Queenie (my Daimler Conquest).

​We had such great times together - laughter was never more than a minute away and I know our tourists felt the vibe and enjoyed it too. Lesley had been fighting cancer for around 5 years - twice being declared in remission, but it finally beat her this year.

​RIP dear friend, I miss you.

Some months ago, the then Graham Adams and Sue Clamp (now Mr & Mrs!) very kindly organised a driving tour for the group, which they named, "The Staffs Oatcake Tour" - no, I didnt understand it either.
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Anyhow, the tour had an excellent turnout and was a huge success. I've been sitting on the photos from the tour ever since, and only just realised I also had a nice little video clip someone (perhaps Tosh?) had filmed as the gang were sitting around on the campsite enjoying a hearty meal that I suspect may have been the work of a certain Mr Gar Cole (does anyone else cook for everybody on tour?). Organiser Graham also turned up trumps with two previously unavailable video clips that I was keen to share.

So anyway ... it was too good to miss, so I've put it all together in a video that you can view below (and please please remember to comment, Like and Subscribe on YouTube!). I hope those who were there will enjoy it as much as the rest of us who can only imagine being able to take part. Someday I'll make it!

We are however hopeful of recovering some if not all of the lost footage with a little help from our friends and will keep you posted on that over the next week or so.
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In the meantime we've done the next best thing and put together this short video from the clips we HAVE got hold of - with thanks to Mike and Sophie Peake.

Yer 'tis below - and please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel!

We just went past the 40 subscriber milestone on our new channel, which is great - but we need your help to reach at least 1,000 which will unlock more YouTube features and will make our channel easier to find as well as more enjoyable.

So if you haven't already done so please subscribe. It's 100% free and just means you will receive a notification whenever we upload new content.

Here's the link to our YouTube channel - please click this link then hit the 'Subscribe' button you will see there  https://bit.ly/3G0JqsY

And in case you're wondering what you will find on our channel, here's our latest video. It was filmed during the group's successful driving tour in Cumbria earlier this month and represents the kind of content we are looking to produce more often in the future.

As some of you will already know, we recently invested in a Go Pro camera to record our activities out in the real world in glorious sparking 4K High Definition quality, the idea being to share our tours and events with all those who like myself cannot be there in person for whatever reasons.

After some practice, Gar and I were ready to have our first try at filming for the Fat Lamb tour which happened over the weekend of 9-10 October this year. Gar volunteered to do all the filming then sent the raw footage over to me to edit ​down in New Zealand and hopefully make something watchable out of it for you all to enjoy.

It was quite the joint effort and definitely a steep learning curve for us both, but Gar and I had a lot of fun working as a team across time zones. We both feel we've done our best but also that this was only the first time and we will definitely improve with practice - we hope you will look at the end product with that in mind!

I'd like to express my personal thanks to Gar; working alone on this project here in NZ was great fun but a fresh set of eyes on what I was doing as work progressed was invaluable. Some of the little touches you might notice in the video happened entirely due to his imagination and enthusiasm - many thanks for that, Gar.

​The results of our labour will be available from 7am tomorrow UK time on our YouTube channel and below - please watch and if you enjoy it give it a Like and Subscribe to the channel.

​We intend to do more at future events, the next being the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show at the NEC next month, so watch this space!

Regulars will know we recently launched our new Group YouTube Channel to host in-house video production. First up is a video promo for our merchandise shop.

Click below to watch it - we'd love to hear your views.

Also newly produced are these short clips designed to run at the start or at the end of our YouTube videos to build awareness of our brand/logo. What do you think of them?

Ever since our Facebook group started back in 2014 the staple diet has been shared photographs, but things move on and it's becoming easier than ever to create and share crystal-clear high definition video with you all.

​Whilst our Facebook group will continue 'as is' with photos and community sharing, we believe that developing a new video capability to complement our Facebook activities is the way forward. We are very excited about being able to bring group activities to life for everyone on your devices wherever you may be, whether you happen to be using a tablet/smartphone, a computer or a smart TV. 

We intend to create as much exciting and engaging video content as we can based around official group activities in addition to some new ideas we have for occasional video features such as a regular spotlight on members' classics where we would interview the owners, walk around their cars and go for a drive, thus giving members a real taste of the classic car experience.

​The first new material we expect to deliver will feature footage from our next driving tour and also our appearance at this year's Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show with Discovery at the NEC in November.

To enable us to do this, we have invested in some new Go Pro camera equipment and have set up our own video channel on YouTube to host the films we want to make for you.

We have already started, testing out what we need to do and how to go about it; there is a lot to learn, but with your support we can only get better. We've created several videos by reusing existing photos and video clips from past events; the intention from here on with our shiny new gear is to step up the quality and bring you fresh new material as soon as we can.

To make this work, we need your help and support; we need as many members as possible to subscribe to our channel - it's 100% free of charge, and will guarantee that you are notified every time we upload new content (this will probably be about once a month initially). And if you know anyone else who perhaps doesn't want to use Facebook but would enjoy watching our YouTube output, share it with them too - the more, the merrier!

Below are some preview thumbnails that are links to the content already there on our channel - do take a look, remembering to click Like on each video and subscribe to the channel so you'll be among the first to know when our new content is ready (it won't be far off). You can also post comments on the YouTube pages - it would be great to see some lively discussions there.

Please take a few minutes to browse what's already there and let us know your thoughts.

Who remembers April 2021? Fresh out of lockdown, Gar Cole and a keen group of enthusiasts were keen to dust off their classics and get back on the road at last - and where better than beautiful Dorset in the South of England? Not only was the scenery as stunning as expected, even the weather was good for once (we don't have the best track record with weather on tour!).

For reasons that will be revealed soon, we have been practising creating YouTube videos using old photos and footage from past group events - the idea being primarily to improve our skills. 

We were doing this yesterday using the Jurassic Coast Tour as practice. When it was done, we thought "That's not bad - why not let our members see this?" So here it is - not originally intended for public consumption, but why not?

​We hope you enjoy it; if you do, please give it a 'Like' on YouTube and also subscribe to our channel so you get notified when we post new content there in the future.

If you've been paying attention, you will already know we recently started a new YouTube channel to share video of group activities. Part and parcel of trying to build an audience on YouTube calls for a channel trailer which gives curious viewers a short taste of what to expect from the channel.

We premiered our very first trailer earlier today and you can view it below.

We hope it meets with your approval - if so, please remember to give it a 'like' and also subscribe on YouTube so you will be notified whenever we upload new content for you to enjoy. You might also like to share it with like-minded friends to encourage them to take a look and perhaps join the club.

Completing the online coverage of our recent Welsh tour is this short (7 mins) video featuring selected photographs and video clips from the weekend driving tour.

​Our thanks go to all of the photographers for sharing their work with us; the video has been rendered in 4K quality to show your work to best effect.

​You can choose to view it below or on our YouTube channel here. 

Earlier this year Group Events supremo Gar Cole had been made aware that one of our favourite touring/meet locations was in financial trouble due to the pandemic switching off the usual supply of paying visitors, so it was decided that we would schedule a group visit to lend them our support as soon as pandemic restrictions allowed it. Who? The National Tramway Museum at Crich in beautiful Derbyshire, of course!

The visit was a resounding success despite changeable weather and has already been documented by Bosun Mike Peake in his amusing blog about the weekend - click here to read it.

For those who didn't see the photo gallery here or like to enjoy their memories with music attached, a new video rendered in gorgeous 4K quality and containing photographs from the weekend is now available on our group YouTube Channel - you can view it below. Please click on "Like" and subscribe to the channel if you enjoy it - we have plenty more content planned in the months ahead.

Newly published on our official You Tube channel is "Enthusiasts at the 2017 Resto Show" - a slideshow containing the best images taken from the weekend of our 2017 appearance at this prestigious classic car show at the NEC which is sponsored by Practical Classics.

​If you like it, please give it a Like and subscribe to the channel to help us build a new audience there.