Goodwood Revival Meeting 2019

The Duke of Richmond and Gordon seemingly has the Weather Gods in his favour, for in the more than ten years I have been lucky enough to be visiting his grounds to attend the Revival Meetings and the Festivals of Speed, I have only encountered inclement weather on two occasions, and only one of those was really a problem, but every last one has proved thoroughly enjoyable.

My early contact with Goodwood was through Peter Morley a neighbour of mine in Bromley, Kent. He was a Rally Driver and a Director of Tesco, who at the time was the Assistant Chief Pit Marshall at Brands Hatch, a role I later inherited jointly with a colleague Peter Melville, when Peter Morley became the Chief. The first occasion he invited me to Goodwood, it was a regular and fully functional race track, and a year or two before the fateful crash that brought Stirling Moss’ racing career to an end. On that occasion as we drove through some of the villages, people waved to us as we passed, and Peter told me that when he had come to a standstill for a longish time on some occasions, villagers had offered him cups of tea!

I cannot speak for all UK motorsport venues, but for an atmosphere of joyous camaraderie, Goodwood for me has been in a class of its own, followed closely by Brands Hatch, Oulton Park, Lydden, and Castle Coombe. Short of some major disaster befalling you, Goodwood never fails to deliver.

I always bring a camera, and on this occasion, I had decided to forego my superb Sigma 60-600mm and had brought my much earlier and far lighter Tamron 150-600mm on the mirrorless Canon EOS R body. I had one further ‘tweak’ — the 2x Converter — which meant I was actually using a 300-1200mm full-frame camera! Knowing There would also be opportunities for closer work, I also had the 24-70mm — which I used to get shots within the ‘Motor Show’ feature.

I will make an admission that despite my careful preparations there was one failure on my part; the one item which could have made my life far easier was still carefully nestling in the boot of my car — a monopod! However, that only surfaced once I was trackside, since to make the trek to the car would lose me too much time, I was going to have to rely on whatever support I could find, such as the top of fence posts, and my daughter’s willingness to provide her shoulder on one occasion! The sacrifices one’s family sometimes endure for their forgetful parents!

Goodwood as I mentioned is a friendly place and an example is a charming mother of two young children who was just in front of me at the banking, who opened a conversation wondering whether she was in my way whilst shooting, I assured her she had no need for concern. Later, she had insisted the boy and girl stayed together which was good advice, and later still when both were at the front fence, in return I suggested that they don’t watch from beneath the wire fencing as they were at that time, because they were unprotected. Somehow, interactions between strangers here at Goodwood is the norm.

I watched an old business colleague, Simon Diffey, do well in his race, and listened over the speakers to his delighted response to his good fortune whilst being interviewed. Later I briefly met up with him, still in high good humour. Another familiar face I spotted was photographer, Jeff Bloxham, but I failed to catch his eye as he was trackside at the Kids’ Pedal Car race and we were in the enclosure. Over the years visiting Goodwood rarely has there been a time when I have not come across old friends, but perhaps the clue is within the adjective ‘old’!

Also, most of my visits, I have bumped into Charles March during the course of the day, as in what I term my ‘former life’ he had been a client of the retouchers, The Colour Company with whom I had worked for many years — in fact it was through them that I had been twice invited to stay at the house to give him some Photoshop help. This day, I did listen to him over the Tannoy, give a moving tribute to his absent friend, Stirling Moss, and later watched him take Susie, Sterling’s wife around in one of the many cars he had driven to success over the last many years. I have tried since to find a recording of his piece, but thus far, in vain. It undoubtedly came from his heart and in his own words as a friend. Sadly, Sir Stirling was not up to travelling to be present.

The last pictures from our day were all taken on my handy 24-70mm, and this turned out to be one of the very few times when I never used its handy macro feature, but this lens if I ever am limited to just camera and one lens and weight, proves invaluable. Another, wonderful, warm, and welcoming day nears its end, just the journey home and the parting with my daughter Lizzy as she heads back to her husband and young family.

Westcott Visit – to Lend a Hand

I was invited to my younger daughter’s so that her husband Tim could lay some boarding in the loft, and obviously enjoy some time with their family; I was to be downstairs in the garden measuring up the planks as directed from the loft, by Tim, and sawing them to the dimensions directed, then passing the cut lengths to Josh, who would then transport them indoors and up to Tim, who was suffering in the heat and the loose fibres from the insulation.

From my observation later of Tim when that task was complete, suggested that I might have been the luckier of the two, since I was in the open air, despite the mugginess, as Tim absolutely needed a shower, and was very itchy. I also had some breaks awaiting the next dimensions, so had grabbed the camera and caught some shots of his garden’s flowers before the sun left the top end of the garden.

Josh had taken one of my offcuts and was intent on trying his skills in the carpentry field, so I decided to step in to offer guidance, since I felt that my steadying hand could offer a degree of safety that would otherwise be lacking. Tim by now down from the loft, spotted the opportunity to pick up my camera and take a record of the event, hence the shots that appear in the gallery.

Later, despite having the wrong lens for the subject, I did get some distant shots of their Red Kites, whilst out with Lizzy, Tilly and Josh as they had a promised cycle ride, I was also able to capture a few more flower and insect shots, that can often be used for cards for Birthdays and other occasions. Since that meant I had fallen back from the others, I found myself confronted by one of the local cats in the middle of the road, and since it was surrounded by an expanse of unobstructed tarmac, I stooped low and slowly approached aforesaid cat taking a few shots with each few steps – at first it had seemed as if the cat was standing its ground to protect its territory, but in reality it was simply enjoying a stroll in the sunshine, but I was grateful for the opportunity it offered due to the expanse of surrounding uncluttered space.

Holy Trinity, Aylesbury Concert

Late Wednesday evening I receive a text that a Concert is scheduled for the Saturday at the Holy Trinity Church, Walton Street Aylesbury that my daughter Lizzy has just heard about, and was I interested. Under most circumstances I would always try to attend anyway, but the stress that has attended my forthcoming move from Caddington, the marital home to my own home in Marston Moretaine was even more appealing to allow the music to wash over me and restore calm.

I set my phone alarm to give me ample time to spruce myself up and gather my camera gear together for the venue. I had never been to this church, so I had no idea of the layout or lighting, though Lizzy had said it was not overly bright. Fortunately there is a car park nearby, though only as the crow flies, but for mere mortals it involves first walking away from the church to reach the crossing over the dual carriageway, then the same distance and more to reach the venue. That would have been a serious trek for Lizzy with her baritone saxophone, its case and music stand, for the preliminary rehearsal and concert the return trip would be even harder.

I parked the car and reaching the road I took a quick shot of building opposite, intending then to take a shot of the church, but then I get a call from a long term friend, whom I had left a message of the impending move, I chatted all the way to the church, then had to end the call as I got my ticket and promptly having explained, in the course of paying for it managed to completely forget I had been still connected, so once settled inside resumed the call and apologised and would have a longer call later. Thus I completely forgot to take a shot of the church!

Inside I tried to locate where Lizzy would be seated and found the least obstructed view of her position which was to the right of centre on the end. It was not as packed as some of the Aylesbury Community Band’s audiences, but they were enthusiastic and I was able to exercise my feet to the beat without affecting my handholding of the two cameras with the 70-200mm for the individual musicians and 24-105mm for the more inclusive shots.

After the interval, I moved to the right hand side wall for a change of viewpoint as well as a shift to my 100-400mm lens to get individual musicians on the far left and profiles of Rob Wicks, the Conductor. The music in some instances was familiar to me, but not all, though I would have had to have had a heart of stone not to be nticed into humming my way through the final piece – the Dambusters March, with this being the 70th Anniversary of VE Day.

The Gallery is less arranged due to time constraints, but hopefully captures at least some of the musicians I could see without too much lost to the plethora of very effective LED lamps over the scores; for those who did not feature, I apologise for my and the pillars’ positions.

Westcott Christmas Day

I count myself very lucky to be invited to spend Christmas Day with my younger daughter, son-in-law, Tim, both his parents, and my first grandson, Joshua. Travelling cross-country was even quieter than normal, and the weather was mild.

It was very relaxing as Tim and Lizzy had had a good night, and all the preparations had gone smoothly, and it was not long before John and Sue had arrived which heralded the grand opening of presents, with Joshua following the tradition of all children of his age – enjoying the packaging far more than the contents! Everything has to provide relief from toothing pain or simply be introduced to the mouth: "Mouth, this is Paper"; "Paper, this is Mouth"!

John had a wonderful time introducing a series of ten numbered plastic mugs, ranging from small to large, that could be stacked to form a tower, and even more easily knocked down by small swinging feet and returned individually to the floor! Endless fun, interspersed with ever more paper as presents were opened.

We were all gathered around a log fire in the grate, and this kept the adults busy feeding it with new bits of wood varying from softwood offcuts to true logs via smaller branches, and this provided authentic crackling as well as louder cracks from time to time.

We soon sat down for a splendid lunch, to the opening of the Queen's Speech, at which point Sue chastised us all for not standing to attention during the National Anthem, however I am proud to say I had remained standing till Sue herself had seated. Lunch was a delicious beef joint carefully cooked to three differing degrees from rare to well-done to satisfy each individual's taste. This was followed by a Christmas Pudding that had been purchased at a recent Food Fair at Waddesdon, served with runny custard. Absolutely delicious in every respect.

All too soon, Sue and John were leaving. I then collected my night things from the car, stayed the night, and the following day set off for Burnham to visit my sister- and mother-in-law, and my niece and nephew.