Tickets can now be purchased for The Guild of Motoring Writers Annual Dinner and Awards evening on Thursday, 5 December 2019 at the Royal Automobile Club, Pall Mall, London.

The event, which celebrates the Guild’s 75th anniversary, is for GOMW members, motor manufacturer PR personnel and industry colleagues who will be joined by guests from Formula 1, World Rallying and Le Mans. Unfortunately due to lack of space, partners cannot be included.

The evening includes a meet-and-greet drinks reception, a three course festive menu (a vegetarian/vegan option is available) and wine with the meal, followed by port or brandy, coffee and mince pies. It will commence with a reception at 6.30pm in the Committee Room, with dinner being called at 7.15pm in the Mountbatten Banqueting Room, followed by the awards presentations announced by Guild member and Formula One race commentator Ben Edwards.

The ticket price is £96 per person (including VAT). Dress is formal: Dinner Jacket/Black Tie.

An electronic booking form and menu selection is available from the general secretary Patricia Lodge at generalsec@gomw.co.uk and should be returned to arrive no later than 14 November 2019.

Traffic-free, surprisingly well- maintained country roads, gourmet cuisine, great company, faultless hospitality and mostly ideal June weather conditions made the 2019 Euro Classic Irish backstop a big success writes Chris Adamson.

The contingent of Euro Classic regulars were joined by friends from the world of PR; Richard and Frances Gadeselli making their event debut in Richard’s Alfa Romeo Spider, previous participants Gordon and Marilyn Bruce in their E-Type Jaguar and Julian and Julie Leyton in a recently renovated Triumph Stag.

Award for the furthest travelled went to American Guild member Bob Kocher and his wife Connie who had flown from their home in Ohio and collected a 1980 MKI Cavalier from the Vauxhall Heritage collection at Luton, thanks to the chauffeuring services of Guy Loveridge and his MKI Jaguar.

Eighteen cars in total, spanning more than 75 years of automotive history, assembled at Fishguard on the western tip of Wales for the three-and-a-half hour crossing with Stena and, for once, the normally feared Irish Sea was almost flat calm.

Participants were given an elevated view of the journey to Rosslare with an exclusive visit to the bridge hosted by Captain Marek – a location normally off-limits to passengers.

For those who had made a long journey to start the event, the short drive from Rosslare to the Ferrycarrig Hotel just outside Wexford was welcomed as was the chance to relax in the spa or bar before dinner overlooking the River Slaney estuary.

Saturday dawned bright and the refreshed crews headed west along a picturesque route using less-travelled roads which had been previously checked by John and Peggy Griffiths – first destination was the historic port of Waterford.

Early arrivals had time to wander through the streets and enjoy coffee and cakes before a 50-minute guided tour of the world-famous Waterford Crystal factory.

Each process in the production of the hand- blown, hand-cut products was demonstrated by craftsmen who have taken a minimum five-year apprenticeship to learn their skills.

Back on the road, the route book then headed east crossing the wide expanse of Waterford Harbour using the picturesque East Passage car ferry and then on to Johnstown Castle, home of the Irish Agricultural Museum.

We were given permission to park in the museum courtyard which is normally populated only by a family of very vocal peacocks with which Stuart and Jennetta Bladon’s playful terrier Micky attempted to engage.

Museum curator Matt Wheeler provided the private tour of the castle (open to the public for the first time this year) explaining the fascinating history of the house, which was first built in the medieval period by the Esmond family, who had come to Ireland as part of the Anglo-Norman invasion in the 12th century.

Most of what is seen today is attributable to remodelling in the 18th and 19th centuries taking on a gothic revival style. Its ownership has changed hands many times, in the main due to tragic circumstances which befell its colourful occupants. It was given to the Government in 1942 for agricultural research.

Unfortunately, time wasn’t sufficient to see all of the exhibits in the adjacent agricultural museum as many decided to return to the hotel to change before dinner at the Thomas Moore Tavern in the heart of old Wexford – one of the oldest hostelries in the town.

There was a strong cultural atmosphere in the pub, in the main contributed by a live televised hurling match between Wexford and arch rivals Kilkenny – thankfully it ended in a draw so everyone was happy.

Sunday involved the longest section of the weekend, a 50-mile road run north parallel with the coast into neighbouring county Carlow. The convoy was now down to 17 cars after Chris and Gillie Mann’s recently acquired 1932 Rolls-Royce 20/15 Barker Sedanca De Ville failed to proceed – subsequent investigations traced the problem to a faulty distributor.

Gillie didn’t miss out on the day thanks to Peter and Lin Baker offering a ride in their Daimler Conquest which they had acquired only a few months earlier.

Primary destination was Huntington Castle, a privately owned manor house which is still lived in by descendants of the family who built it in the 17th century as a garrison to patrol trade routes along two neighbouring river valleys.

Current owner Alexander Durdin- Robertson swung open the gates of the castle himself to allow the cars to park on the gravel driveway that helps frame the picture-book entrance.

With Alexander as the guide everyone was taken on an entertaining and information-packed journey back through four centuries of history on the site and shown the rooms the family still use every day. The castle really is a hidden gem in the Irish countryside.

Many took up the option of a homemade lunch before departing – the forecast of rain (yes there had to be some, after all it was Ireland) encouraging many to head back to the hotel foregoing a visit to Fox Drew Brewery on route.

Some brave crews elected to make a detour to head for a classic car show at Wells House where they found Chris Mann in his now operational Rolls-Royce.

Those who chose to complete the itinerary were treated to an instructive afternoon with craft brewer Malcolm Molloy and his Texan wife Andrea (they also run a bar in Chicago) who explained the brewing process before offering samples of the four beers they produce.

Each of the beers (under the banner of Cleverman Beers), with their own distinctive taste, is named in honour of a famous Irish inventor, for example, Little Willie is named after the tank designed by Walter Gordon Wilson and 12ft Under for the first submarine created by John Phillip Holland.

Dinner back at Ferrycarrig rounded off the event in style although no one was staying up late as a 6.30am departure was required to make the return ferry crossing to Fishguard and all points east.

Guild members gathered at Aston Martin Lagonda’s global HQ at Gaydon in Warwickshire for the 2019 Annual General Meeting on 9 May. In addition to the meeting itself, they were given a tour of the production facility and a fascinating design briefing by chief creative officer Marek Reichman.

Vice president Ray Hutton chaired the meeting in place of Guild president Nick Mason who is busy with his Saucerful of Secrets tour.

Members voted to update the Guild’s rules to rename the role of deputy chairman as vice chairman, to align it with the titles of the Guild’s vice presidents and to facilitate expansion of the role. Guy Loveridge was appointed as vice chairman.

The meeting also appointed two new vice presidents, Matthew Carter and Peter Burgess, and confirmed a series of committee appointments.

Aston Martin Lagonda creative director Marek Reichman gave members an interesting design briefing. Pictures by Jeff Bloxham.

Guild chairman Richard Aucock told members that in its 75th year the Guild continued to be the pre-eminent organisation for automotive editorial professionals. In a world where car makers were increasingly striving to be “premium” he suggested writers and other content creators could adopt the same aim, and that Guild membership should play a part.

Aucock also announced that a new award for early-career automotive PRs was being created in association with MIPAA, and that details of this year’s Sir William Lyons Award for young motoring writers would be revealed soon.

Honorary secretary Chris Adamson reported that there were now 509 working members in the Guild, in 18 countries, with 21 new members in the last year.

Honorary treasurer Matthew Carter told the meeting that while income was down on the previous year the Guild had generated a surplus for the seventh year in a row.

A full report on the annual general meeting will appear in the July/August edition of the Update newsletter

Guild members had a successful evening at the 2019 Newspress Awards, which were presented yesterday. Of the 15 awards made to individual journalists, Guild members won nine and were highly commended in two more.

Nick Gibbs followed up his win in the Guild/Prova PR Business Writer of the Year late last year by winning the Automotive Business Journalist award.

Automotive Editor of the Year was awarded to AutoTrader’s Erin Baker and in the Automotive Feature Writer category, Top Gear’s Paul Horrell was highly commended.

Jack Carfrae took the Automotive News Writer award, while the new Motorsport Writer category was dominated by Guild members – Maurice Hamilton winning with James Taylor highly commended. James won the Road Tester of the Year award, to add to his Guild/BCA Feature Writer of the Year commendation in 2018.

David Burgess-Wise took the Classic Car Journalist award and Darren Liggett was awarded the Automotive Regional Journalist prize, while Mike Rutherford was highly commended in the Automotive Columnist category and Paul Horrell highly commended in the Automotive Feature Writer award.

Jayson Fong collected top honours for the Automotive Photographer category after receiving a commendation for his work in the Photographer of the Year category of the 2018 Guild Awards.

In addition to the individual awards, publications featuring Guild members’ work were also given awards for achievement. Autovolt, edited by Guild member Jonathan Musk, won the award for best consumer publication. Paul Horrell’s contributions helped TopGear.com to the Automotive Website award and Lem Bingley was on hand as part of the Car Design News team which received the Automotive Business Publication award.

The evening was completed with a Lifetime Achievement Award for former Daily Star motoring journalist George Fowler, who launches a new motoring project soon.

“Guild members featured in the shortlist for every category in the 2019 Newspress Awards,” said chairman Richard Aucock. “It’s a delight to see so many of them go on to win. Our members are professionals, and such overwhelming success in these latest industry awards shows how the industry is recognising Guild members as some of the best of the best.”

“It was also touching to see long-time Guild member George Fowler recognised with the Lifetime Achievement Award. All of us are looking forward to what’s in store for him now!”