ALVIS OWNER CLUB WINS “BEST LIVE CLUB EVENT OF 2020” AWARD
ALVIS OWNER CLUB WINS "BEST LIVE CLUB EVENT OF 2020" AWARD
The Alvis Owner Club is delighted to announce that the Club has won the Best Live Club Event of 2020 at the prestigious annual “Classic & Sports Car” magazine club awards, for the pop-up Alvis Centenary event held at Bicester Heritage in August, organised by Anthony McGarel-Groves, our new Club Chairman.
The judges at "Classic & Sports Car" commented that"the Alvis Owner Club mustered a fantastic display of more than 40 cars spanning the whole of Alvis production for a pop-up centenary show and cavalcade at Bicester Heritage in Oxfordshire, including a selection of important and unusual cars courtesy of their host, Alvis enthusiast Dan Geoghegan."
The Club was also runner-up in the award for Best Contribution to Charity: the judges noted that “the Alvis Owner Club also gets an honourable mention, for selflessly repurposing the funds that had been raised to put on its COVID-cancelled centenary celebrations into projects supporting those suffering from hardship in the marque’s home town of Coventry. The club’s board awarded grants of £2,500 each to Coventry Foodbank and the Motor and Allied Trades Benevolent Fund (BEN).”
The Centenary event at Bicester was organised at short notice and was subject to COVID-19 restrictions, so attendance was limited: 75 members attended, some in period costume, along with 40 Alvises, representing an eclectic selection of cars spanning the100 years of Alvis car production: an almost equal number of Park Ward 3 litres and earlier models, the earliest being a 1924 12/50.
Anthony McGarel-Groves commented “This is a wonderful accolade from such a prestigious organisation. Thanks, in particular to Alicia White of Bicester Heritage for assisting us to set up the event at short notice and all our members who were able to participate. We were so glad to be able to do something to celebrate our Centenary in a very difficult year. Even the weather gods smiled on our enterprise.”
Dan Geoghegan, Chief Executive of Bicester Motion commented; “I am delighted to congratulate the AOC on winning this award. In an unusual year of very few events indeed, the Alvis Centenary is imprinted in our minds as a very valuable memory. We felt that the day went perfectly, a very nice atmosphere and, of course, the sight of Alvises meandering up the main drive onto the Paddock was wonderful.”
To see the virtual events awards, please visit the Classic & Sports Car YouTube Channel by clicking on this link.
Anthony Mcgarel-Groves, Chairman, with the C&SC Award
The S&SC Best Live Club Event Award
Pictures courtesy of Classic & Sports Car/YouTube
Anthony Very well done with this, we enjoyed the event and it was great to meet a lot of club members for the only time this year. We both enjoyed the walk round Bicester with a talk on what went on. We look forward to meeting Alvis Owner Club members 1nd getting the Alvis out again in 2021
Jim and Trudi Oakman
Wonderful news, a well deserved success for the AOC!!
Well done Anthony, we were so sorry that due to our personal circumstances we could not join you all at this fantastic event, which was greatly enjoyed by all attending.
Here's too more happy events in 2021!!