PICTURE SPECIAL: Vintage vehicle club honours stalwart David Green with memorial tour through Sutherland
A far north vintage motoring club held a special event in memory of the late David Green who helped organise its annual rallies at John O'Groats and served as its treasurer for many years.
Caithness and Sutherland Vintage and Classic Vehicle Club (CSVCVC) undertook a tour across key beauty spots in Sutherland and journeyed from the starting point at Helmsdale and on to Brora via Dunrobin Castle, Lairg, Falls of Shin, Dornoch and Embo.
Club chair Kevin Sutherland said: "We have a number of car runs annually but this is a great one as it's in memory of David Green, one of the longest serving members of the club.
"David was a stalwart of the club and did so much work with us for the rallies. He was the treasurer for many a number of years as well so it's fitting we have a memorial run for him."
Kevin said that there are many vintage cars in Caithness and Sutherland and thanks to social media the club has "been reaching out to more people" who are coming from all over the far north to join the runs.
"The main thing was keeping it going over lockdown. We still had runs but stayed in our own cars which we were allowed to do with the regulations and that kept the club ticking over. David used to love coming out for the car runs and particularly to Sutherland so he would have been first in the queue for this. We'll suggest we have a toast to the memory of David after the run."
David Green’s favourite car was a 1957 Wolseley 1500 which was driven by his grandson James Green, taking pride of place during the memorial run. James, who lives in Halkirk, said: "It was grandad's pride and joy. He'd be delighted this was happening today and there's a good turnout as well." James says that the old Wolseley runs on ordinary petrol but a special additive is put in to make it run properly.
Despite showery weather affecting the far north over the last few weeks, the David Green Memorial Run had more favourable conditions on the day and the mix of colours from the well-groomed motors was a hearty sight as the cars parked up at Helmsdale and then in front of Dunrobin Castle.
Iain Sutherland had travelled up from Inverness to be at the event and said that he has given over Edward Sutherland's cars to the Halkirk Heritage and Vintage Motor Centre. "Edward was my cousin and a good friend of David. We have given all his cars to the Halkirk Heritage Centre and they can look after them. There's also a mechanic in Halkirk who can maintain them and they're going to go back on the road."
Les Bremner is vice chair of CSVCVC and said at the start of the run: "Sadly we lost David Green to cancer about a month ago so we decided to hold an annual memorial run in his memory. It's a tribute to David that we have so many – we've got about 50 people attending and around 35 cars in total. It's the biggest we've ever had apart from our John O'Groats rally. We're going to make this an annual event now.
"We're starting here in front of the Bridge Hotel in Helmsdale, carrying on to Dunrobin Castle for a photo shoot. Then we're having brunch at the pier in Lairg and from there we're going to the Falls of Shin. Then it's Royal Dornoch, Grannie's Heilan' Hame at Embo and finally to Brora Harbour."
Kevin Sutherland said that his 1960 Austin A35 van is called Hyacinth as the registration has HYC in it. "It's the first vehicle my father ever owned and I bought it just half-a-mile from where my father was born in Lybster. It's got a lot of sentimental significance for me as well."
Kevin said that he totally rebuilt the van's engine with a new oil seal recently. "She had a bit of an oil leak. I told people that Hyacinth had an incontinence problem," he joked.
Anyone interested in joining Caithness and Sutherland Vintage and Classic Vehicle Club should look for more information on its Facebook page.
