Charity Car Rally - 9th October 2016
In aid of the East Anglian Air Ambulance
Together with other invited clubs, we are putting on a special rally at Sandringham Country Park with the aim of raising £1000 in aid of the East Anglian Air Ambulance. As many will know, Sandringham is the country retreat of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and in addition to the House, Museum and Gardens, there are a number of waymarked woodland walks, a very pleasant restaurant, a well stocked souvenir shop, a plant centre and a country clothing store. We will be parking along the ‘Vista’ which is the sheltered grass clearing between the trees opposite the visitor centre.
Entrance to the Country Park and Woodland Walks is free. The group discounted rate for the gardens surrounding the house & the museum, should you wish to visit them, is £8 adults/£7 seniors and for the House, Gardens & Museum is £12 adults/£10.50 seniors. There is no fixed price to enter the rally, all we ask is that you make a donation payable to the Norfolk and Norwich Rover Owners Club, which will be forwarded on in full to the charity once all donations are in. We hope to present a cheque on the day. We are aiming for around 100 cars on the day so it should be a good show but please book early to make sure of a place.
Gates will open at 10.00am and all cars are requested to be in position by 12 noon. For safety reasons, vehicles should not be moved or leave the site before 4.pm, and drivers must follow all directions given by the marshals. Further details will be given in the joining instructions accompanying your rally pass.
Please return the attached entry form, together with a S.A.E & cheque to cover your donation (made payable to The Norfolk & Norwich Rover Owners Club), to Chris James ‘Tangmere’, 8 Station Road, Lt. Fransham, Norfolk. NR19 2JJ. Tel: 01362 687148
A brief history of Sandringham can be found overleaf
History of Sandringham
Sandringham is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as “Sant Dersingham”, subsequently shortened to Sandringham. There is evidence of a residence on the present site of the House as early as 1296. From the 16th century the area passed through two families, the Cobbes who held the land from 1517 and the Hostes who followed in 1686. The house which the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, found at Sandringham was a plain Georgian structure with a white stucco exterior, built in the second half of the 18th century by Cornish Henley. Henley died before the house was completed and his son eventually sold it to a neighbour, John Motteux, who had first arrived in England as a Huguenot refugee in 1685. Motteux bequeathed it in his will to his friend Charles Spencer Cowper, the stepson of Viscount Palmerston who was Prime Minister at the time.
In the spring of 1862, Sandringham House with its estate at the time of 2,800 hectares was bought from Cowper as a country home for Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, who had just turned 21. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had decided that he should move from the family home to a house of his own. His principal residence was to be Marlborough House in London but it was felt that he should also have a private house well away from town so that he would be able to escape when duty permitted and enjoy the benefits of a healthy country life. Many properties were inspected and the search was still in train when the tragic and premature death of the Prince Consort brought it to an abrupt halt. However, Queen Victoria decided that everything must go on as her husband would have wished and so the Prince of Wales prepared for a visit to Sandringham. On inspection, the property was decided to be most suitable and so the purchase was concluded a few days later.
The Prince made the old house habitable and moved in with his new wife, Princess Alexandra of Denmark, three weeks after their marriage in 1863. It soon became evident that the old house was too cramped for the Prince’s growing family; it was demolished to make way for a new house, designed by a Norwich architect, AJ Humbert and built by Goggs Brothers of Swaffham. The main house was completed in 1870; a ballroom was added in 1881 and a new guest accommodation wing in the 1890s.
After King Edward VII’s death in 1910, his son, King George V, wrote, “Dear old Sandringham, the place I love better than anywhere else in the world,” and his grandson, King George VI, wrote “I have always been happy here and I love the place”. It is evident from the amount of time that the Queen and her family spend here, that this affection continues as strongly as ever.
The gardens at Sandringham were first opened to the public by King Edward VII in 1908, and in 1930 the Museum was opened with an admission charge of 3d. Her Majesty the Queen opened the House itself to the public in her Silver Jubilee year, 1977. Norfolk and Norwich Rover Owners Club
Sandringham Charity Car Rally 9 th October 2016 Entry form
SD2016 Make: ………………….…………..………….. Model: …………………………...……………..……
Year: …………………………… Registration Number: ………………………..………….. Name: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Address: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………...... ………………………………………………………….……. POST CODE: ………………………………
Tel Number: …………………………………….. E-mail: ………………………………………………
Donation enclosed: £………………………….
NAME of INSURER & POLICY NUMBER: ………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………..
I declare that the above car will be covered by insurance for full third party risks while attending this rally and that only those entitled to start or drive it under this insurance will do so whilst on the rally site. I also declare that the car will have a current MOT certificate, where applicable, and will to the best of my belief be roadworthy.
Signed: ……………………………………..….. Printed: …………………………………..……