Slaley, Northumberland

The new Parish Seat on the B6306 was secured to its position on Sunday April 15th. Sometime later, during early May on a Wednesday afternoon, Derek Hull passed the seat and saw an elderly couple sitting on the seat having a picnic, which included a bottle of wine. Derek stopped and asked the couple if they would mind having their photograph taken.


They were traveling from Edinburgh to Sussex by country roads in a 1923 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost for a RRSG rally. Derek was told that the car (registration number S46) used to do 16 mpg but now could only manage 12 mpg. The vehicle had spent all its 83 years in Edinburgh (it must have been first registered in late 1923) and the man speaking to Derek had owned the Silver Ghost for 43 years.
The couple had been driving along looking for somewhere safe to stop and saw our seat they told Derek that the view was fantastic and could understand why the site had been chosen. “Just a pity”, they remarked, “that there is no litter bin near the seat”.
The photographs were taken by a mobile telephone, which was all Derek and his daughter had with them at the time.
I went onto the internet after hearing this story and discovered that on Saturday May 26th more than 60 of the historic motors cars, built between 1907 and 1926 were displayed at the Goodwood Manufacturing plant, West Sussex to celebrate the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost turning 100. From Goodwood the vehicles had embarked on a 17- day, 2000-mile tour.