The Carriage Foundation was formed in 1991 under
the auspices of the British Driving Society. The aim was to bring
together like-minded people with a special interest in carriages, their
history and carriage driving.
Anyone can join the trips we
organise and they will be assured of a warm and friendly welcome from
the group. These trips are interesting and great fun and give members
the opportunity to visit many venues that are not available for the
general public to enjoy.
Carriage Foundation Report 17. 11.11
Members of the Carriage Foundation were saddened to learn of the death of our Chairman, Mr Christopher Nicholson who passed away in his sleep on the morning of May 20th 2011 after his long battle with cancer. Chris’s death is a great loss, not only to his family and friends but to all the Carriage Driving fraternity. He was well known for his articles in Carriage Driving Magazine and for his talks and slide shows and will be sadly missed by all who knew him. Chris was involved in the setting up of the data-base of carriages along with the work he did for the National Trust. We shall endeavour to carry on his good work by encouraging & educating people in the history of horse drawn vehicles.
The position of Chairman has now passed to Mr Colin Henderson, whose passion and knowledge will ensure we continue to provide our members with exciting and enthralling venues to visit.
Over the years we have not only grown in numbers but also in appreciation of the huge variety of vehicles we have been fortunate enough to examine. In the early years we only visited venues in England but as our enthusiasm grew we travelled further, to Scotland, Wales, over to Ireland and the Isle of Man. Eventually taking the Ferry to the continent and extending our weekends into a week’s holiday, visiting private and public collections, taking in the social history and local culture of the area.
We have travelled to Southern Holland, Paris, Southern Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Northern Holland, Switzerland and North Germany.
At the beginning of 2011 we did a complete “U-Turn” with regard to the April trip to Poland. Due to complications with the travel arrangements, a last minute decision was made to visit Paris once again. It had been 10 years since the last visit and with many new members and some different venues it proved to be a popular and successful week, made all the more enjoyable by the wonderful spring sunshine. Our group included members from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Jersey, Belgium and Switzerland.
In October we had a full day at Shugborough, the ancestral home of Lord Lichfield. We then travelled onto The Holiday Inn Express in Stafford for an evening meal, with guest speaker David Waller on the subject of Flintshire’s Postal Route Past, followed by and bed & breakfast. Sunday morning we visited Horsebrook Manor by kind invitation of Barbara and Rod Stockton, before moving on to Weston Park, the ancestral home of the Earls of Bradford, for an exclusive viewing of the Duke of Bedford’s State Coach. The day finished at Wellington Carriage Co., by kind invitation of Mr Philip Holder.
The 2012 Spring visit is…… YES – POLAND! April 23rd – 30th So get your phrase books ready! Don’t miss out on this trip of a lifetime. For the Autumn visit on October 13th & 14th a visit to the New Forest area is in the pipeline which hopefully will include Beaulieu.
To help encourage more young people join our group, The Carriage Foundation will waive the booking fees for anyone under the age of 25 years old.
These trips are great fun as well as being informative and instructive. An individual traveller would not have met so many interesting people or visited so many unusual places.
If you know of any interesting venues, or would be interested in joining our group – or would like a list of the places we have visited, then please don’t hesitate to contact me. A full report of our visits appears regularly in the BDS Newsletters.
To learn more about The Carriage Foundation please send SAE to:
Caroline Dale-Leech, Hon. Secretary, Red House Stables, Darley Dale,
Matlock, Derbyshire DE4 2ER. Tel/Fax: 01629 733583.email
redhousestables@hotmail.co.uk
