Starting Point each Month at 10am,
Shell Petrol station with Budgens Shop, Costa Coffee machine and Greggs on site. Also has 2 lance power washes and a Car wash.
Shaftesbury Rd, Gillingham SP8 5FB
Would just like to Thank the following over the last Ten years. Its Been a Blast
- CLOVERLEAF 159 (Azam and Ju)
- Test Drives Unlimited (Nigel)
- Casey (Malcolm)
- Pat and Caren
- mikeyp0812 (Mike)
- Humane-Hobgoblin (Dan)(Lizzie)
- ChrisHolmes (Chris)
- Pitbull (Matt) + (Ali) + (Yasmin)
- nightfire10 (Steve)
- MARKTHOMASBRAND (Mark)(Mandy)
- Kopite72 (Ian)
- jamroll1992 (Jazz)(Emily) and little (Evie)
- Tim (Rx motors) + (Tina)
- New Duke ( Haydn)
- Metelyk (Andy) (Lara)
- Honkytonk (Duncan) + (Scott)
- Adamh (Adam) + Girlh1 & Girlh2
- DaninPoole (Danny)
- Dave2112 (Dave) + (Karen)
- Ranjan
- backKick8 (Callum)
- Conan (Pete)
- 14jerry (Darren + Faye)
- RX Anna-Lee Kewley
- Bigsteve580 (Steve)
- canonfire (?)
- Patrae (John)
- Robwrx282 (Rob)
- jrmurray (Jay)
- GRIFF91 (Craig)
- firedave + wife
- Riled Wolf (Chris)
- Tariq (Tom)
- binghamf6 (Shane) + 1
- cyman (Simon)
- Kamys
- Lewis Staley-Ellis
- Roger
- boosted (Jon)
- Sean Moore + Cathy
- Learningcurve (Nicola) + Nick + Tom
TIMELINE (In the process of doing 2023 , 2024 update now done)
Spoiler:February 21st 2014: Cloverleaf159 (Azam) asks about meets in the area?
February 24th 2014: Dan in Poole suggests we get a date for a meet sorted after a few people express an interest.
February 26th 2014: Cloverleaf159 realises that robwrx lives in the same town in Dorset.. (small world), people suggesting we do a run late March
February 26th 2014: Dan in Poole posts " Clover... set a date for a run to WestBay "
February 26th 2014: The Dorset/Somerset/Wiltshire group is born. Cloverleaf159 (Azam) starts to plan our first meet
February 27th 2014: The first lists of peoples locations are being posted. A lot of people showing interest and Salisbury suggested by Strummer as a start point.
March 1st 2014: A date is set... We go for Sunday the 6th April....
March 3rd 2014: We have lift off. Details of the first meet are posted . The run is going to be from Salisbury to Compton Abbas airfield in Shaftesbury.
March 24th 2014: First maps of driving route are posted. These maps are then produced for every meet after.
April 3rd 2014: Visit Compton Abbas airfield to sort out tables etc. We now have 24 people on the list. Have to ask the restaurant for more tables
April 6th 2014: Our first meet, the big day. Plenty of people turn up as some of us especially me meet many new faces. Nigel is there to keep an eye on things and help out if needed... It was a great run even if the drive was a bit short but it gave us more ambitious plans for next time.
June 8th:Our second meet Salisbury to West bay via Yeovil. West bay was suggested by a few members and so I worked with that and was made aware of this great scenic coastal route.... And of course that's where the TV series " Broadchurch" was based "
August 3rd 2014:. Our third meet is to Chippenham and includes a tribute lap to late Dean Cargill. Not many this time as people were busy and it clashed with Beaulieu but a great day anyway
September 28th 2014: Our 4th meet is to Swanage.... yes the one where the ice cream man asked whether I was part of the group of loud cars that went through town earlier.... Little did they know, this just made us even nosier leaving....
November 23rd 2014 . Our 5th meet and this time we go across to Weston Super Mare . This was a tricky route to plan as it involved Going through Cheddar Gorge and various junctions afterwards to go through turning onto main roads. Jazz was brilliant in keeping a tag of things as was everyone being great at keeping the group together.
February 8th 2015 . Our 6th meet sees us head towards Lyme Regis.... Bit of a hard one this as we had to park at the top of the Hill and walk down to the restaurant.... Sorry Nigel :-) Then the restaurant clammed us into a small space and Matt knocked Adams (Nigel's friend) drink flying .. oops
Due to illness we were not able to organise another meet for a while but when we did it was epic
May 30th 2015 Our 7th meet and this was known as the "Big One" Me and Nigel combined the Dorset and Somerset group run with the Devon area Group.... with who we had previously arranged a run out for them late 2014 This run was from Shaftesbury to Bude in Devon and also marked the change of starting point of these meets from Salisbury to Shaftesbury from now on. Thus the meets became known as the Dorset and Somerset group meets and the Wiltshire tag was removed. Sadly this was also the end of the Devon group adventure... There was just not enough interest in that area making it viable and we decided to concentrate totally on the Dorset and Somerset area .
September 6th 2015 . Meet number Eight sees us go to Lulworth Cove..... For this meet we were joined by Malcolm and Gynn who were down visiting Malcolm's mother I believe and the date just worked for them. It was a glorious sunny day and we actually had our meal stopping off in between at the Worlds end Inn in Almer before continuing to Lulworth Cove... And yes we all had an ice cream again at Lulworth.
November 22nd 2015 . Meet number Nine was rather special. Nigel came up with the brilliant idea of having a Baby Shower meet as Adam and Donna had a new baby girl called Ruby. So yeah I ran with the idea and took the group off for a short drive whilst Claire and Caren made up the seating area with ballonns, banners ribbons etc that I had personally bought . This was at the Half Moon in Shaftesbury. We all clubbed together too and presented Adam and Donna with some mothercare vouchers and a card. A good day was had by all and Adam and Donna were thrilled with everyone's kindness
January 31st 2016. So it 2016 and meet number Ten.. Birthday bash sees us return to the popular destination of West Bay.... but this time with a twist as we done something different again.. Nigel asked me if I would be kind enough to make this meet his 50th birthday celebration too as he really wanted to celebrate it with the Dorset and Somerset group. As you all know Nigel travels all the way from Horsham too, so you know that's true. So I arranged to get him a cake with a picture of his beloved GT86 I had got off some of his previous pictures.. That and a few balloons and banners and we were set to go... We all even sung Happy Birthday to him and Yes, he did blow out all the candles. That's the one saying 5 and the one saying Zero btw
he even got some presents.... A lovely day and again nice to do something different.
With the AGM in late March and an aborted trip to Haynes museum it was sadly a while before we got together, but we did it.
May 1st 2016 . Meet number Eleven showed some real dedication.... It was a breakfast meet at Haynes Motor museum in Sparkford and was a 9am start at Sparkford services.... From there we went to the Museum and parked up and looked at all the other cars turning up for the Breakfast meet.. Was makes and models from all eras and the American muscle cars were in force too. Callum who now owned a Subaru came along and showed off his new toy for us to see too.... After having our breakfast butties and teas coffee's I set upon an usual route that involved going round and round in circles quite honestly before one mad dash down the A303 back to Yeovil where we ate lunch... I can still remember Matt shaking his head at the route we had gone when we got back to Yeovil... lol... basically using some of the roads twice.....
June 26th 2016 Meet number Twelve was meant to be a return to Weston Super Mare which we last visited in November 2014. Things didn't go to plan though and we had to cancel with not enough numbers....
but we managed to rearrange instead for August 28th 2016 
. this saw us heading for Frome, once again using roads Matt had pointed out to us for our stop off point at Masburys Café Located at Rocky Mountain Nurseries Old Frome Rd, Wells. We were also joined for the first time by Nicola and Nick who had just bought an RX-8 and their young son Tom. First time here and a bit cramped but we managed to get ourselves on separate tables. The car park was a bit of a gravel trap though and some of those gleaming cars turned a bit dusty... 
but this was a day when the weather didn't play ball until we nearly got to Weston and i remember this one as the meet where i had to dodge a branch blocking most of my lane and my rear view mirror was full of you all doing the same. Mark and Mandy were also at this one in Mandy's MX-5 and yes Mark did take pictures of his food again at the Brewers fayre pub..
October 9th 2016 Meet number Thirteen and this was the day we went from Shaftesbury to Minehead... This was probably the meet remembered for losing a few cars at the first roundabout which took the wrong exit... After waiting ages, I had no option to continue to Fleet Air museum where Claire had managed to contact Nigel in the meantime who was in the lost group and was using his sat nav to get the remaining cars to Fleet and was now the leader of the pack. Well done our Nige.... . The drive to the pub was a bit challenging to sort out as we had to go past Taunton before arriving at the Raleigh Cross inn just outside Minehead . Now the rest of you will remember this well... You guys all went for the roast but me and Leroy didn't. Talk about Billy no mates watching you all eat your dinner. Leroy was lucky as his came maybe ten minutes after you lot got yours. Mine arrived after you had all finished after numerous protests and the chef even coming out to apologise. Safe to say i always get the roast now... lol.. From here we carried on to Minehead and who can forgot the winding downhill section from the pub. Went on for ages and was able to get a decent turn of speed up too. Minehead was where we fed our faces for the customary ice creams on the beach scenes. getting back was not so good for some of you. Closed roads meant a diversion and I remember catching up with Pat and Caren and some others stuck in Taunton in traffic trying to get onto the M5 despite having to stop for fuel myself in Minehead.
November 13th 2016 Meet number Fourteen saw us return to Swanage for the second time. We were last there in September 2014... This meet saw Nigel and me very happy but for different reasons... Yes Jazz was back for this one... Nigel was happy because he could get a hug out of Jazz that he so craved and I was happy because Jazz was given the title of our rear Gunner and he always used to run at the rear keeping the pack in check so they didn't go wrong with the route.. We ate again at the View on the seafront which has a lovely view of the harbour and sea. Were we noisy when leaving again.. ? You bet we were 
, just like last time in Swanage. So that Capped off another successful year of Dorset and Somerset meets..
November 26th 2023 Meet number ? was our Christmas Meet of 2023. Yep that time of year again.
and we were lucky as the weather forecast was wrong at this point. Was a 10am start with a meal booked at The Hunter Lodge in Wincanton at 12. So not a long drive out but really a circle of Wiltshire heading to Chillmark, Dinton and back onto the A30 back to Shaftesbury via Fovant badges. The Club were kind enough to provide some Christmas gifts which I got in the Form of Chocolates and Biscuits which was a Nice touch for everyone. The pub itself got a major thumbs up for its Awesome roast and so we will defo be back as I got so many requests to do so. So that's that, 2023 over and Out. Nigel and I were once again so pleased to see all these fine people sharing a meal with us. In typical fashion, as we all went out to leave , the Heavens opened.. So they were right after all.. lol .
January 21st 2024 Meet number ? and our First meet of 2024 saw one of the Funniest Hold ups to a Meet Ever... My Dear Friend Matt got himself caught up waiting for a Car wash , only to find as it was Half Price Weekend everybody was going for a TOP Wash at some 8 minutes Long. So there we all were, waiting for him to get his car Clean.. Bless him, Matt did actually pay the guy in Front to go before him.. £5 I think... This meet was again a bit of a Mystery Drive out due to all the bad Weather we had been having and so Loads of Roads were compromised. Never the less we got ourselves going and the Lads were all Eager to get going on on what I would call from my Rear view mirror as a spirited drive to the Pub. . This was also Chris last outing in his Red M3. We ate at the Poplar's near Bradford on Avon to Give Mark and Mandy and Chris a fighting chance to get home earlier and do some of the driving in the light with the light still drawing in early on the Winter Nights. Oh Nearly forgot, we had a couple of extras on this one. Carl and Erika joined us in their BMW240i X drive with Euan in the GR Yaris.
Thanks again Nigel!
