On July 13 Ladysmith's Transfer Beach Park hosted the 24th Brits on the Beach car show, attracting a slew of car enthusiasts and laypeople alike.
“We officially gave out 184 registration forms for this year’s event, but there could be a few more as not everyone sends back a form and we could have missed some, so approximately 190 I'd say,” Julie McKay, event organizer estimated. “Which is very good considering there were at least three other competing events the same day.”
In past years the annual event has attracted upwards of 230 classics.
McKay said the event has supported the Ladysmith food bank for as long as she can remember.
“The Club wanted to support a local charity and it was agreed that this would be a worthy charity,” McKay said. “The cost to enter is to just show up. The vehicle must be a British vehicle of some type (car, truck, van, bus, motorcycle, taxi, etc.). No cost to enter, we try to suggest a donation to the Ladysmith Food Bank but it is not required.”
This year the oldest car, at the event was a 1930 Vauxhall Hurlingham, one of only 51 built by Connaught Coachbuilders over three years. It is owned by Steve Harris.
“The Brits on the Beach was started by two of our Ladysmith members, in 1999, as a British picnic,” McKay added. “It has always been at Transfer Beach. This would have been our 26th event but we lost two years due to COVID-19.”
McKay said the club starts to plan the event almost right after the current event ends, but the real planning takes place from March right until the actual day.
The event draws from a diverse area, with cars coming from “all over the island and beyond. We have had cars from all over B.C., Alberta and Washington in the past,” McKay said.
This year's event also drew a Canadian sports star.
Canada’s “Mighty Mouse” Elaine Tanner earned her nickname as a fierce swimming competitor of small stature. In 1968 when she was 17 years old she went into the Olympics in Mexico City holding five world records and won three medals.
Despite winning a multitude of Olympic, Pan American and Commonwealth Games medals, setting records and being named to numerous halls of fame Tanner’s life has had its ups and downs.
Tanner was in attendance at Transfer Beach with partner John Watt and their original 1959 English MGA.
Although the event was about new and vintage European cars, trucks and motorcycles it also gave Tanner an opportunity to talk to folks about her struggles and then the turnaround in her life.
In the early 1980s Tanner and Watt started finding and cleaning up classic cars, which over the years brought them to where they are today, showing off their MGA, while living just south of Ladysmith in Maple Bay.
