With September comes the good weather again - a lovely balmy evening with over 25 cars out on to the Grapes car car park . I am afraid that we did some what fill the area much to the disdain of one of the locals who had no room to park - but I am sure the landlord appreciated the increase in trade from his usual 4 people to 44. The Vintage Car club also arrived for their monthly meeting - sorry we took your spaces as well. Nice to see Rob's Caterham 7 out for its first club outing . Notable occurrence this evening - Ray found out that his recent MGB acquisition does not do 50 miles to the gallon.
Cholmondley Castle - Cheshire - Sunday 5th September 2004
Photo - Left
Club stand in beautiful sunshine
with "castle" in the background.
Photo Right
A view of the show ground with the West Lancs stand in the middle -our flag certainly stands out.
Thanks to Tom Ford for these photos
Ray takes a nap -dreaming of MGBs that do 50 to the gallon - soon to be disturbed by rowdy kids!
Brian is caught "hoovering" out his car. Careful - Carole reckons you can do the same when you get home.
WIGAN PIER - SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 4TH 2004
Reopening of Trencherfield Mill Steam Engine.
David Bryant had told club members about this event at the last meeting. A few of us decided to pay a visit not knowing what to expect. It was a carnival atmosphere in front of the mill, with brass band , ukelele band, folk singer , stilt walkers and more. Eric had arrived earlier in the morning and received a complementary lunch and afternoon tea
Above - Club cars in front of the Fair Organ - Tom has to run for it as it starts up with ear splitting volume!
Above - The 150 year old steam engine restored to concours condition. The 26 foot diameter flywheel turning for the first time in 10 years
Two more views of the front of the Mill - thanks to Tom Ford for these photos.
"Black & White " Picture
Ray's white 50 m.p.g. roadster in the background with Dave's black GT at the front. Ray says the roadster is for sale - contact via guestbook.
Widnes - Fair Organ and Vintage Rally - Sunday 26th September
After early morning drizzle everything cleared up by lunchtime and the stiff breeze blew the clouds away - we even had some warm sunshine for an hour or two in the afternoon.
This show gets better each year - plenty of variety in the exhibits - you soon get used to the noise of the organs coming from every direction - some useful auto jumble stands and an interesting auction. Richard and I spotted some Lucas spotlamps in a box which we bid for and got after pooling our money.
Photo left and Right (Tom Ford)
The 10 club cars were joined by the unusual green 1500 MGA from Vale Royal Falconry centre (didn't know hawks could drive!!)
Girls weekend in Scotland
During September Margie, Lynn M, Lynn J and Lisa made plans to have a weekend away in Scotland. It is rumoured that it was originally Ray's idea to elope to Gretna Green with Margie and take a few of witnesses but he found that he was busy viewing another MGB on ebay.
Photo left - Margie, Lynn M and Lisa return from looking for handbags.
Photo right - Daytime activity -Lynn M, Margie and Lisa hanging around on a bar - was the night time activity hanging around in a bar? Nigel assures me that Scottish crossbars are reinforced with titanium so there was no health and safety risk.
Photos - Lynn Jackson.
MID MONTH MEET - BLACKPOOL LIGHTS - 7TH OCTOBER 2004
Once again we are at the end of the outdoor mid month meetings. Another trip to Blackpool illuminations saw 6 MGs and a BMW travelling in convoy to enjoy the spectacle (?) of Blackpool's famous illuminated sea front. Peter, Martin & Margaret, Darren & Annette, Jamie & Lisa, and myself made the first meeting point in Tarleton in our MGs. Nigel had some flimsy excuse for not bringing his MGB out of premature hibernation (something about piles of builder's rubble in front of the garage - a likely story!). Chris arrived straight from work and took Nigel with him to lead the way.
Meeting up with Alan & Marianne on the North end of the prom we drove in convoy down the Golden Mile. Our topless MGs drew more attention than the lights ( Am I imagining it or are the lights less spectacular than they used to be.?). We managed a free run the whole way with only stops for traffic signals so no overheating . The traffic soming from the other direction was mostly stationary - good idea of Nigel's to go from North to South.
At the south end of the sea front we stopped at a chippy for nourishment. It seemed that the whole of Lancashire's social services had arrived ahead of and taken over all the seating - so we had to eat standing out side - that is how chips were meant to be eaten isn't it?). Peter was tempted by bright shiny things in the shop next door and bought one of the brightly lit toys on the pretext of getting it for little Dobo at home - another likely story!
The weather was fantastic - perfect for the night time drive with the top down - brought back memories of journeys to Sandie's college in Poulton le Fylde in my Midget in the 60s - ahh - nostalgia.
Only downer of the evening - Martin had his car vandalised when he was in the nearby curry house - an expensive spray job is needed.
Photo - left
The view through the windscreen of my car.
Difficult to see what is going on but I thought it was a pretty picture and I was driving with the camera in one hand - hence the shake!!
Photo - right
Nigel, Alan and Chris admire Peter's shiny thing!
OCTOBER EVENTS 2004
FIDDLER'S FERRY PUB - WARRINGTON - 3RD OCTOBER
Five club cars made it to the very old Fiddlers Ferry Tavern. I had booked in 10 cars but the threat of rain obviously kept the others at home. They missed a good show - which was held at the pub for the first time. Pat, the licensee, picked out my TF as the car of the day from the total of 60 cars that turned up. We had our photo taken by the local paper - Widnes Weekly News - who gave is a full page spread in the next edition - Bob Atherton has a copy of it.
The weather was OK until about 1 p.m. when we had little rain. The clouds looked a bit black over Liverpool by 3 p.m. so we made our way home - hoods down for Eric , Bill and me. It didn't rain much until I got home although the Rainford bypass was very wet - must have just missed a heavy shower. - Tom Ford
Photo Top Left -( Tom Ford )
Line up of cars on the grass next to Fiddler's ferry pub
Photo - Left (Peter Dobson)
Lunch time - the gang gather in case Olive has brought one of her apple pies
Photo Right - (Peter Dobson)
It looks as though Tom has conned Olive into polishing his car - which won car of the day award
NOVEMBER 2004
AINTREE FESTIVAL OF MOTORSPORT
50th Anniversary
NOVEMBER 19th/20th/21st
PHOTOS TAKEN ON THE FRIDAY
LOVELY SUNSHINE BUT VERY COLD
PHOTO LEFT - THE CLUB STAND IN THE CENTRE OF THE TRACK
PHOTO RIGHT - LINING UP FOR THE PARADE LAPS
We got to drive 4 full laps round the original grand prix circuit. Tom lead the way in his TC followed by Ray in the TF. Visitors from the North West Caterham club hitched a ride. Dave Bryant decided to make a race of it and went screaming past everyone in his Twin Cam.(could have been the passenger that was screaming!)
IN THE PADDOCK AREA
PHOTO - LEFT
BEAUTIFUL 1936 SS JAGUAR
PHOTO RIGHT
RATHER EXPENSIVE 1950s FERRARI GTO
PHOTOS TAKEN ON SATURDAY
CLOUDY & COLD
3 greats of Motorsport from the 50s were on hand to sign autographs as well as drive classic racing cars round the track - they can be seen in the photo left
From left to right,
Roy Salvadori , Tony Brooks and living legend Sir Stirling Moss.
Photo right - Brian gets his Stirling Moss painting signed by the man himself.
Photo left.
Great man - great car
Motoring legend Stirling Moss drives a few laps of the Full Grand Prix circuit in the
ex Fangio Formula 1 Bugatti
Photo -Right.
Club stand on the Saturday .We were joined by friends from Preston MG Club.
Note unusual 1956 Swallow Doretti
on the end.
Note -Well done to Eric , Bill and Olive who made all 3 days in their Midgets.
(Photo Tom Ford)
Photo - Left
What is that balloon over Richard's Coupe - is he running on gas?
(Photo - Tom Ford)
SUNDAY PHOTOS
COLD AND DAMP
Photo left. Nigel, our illustrious chairman made the effort and turned out on the worst day weather wise.. Wearing a strange hat for a dare, Nigel and son pose next to the 1950 Works Rally XK120 of Ian Appleyard.
.Photo -Right - Stirling Moss drove a few laps in the same XK 120 .
TRENTHAM GARDENS - STOKE-ON TRENT - SUNDAY 1ST AUGUST
Yet another first for the club with Tom taking us to Stoke-on-Trent. Trentham Gardens is a massive place with a mile long artifical lake built by the Duke of Sutherland in the 19th century and gardens designed by Capability Brown (not Calamity Jane , Tom!!) . The toilets and shower blocks were excellent, the site having been a caravan site until recently. The show was quite small and entrance was easy with the exhibitor traffic separated from the public cars (Please note this Tatton Park and Andrew Greenwood!!) Tom, Jamie& Lisa, Bill &Olive were the usual campers with Brian & Carole joining the camping party after their good experiences in Wales. Both Ray and myself arrived on the Sunday morning and set up the club stand in the middle of what appeared to be a wasps' nest. Apart from the insects, we had a good day and driving the 60 miles back home in convoy on the A34/A50 was much better than the M6.
Above - Club stand at Trentham
Photo - Tom Ford
MID MONTHLY MEETING - MAGHULL CONSERVATIVE CLUB - THURSDAY 5TH AUGUST
Tony Woods invited us to his club in Maghull for our August mid month meeting. It turned out to be one of the wettest evenings on record. I arrived at the Briars Hall car park in torrential rain in my proper car to see Peter sheltering in Tom's proper car after having just put his hood up on his MGB. Nigel and Paul arrived shortly after and the torrential rain turned into biblical flood proportions. We set off for Maghull and Peter followed me through Burscough where the A59 had turned into a river - the water was over 1 foot deep. Tom, Paul and Nigel were nowehere to be seen when we got to Ormskirk - Peter stopped to wait whilst I carried on to Maghull. Nigel had taken the scenic route through a muddy river in Lathom and succeeded in redecorating his engine bay (Photo - Right). The rain stopped by the time we got to Maghull and good number of members arrived in their MGs (Photo -left). Amazingly, it was dry enough to play pitch and putt (photo -centre -) with Steve Ford winning with a score of 20 - Olive 2nd on 22 and Nigel 3rd on 24. (photos - Andrew Dickenson.)
WOODVALE SHOW -
SUNDAY AUGUST 8TH
Thanks to Nigel and Andrew for the photos.
Left and right shows two views of the club area - far too close to the public car park yet again!!
Below - centre -Jack and Thomas enjoy a break . Also in picture . Noel and Andrew at the back. Foreground- Eric seated and Margie.
Below -right- Eric, Noel, Richard, Andrew, Ralph and John struggle to put up the gazebo (neither Alison nor Lisa were there - nuff said !!)
A summary of Nigel's comments on the show...
Toilets -awful - totally inadequate for a show of this size.
Getting out of the show - awful - queuing for over an hour just to leave.
Organisers note - Classic cars do not like queuing - they need a separate entry / exit.
Members comments on the shows on this site are welcomed - let me know your feelings about this and other shows by email and I will feature them on this page.
Photo above taken by the Liverpool Echo reporter and appeared in the Monday edition.
Out of the 1700 cars there - only Nigel's Herald was chosen - or was it the twins they were interested in?
AUSTIN 7 CLUB MEETING AT BRIARS HALL - WEDNESDAY - 11TH AUGUST
The photo (left) is not our club meeting - although to look at the 16 club cars lined up in the Briars hall car park you could be forgiven for thinking so. Ralph, David Bryant, John and Gill and Noel are seen chatting in front of the club cars.
We were invited by the Austin 7 club to their open evening along with the Lancashire Motorcycle Club. Cars and motorcycles were judged by members of the other clubs - We were asked to judge the non MG cars and Tom and I reckoned the 1930 Morris Oxford was the best prented car. Tom's TC was judged the best MG by the bikers.
HOLKER HALL - CUMBRIA - SUNDAY 15TH AUGUST 2004
Above - left - club stand - but no gazebo - sorry - it was in my garage along with the MG which was temporarily off the road..
Above - centre - it looked as though it was "Let's get Jamie " day .as the Malyan boys pile on!
Above - right- Lisa and Lynn relax in the sun - but what is a Triumph Herald doing on the MG stand !
TATTON PARK - AUGUST 21ST/22ND AUGUST 2004
Despite the heavy rains during the week and rain on the Saturday morning the ground at Tatton was suprisingly firm. We were allocated a very small plot for our stand and our 15 cars had a job fitting the space on the Sunday. This was partcularly galling when the stand next to ours was bigger and only had 3 cars on it.
Congratulations to Nigel for winning the best Rubber Bumper MG award and to Dave and Jane Stafford ( photo right) for runner up in the same category.
Photo - Left
The Club stand on the Saturday
Photo - Right
The club stand on the Sunday
Photo - Left
The camping area on the Sunday morning with Jack in the fore ground.
Photo - Right
Tom's plastic pig hitched up and ready to go on the Sunday afternoon
with club members relaxing (L to R) Lisa , Jamie, The Stafford family and Cam.
Photos taken by Tom Ford
CAPESTHORNE HALL - MACCLESFIELD - BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY 30TH AUGUST 2004
This was the last show in August and Tom's camping party ( Bill & Olive, Dave Utley and Peter ) had braved the wind and rain of the Sunday night. We had made the decision to go to Capesthorne rather than Haigh or Hutton and it proved to be the right choice as the others were called off due to water logged grounds. The rest of us arrived early Monday morning to be greeted by rain and wind until early afternoon. Despite this we had a good turn out of 10 cars on the stand including guest Geogg Hume from Sale who claimed runner up award in the sports car class. The stand won the runner up award despite the minimal dressing up .
Photos of the club stand during the afternoon.
The rain had stopped - just about but it was still windy.
Can you spot whose car was the only one with the top still down through all the rain?
Lichfield Cars in the Park - Sunday 4th August
Photo left - Lichfield club stand.
Jamie , Lisa and I had a long drive after the Norwood school visit - we drove down to Lichfield afterwards - with Jamie swapping his Daimler for his MGB . It had been playing up but he bravely drove the 90 miles to Staffordshire without a problem . Rain greeted us on the motorway but we soldiered on with tops down much to the amusement of passing motorists in their "proper" cars. At Lichfield we joined Tom and Bill & Olive and camped over night in the beautiful park just outside the city centre. Ray joined us for the Sunday show which was well attended . The sun shone all day and made a good little show.
