As the date of the
Great Bloxam Steam Fair grew ever close it was 'all eyes on the weather
forecast' - nobody wanted a repeat of last year's mud bath (It's the same
weekend as Glastonbury) !!!. It rained on Friday night but by the time things
got under way on Saturday a strong wind got up and dried things out 'hang on
tight to that kite Barry'. It was out youngest member's (Sam 20months) first
proper taste of camping and he proved to be a petrol head in the making - a
true chip off the old block.
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| Sam, Lou &
Pete in Harriet's 1950 Willys Overland Jeepster |
Our next outing
was to Woodcote near Reading - Alf's favourite show (Real Ale tent). Heavy rain
on the Friday evening threatened disaster and sent Barry & Jenny back home
for a change of shoes, but the organisers 'managed' the showground very well
and the show went off as planned. Unfortunately John and Vic had the misfortune
to break down just as they left the gates and had to be recovered home - all
fixed now though - a faulty distributor cap again! (Deja vu Gaydon).
The end of July and we have a trip out to
show the cars at Brooklands Museum. We meet up on the A3 in warm sunshine,
joined for the first time by Jeremy in his shiny red Sprite and we arrive in
convoy - the 'girlies' looked a treat and attracted a lot of attention - as
usual. |
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The Girlies' at
Brooklands
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A trawl through the
autojumble turned up some treasure to be refurbed and sold in aid of the Barry
Green Metal Bonnet Fund and everyone found
something to interest them. We were surprised at how many different events are
held there throughout the year and we may well return - we were told of a rally
and lunch that may take place on New Year's Day so we'll keep an eye on the web
site for more info.
We have a
weekend off now and then it's Classic Wroughton for the first weekend in August
followed by the Club Barbie at Alf and Lynn's - it's all go!
Well, we had the Barbie' and braved the weather
for as long as possible The gazebo sheltered us from most of the wind, but we
ran for cover when the rain started dripping through the roof - good here isn't
it? |
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Wroughton was probably the most disorganised show we
have visited in a long time. The first challenge was to find the camping area -
it took Alf and Lyn nearly half an hour and were on the verge of going home
again when they found someone who could show them the way - and it didn't get
any better. However two of our members found fame if not fortune. Alf was
invited to take part in the filming of a television programme to be shown on
ITV in the autumn while John (and his car) was photographed for Classic Car
Mart magazine.
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| Alf the film star -
please queue for autographs! |
The last event on our
Summer Calendar was the annual visit to Hampshire Pageant of Motoring at
Broadlands in Romsey. We travelled there in the rain (nothing new there) but
the sun came out shortly after we arrived. It was good to see Scottish Dave
(recently renamed Kiwi Dave) who was back in 'Blighty' on holiday and we had a
good day with lots of interesting people to talk to.
Club Nights have been well attended throughout the
summer. Colin & Jude visited us from the Surrey section and it was great
talking to them and hearing about the different events they had attended. We
planned a visit to the Home Counties August meeting, sadly Terry & Harriet
couldn't go because of other commitments and John & Vic fell by the wayside
when their dynamo packed up en-route to the rendezvous point. However four of
us managed to get there without mishap, we were made most welcome by Mark and
the rest of the group and hopefully we will visit them again before too long.
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Starting on Friday 23rd May we were to go to Priors
Marsden in a convoy of six cars. The four Frogs and the two Midgets of Chris
and Mike. We had already planned the route, so meeting Mike just south of Wantage was going to
be no problem. Well, Chris needed a new bit of exhaust pipe before we left Alf
and Lynn's, Big John didn't have Vic with him due to her being ill, and then an
hour out, Alf and Lynn had to return for forgotten items! No problem! The icing
on the cake was Mike having an electrical malady and us all sitting on the side
of the road while as many people as possible stuck their heads under the bonnet
generally sucking in air and trying to fix it!
L to R. Mike,
Barry, Big John and Terry
Whilst we were
sitting there a gentleman (John Gardner?) who used to work in the drawing
office at Healeys stopped. Most interesting man, who later found us in the pub
and brought Mike an electronic ignition module that he thought might help.
Eventually after the rescue service had called for a flat bed truck we
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trooped off to the pub we were staying in.
needless to say we were much later than we anticipated, but "hey that's classic
motoring".
Alf had, by this time,
caught up with us, and went on ahead, unfortunately going AWOL. We got back to
the pub for a well-earned pint of Hooky, and eventually got the word on Alf. He
had a broken half shaft, and was situated in a pub car park in Fenny Compton.
Chris and Barry went back to help, and the rest of us made plans to get Mike to
Spridget 50, and also talk to John. Little John and Ellen turned up - no Frog -
in the MGF
The long and the
short of Friday evening, was that Alf, Lynn and the Frog went home (the second
flatbed of the day) to get it fixed and then come back and rejoin us on
Saturday afternoon.
The long and the
short of Friday evening, was that Alf, Lynn and the Frog went home (the second flatbed of the day) to get it
fixed and then come back and rejoin us on Saturday afternoon.
Priors Marsden, the
pub car park! Four Frogs and two Midgets
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Mike was towed to Gaydon on Saturday morning while the
rest of us donned yellow jackets and hats marshalling the Spridgets in to their
places.
L to R. Terry, Chris
and Barry
Spridget 50 - Wow what an event!
We all had a ball, seeing so many similar but different
cars. If you were wondering whether your car would look good in another colour,
you could check it out, trying to fit a different engine/gearbox/pair of seats?
Yes, you could probably find someone who had done it too! There were marauding
French Frogs coming over the hill, as well as cars from all over. In the middle
of it was Mike, who after much persuading, had his car converted back to
ordinary electrics rather than the set up that had gone phut! Alf turned up at
about 3:30, which was fantastic. And what a lot of nice people were there too.
We got together for pictures, then left to go back to the pub via Burton
Dassett, so that Mike could visit the place where his sister's Midget was
photographed in the late 70's. Great fun and beautiful views, but windy!
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