2003

                          PAGE 6

MGCC SE/Runnymede MGOC summer run to Hollycombe

Abingdon Works Centre Summer Day Out at Rousham Park

Plumpton Country Weekender 

There's a coincidence - both the MGCC South East cente and the Runnymede MGOC had arranged a run to Hollycombe Steam Museum near Liphook on the same day. Normally the Runnymede groups run would have appeared in the diary section but as the South East Centre of the MGCC were also visiting this sunday it meant there was actually quite a large number of MG's ending up at Hollycombe. Not only that but the Singer-Riley Owners Club had also arranged for a run in to the site just about making it a classic car show together with the older Steam driven attractions.

I decided to go down with my local Runnymede group as Thorpe Green was a lot closer starting point than Godstone. We mustered about eight cars at the start by the Rose and Crown Pub and set off in perfect convoy through the byways of Surrey via Pirbright, Normandy, Milford, Haslemere and then Liphook - we were joined by Kevin in his F somewhere near Farnham making a good total of nine cars to arrive at Hollycombe together. The MGCC , meanwhile , had set off in groups of three from Godstone to cover a run of about 65 miles arriving at Hollycombe quite a bit later than us.

We parked up beside two of the pillars from Victoria Station at the entrance to the museum with the Singer-Riley club already in position on one side and the Traction engines belching smoke and steam on the other side of us. Not expecting to be on display we quickly gave the cars a dusting over before opening up the bonnets and letting the public view them. It was quite a busy sunday afternoon and before long the visitors to the museum were peering around the cars. The South East group arrived in drips and drabs throughout the morning before forming a final two rows of cars opposite the Singer club.

Having finally settled and importantly set up the picnic equipment we had a lok around the museum and it's various exhibits of  full size running tank engines, Traction Engines, a Steam farm, static period caravans, steam sawing, a steam funfair, miniature railway and pleasant gardens.

An MGBGT arrived all the way from the Netherlands and a couple of other non club MG's put an appearance in the general parking area.  A bull nosed Morris turned up complete with period camping trailer to interest the caravanners amongst our group.

With nice warm weather , lots of MG's and steam Hollycombe was a very pleasant way to spend the day - now if only there was a steam driven MG somewhere......

You'll find some more Runnymede MGOC pics on the diary page......

With the temperatures forecast to rapidly rise towards the area of 30 degrees with not a cloud in the sky we wondered if it would be wise to pack our umbrellas and waterproofs. Strangely enough though the weather men got it absolutely right and the day did turn out to be glorious. The Abingdon Works Centre had arranged run ins to Rousham House near Bicester from half a dozen surrounding locations . We joined the run starting at Henley on Thames meeting up at the Toad Hall Nurseries just north of the town. The run through the Chilterns was spectacular with the sun flickering through the dappled shade of the trees tunneling over the single track roads bursting out into grand hilltop views. It was easy to imagine yourself as Toad in his motor car having just left Toad Hall - peep peep. We left the Chilterns to drive through the Oxfordshire farm land with crops either side of the road before skirting the city and reaching Rousham House.

The day was getting hotter as we drove into the show fiel. There was supposed to be register parking but most MG's headed for the large trees dotted about the meadow and managed to squeeze underneath them in search of shade from the sun. Some cars did manage to group together with a good selection of F's  near the beer tent, a line of Z's nearby with some elderly M types nearby. The A register managed to huddle around one tree whilst a gang of T's claimed host to another. The Midlands centre had a drive in and were all mixed up on the far side of the field.

There were some stalls including the MGCC , a much needed beer tent, extremely hot ice cream girl, a local MGR dealer, a chap producing instant photos of the day, the F register tent sheltering by the hedge divorced from the F's themselves and a burger van selling hot food on a baking hot day.

It was a bit too hot to really enjoy the baked gardens of Rousham but you could find shade under the hollow hedges or amongst the plants in the walled gardens. It was cooler touring the house itself with it's dark portraits of former residents. There was a treasure hunt organised in the gardens for those that remembered to bring a pen with them (we didn't) and the chairman's wife chose four cars she'd like to take home with her rewarding them with a bottle of wine each. A nice MG cake was top prize in the raffle.

I know there's a lot of hot air spouted at MGR and MG club meetings and the MG Hot Air Balloon team turned up to capture some of it. Unfortunately I think it must have been the wrong sort of air as they never actually managed to get the balloon out of it's box !

MG Car Club president Bill Wallis turned up with his wife, Jill,  in his modern ZT saloon but spent a ,lot of time mingling with the vintage saloon gang as well as viewing the several hundred other cars present.

Most people just seemed to enjoy the day picnicking in the shade of the oak trees and gazing contentedly at the gleaming metalwork surrounding them thinking - ain't it perfick !

A couple of more personal pics on Diary page

It was quite obvious that by inviting a weather girl to your MG show was not a very good idea judging by the torrential downpours experienced at the weekender last year. This year the stalwarts at East Sussex MGOC did not repeat their mistake and the weather was glorious. With temperatures in the 30's the whole weekend was ablaze with lazy sunshine. We had the usual trouble of finding Plumpton racecourse nestling, as it does, in the plain below the South Downs and were not helped this year by a nearby road being closed!. Once we did arrive on the sunday morning we settled in to our spot with the numerous other Pride of Ownership entrants and casually gave the car a dusting before doing the sensible thing and relaxing with a glass of something cool in the shade of a large umbrella and watch the world of MG's go by.

The weather had certainly encouraged some fine cars to venture out of the garage and there were many concours condition cars here not winning prizes in the self judging POO including a rather nice Magnette and the TC police car seen at many shows throughout the summer.  Car of the show was a deserved pale blue MGA pictured left. I think most competitors just enjoyed the day out surrounded by the gallops of Plumpton.

Luckily no one tried to jump the sticks with their MG's but the equestrian theme was followed with a Gymkhana involving driving whilst blindfold , a quick change of clothing and a game of hoop la !

The Plumpton hat parade in the arena finished the competitive element of the main show day with hald a dozen ladies resplendent in Ascot hats being paraded around the ring in their MG'

Their were several side stalls representing local charities and MG related businesses including a local dealer with some brand new Z's and a handy on site tune up man. At lunch time the African Drummers of Sussex beat out a rhythm in the shade whilst the rest of tucked in to our picnics.

We missed the saturday events which included the Martlett Run through the Sussex Countryside including a stop at Filching Motor Museum and with a Treasure Hunt along the way - one person actually managed to get full points !

Saturday afternoon saw cream teas and barbecues with  the 60's dance in the shade of the grandstand as the evening drew to a sultry close.