Father's Day Meeting at Ropley
I am delighted that so many people were able to attend the Father's Day
event at the Mid-Hants Railway on the 20th June. After a long spell of rather
dull weather, we hoped that it would remain fine on the day, & as things
turned out, we couldn't have wished for anything better, despite overnight rain.
The idea came about during the trip to Lempdes in October, & quickly grew to
involve both Gill, our esteemed chairperson, & John Rooney, of Wessex Ducks.
The thing which gave it the relevance we were looking for was that both John
& I have interests in steam preservation as well as in 2CVs. We worked
together at Ropley for some years, & met up again by chance at the
Walton-on-Thames camp last year after a break of about 5 years. It seemed that
we had found the ideal opportunity to express our interests & could work to
bring the two together. I later came close to wondering what I had let myself in
for, but fortunately never regretted putting the idea forward.
The railway quickly realised that in allowing us to join in with an event
of theirs, there was potential gain on both sides, & were not slow to agree
that something could be done. Furthermore, an offer was put to us allowing free
travel for our visitors, in return for which we felt able to support some of the
work they are doing. Plenty has been written elsewhere on the projects in which
the Mid-Hants are involved, but it was decided that a boiler restoration appeal
was as good a cause as any. Suffice it to say that as a result of the
outstanding success of the day, I was very pleased to be able to present, with
John's help, a cheque to the railway for £150 on behalf of all our visitors. A
long-standing member of the locomotive department was heard to pass comment on
the donation we made: "One more tube!", a reference to the enormous
amounts of money needed to keep steam engines running.
We decided to hold our first joint event as a fairly low-key affair, to
see what support would be like, & to see if it might be worthwhile doing
something similar in the future. In agreement with the railway, we worked with a
figure of 40 cars as being manageable, but in the end we found ourselves with 67
in total. I had allowed myself an hour in which to sort out any last-minute
problems before the first cars were expected about 10h00, but things started to
happen almost immediately, & in no time at all the place was full. I'm
delighted with the turnout; we had people from as far afield as Eastbourne in
Sussex, Colne in Lancashire & Malton in North Yorkshire, & in such an
amazing collection of vehicles too - David Shove was there, & the Macdonalds
came in two cars, Ray Stark in his Ami 6, Sue Dilley in her van & Gill in
hers, Maurice & Bill in their ripples, & the car I can't stop myself
talking about, Robyn's Hoffmann - oh, & the DS! Nor did anybody get
seriously lost trying to find the place either! Now that we know there is an
interest in events like this, we can start to think about doing something
similar next year, possibly bigger, but not necessarily at Ropley.
We knew that the best possible place for our event was the Ropley picnic
area, the advantages of which are self-evident, but also that the site has its
own limitations. Although we knew a bit about some of the other things which
would be going on there on the day (Real Ale train, Watercress William etc.), I
was a little disappointed to find myself sorting out a minor dispute over the
site of a bouncy castle. In the end an amicable arrangement was arrived at &
everybody was happy. Every day should be a learning day - I now know more about
the production of linseed oil than I did before - who else nearly didn't spot
the crop growing in the field on the other side of the road? Bill & I were
amongst the last to leave, & as I passed him on the A31 near Four Marks, I
couldn't help feeling sorry for him, trundling back home in his '53 at 30 mph
with a long queue behind - I'm sure he got there eventually! I am grateful to
Gill for all that she has done to help pull it together, to John for dealing
with advertising, telephone enquiries, & putting up signs, but above all for
arranging a tour of the loco shed, & to Sue Chalcraft for helping with
taking the money. Finally, I should like to extend a big thank you to all our
visitors, for giving up a Sunday to spend time at the railway, for without you,
it couldn't have been the success it was!
Andrew
Dates for Your Diary
Aug 10 8.00 pm Club Meeting - Royal Oak - Pirbright. If it’s fine bring
your boules & we’ll play if there’s a suitable spot.
Aug 22 12.00 - barbecue with Barry & Gloria in Bourne, Lincolnshire.
Meet at the Wisley lay-by on the A3 at 9 am where maps etc. will be available.
(Where the Macs broke down en route to Holland!)
Aug 27-30 Bicton Park Arena, Devon - 2CVGB International. Let’s have a
good turnout from the Madhatters. Sounds a great weekend. Many Madhatters plan
to arrive Thursday to avoid the holiday rush.
Sep 4 Shoreham Air Show. Details were published last month.
Sep 10-12 Southern Clubs Birthday camp - Headley, Lithuanian Country Club.
Come along for a BBQ, convoy, games, boules and general relaxation. A communal
breakfast is envisaged for Sunday. Come for the day if not the weekend.
Sep 14 8.00 pm Club Meeting - Royal Oak - Pirbright.
Sep 19 ‘Rallye’ at Guines near Calais.
Oct 12 8.00 pm Club Meeting
