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There is
something rather quaint and quintessentially British about these village
country shows. Stands and stalls manned by local people demonstrating
their artistic, conservation and creative skills, jam making, bee keeping
and honey, not so sure about £8 a jar though, but I bet it tasted good.
Bat (the flying kind) protection, wood carving , birds of prey, donkey
rescue, ferrets, charity tombolas, folk art, the list is endless. With a
background of the rhythmic popping of a row of vintage stationary engines,
excited children clutched hand made fluffy toys as their mums snapped up a
huge range of locally grown garden plants and flowers. I bagged a big tray
of Petunias for three quid, Mrs. PR Officer was very pleased with that
when I arrived home. The dads made a beeline for the beer tent while the
local Morris dancers leaped about whacking sticks together with lots of
bells attached to their ankles, very Pagan and so British.
There was a splendid display of vintage and classic motorcycles and the
Morris Minor club exhibited a fully restored Panda police car. We were
blessed with glorious weather, the sun shone, straw hats and sunglasses
were the order of the day and ice creams were consumed in abundance. By
kind invitation of the organisers, the Surrey Vintage displayed a good
varied selection of interesting vehicles. In order of age, the cars, not
the owners!, 1937 Ford 7W sports tourer, 1949 Triumph Dolomite, 1952 Ford
E493A Prefect, 1958 Land Rover series 2A, 1963 Ford Consul Capri Classic,
1970 Triumph TR6, 1971 Dodge Charger Super Bee, 1974 MGB GT V8, 1975 Opel
Manta, 1980 Triumph TR7. 2000 Morgan 4/4. Parked up with our club cars, we
were delighted to see a beautifully restored 1933 Austin 10/4, and
chatting with the very sprightly owner Clive Brown, Chairman Malcolm
Bailey and I were amazed to discover that he was a founder member of our
club way back in 1967. He told us that he was a school friend of the late
Derek Graham and, sharing an interest in vintage cars,
They were the instigators of the SVVS. Clive was the very first
secretary with Derek Graham as chairman. As we know, the first official
meeting of our club was early in 1968. Clive was a resident of Leigh before
moving to Hampshire and drove up to the show by invitation of the
organisers. He follows our activities on the SVVS website and was fairly
sure that he had some very early photos of the club that he intends to
send to Chairman Malcolm. As Clive is almost certainly the only surviving
founder member of the SVVS, we offered him an honorary membership and he
promised to keep in touch. A most pleasant afternoon and many thanks to
all those members who came along.
Please note that the
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