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LEIGH
COUNTRY FAYRE AND FLOWER SHOW - JULY 2023
Report by Tony Russell
Oh to be in England,
this green and pleasant land, or as Shakespeare penned, ‘this sceptred
isle’, and as Edward Elgar set to music, ‘land of hope and glory’,
but they all overlooked one thing, our weather. England doesn’t have a
climate, it has weather, and a lot of it, mostly very variable. Two days
before the Leigh flower show, we sat in our garden by my pergola, enjoying
a warm summer evening drink with friends discussing our roses, as you
do.
Come Saturday 22nd
July, the day of the Leigh flower show, the Gods frowned upon us , the
heavens opened and it rained, constantly. The show organisers had kindly
invited Surrey Vintage to bring along some of our cars to add to the attractions
on the showground, yes, there were plenty of stalls, a brass
band, plant and flower displays, stationary engines, some fine classic
motorcycles, country crafts, local honey producers, donkeys, there are
always donkeys. I like donkeys, nice gentle creatures that don’t try to
kick you to death as some horses do. The great and the good with various
worthy charity stalls, all very lovely and countryside like. But they all
had one thing in common, wet. A damp Punch and Judy entertained soggy and
rather noisy children, not sure how politically correct that is in
today’s daft woke and compliance obsessed world as wicked Mister Punch
whacks his wife Judy and the Baby with a club, and then a hangman appears,
hmmm.
Oh yes, the cars, huge
thanks to Roger and Lynette who bought along the mighty Dodge Charger,
Mick with his newly painted very smart Series 1 SWB Land Rover, John and
Anne with their splendid 1949 Triumph Roadster, Arthur in his MGB V8, Doug
with his MG J2 and yours truly with the 1937 Ford 7W. Other non members
cars included a superb original Morris Minor Panda police car, a
delightful Alvis, several vintage tractors and a
selection of mainly post war classics, interestingly nearly all saloons,
as tourers and open sports cars are not nice to drive in the rain.
By 2.15 pm the rain
had not abated so many set off home including your PR Officer who got
exceedingly wet in the 7W which, even with the hood up, as it always is,
leaks everywhere, up though the floor and round
the screen , I even had rain in the boot, which annoyed me as my car rug
got wet. Have you all noticed how much better old cars seem to run in wet
weather, it’s all to do with water vapour being induced into the engine,
air density and volumetric efficiency. Buy me a beer and I’ll explain.
On a positive note,
many thanks to our members who came to support the event, Roger who took
some photos and the organisers who invited us. Let’s hope that next year
the weather will be kinder to us all.
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