The only show scheduled for Sunday was at Raglan Garden Centre but with one or two of us wanting a longer drive it was suggested by Darren, (new club member) to meet up with him for a show in Brent Knoll which was organised by a group of bikers (www.freewheelers.org.uk) who volunteer their time and bikes to delivering much needed blood, drugs and provisions to those who find themselves in a life threatening situation, saving the NHS a considerable amount of money and saving the lives of those in need. This group is not government backed and relies totally on fundraising events and donations from the public.

We decided to think about this over a pint at our club meeting before making any firm decisions. A short while later Karen approached us and stated “we are meeting Tony Flynn and his gang at 0830hrs at Magor Services.

I personally thought this was a bit early but to keep Karen happy agreed to meet her at her home for 0730hrs. Plans had changed slightly the day before so we left Karen’s at 0745 hrs and as there was now only the two cars travelling down I tapped in the post code and all my faith into my Sat Nav hoping to get to our destination at Sanders Garden World. An hour or so later we arrived at the show and for once the Sat Nav took us straight to the doorstep. As we entered the car park a great fear came over me as apart from us there was just a couple of motor bikes parked up. We were greeted by the organiser and directed across the car park to park next to the only other car, a lovely looking Porsche. Fortunately a short while later Darren arrived in his Ford Granada towing his father’s 55 year old motor bike and other cars followed in and soon filled the car park.

Tony phoned and said that he was greeted to a pool of water under his MG parked in his garage and hoped that he would be able to fix the problem and join us. An hour or so later after fixing the leak in his radiator hose Tony, Carl and Bob parked up close to us at the show.

There was a good turnout and selection of cars, motorbikes and a couple of vintage push bikes. The garden centre proved a success with the kids as there was a “Jolly Roger” ship, swings and slides. Steven had a mishap in losing his mobile phone but thankfully this was kindly handed in to customer services and reclaimed.

The weather was a bit dull at times with a slight breeze which Karen found dried her lips slightly, but Sylvie came to her rescue and offered Karen her Liposan Lipcare, which Karen declined, preferring Vaseline.

In all it was quite a good show with plenty of cars and a couple of stalls, one of which I bought a windshield for my cooker only to unpack it to find that it was not big enough to protect a lit match let alone my stove, also the beaches of Burnham On Sea and Brean Sands were just a short ride away.

Around 1600hrs we packed up and as there were no plaques to collect we started our engines and proceeded to leave with our memories of a pretty good day, a good drive and good company. Carl enjoyed the show so much that he decided to do not one, but two laps of honour around the car park trying to find the way out.

The journey home was quite uneventful until we approached the toll booths, when Carl, Bob and Tony seemed to enter a slanging match, shouting and gesturing to each other. All I can say it must have been their group thing which we mere mortals are not privy to.

With the toll fees paid we headed home. Welcome to the Gwent MGOC, Darren, and thanks for a great day.

Report from Brian