Our second outing
of the weekend saw our SD1 on the Classic Rover Club (NI) club stand at
Hillmount Garden centre.
We had arranged to
meet at 10.00am, meaning that we didn’t have to be up with the birds. Our coats were still dripping wet after
yesterday at Kilbroney so lighter coats were packed. We left home at 9.15am, hoping that it would
be a drier day than yesterday.
When we arrived, the
club banner was already hung and 1 P4s, 1 P5, 1 P6 and a 25 were already on the
stand. My husband and son headed over
to the hose to give our SD1 a quick wash.
While they were doing this other members arrived in a P6B and a Mini
joined the lineup. With the SD1 washed
and dried it joined the line up and was quickly followed by a Rover 75, a Rover
100 and a MG Midget and a MG ZT. We were
also joined by a former member in his MG ZT.
The owner of the garden centre stopped and had a chat with us and
congratulated the club on the excellent turnout. He said that the shop was open for browsing
and that registration would take place around 11.00 and that he restaurant would
be opening around 11.30am.
We headed indoors
for a look around, while inside we met more club members and had a chat before
returning to the club stand. By this
time another member had arrived in his P4 and a prospective member had joined
us in her Series 2 SD1. This brought
the total number of cars on our stand to 13.
Classic Rover Club line up at Hillmount
At 11am we made
our way to the garden centre to sign in and receive our finishers award. Unfortunately this year we didn’t get a model
car, instead we had the choice of DVD box sets, we could chose a set featuring classic
cars or racing cars or trucks, we also received a £5 voucher for the restaurant and a pen.
We returned to our
cars and display our numbers; by this time other cars and tractors had started
arriving. By this time, the dark clouds
were gathering and it was starting to spit, so we made a hasty dash to the
restaurant for dinner, which was delicious and very filling. Some members also had dessert but I opted to
wait until tea-time for my mine.
After dinner, it
had stopped rain and the sun even tried to come out, it was time for a walk
around the other cars and tractors that were on display and then back to our
cars for a natter and a bit of craic.
The following photos are of things that caught my eye.
The afternoon
passed very quickly and the clouds began to darken again, we headed back to the
restaurant for a cuppa and my dessert, some member even had a second dessert. Choosing a dessert was difficult, as we had
the choice of apple pie, pavalova, lemon meringue, chocolate gateaux or
ice-cream, after some deliberation I finally opted for pavalova; the portion
was huge but I managed every last bite!
We sat in the new
extension, outside the restaurant where we were sheltered from the impending
rain. The craic was great, with me
being abused about over riders… again!
The MG ZT owner
spotted Steven Nolan in the restaurant and asked me if I’d go with him to take
a photo of him with Stephen, which I duly did.
When I returned I was teased for not asking Stephen to be photographed
with the whole club. By this time Nolan
had sat down with his dinner, so we set and waited until he finished and the
club secretary and I tentatively approached him and explained who we were and
asked if he would come outside to the cars for photos.
He kindly obliged,
we made our way out to the car park and everyone lined up with Stephen for
photos, but proceedings were delays when I noticed that his fly was down… well
you can only imagine the ribbing that I took for noticing this!
Photos were taken,
Stephen was on his way and the remaining members decided that it was it was
time to call it a day, we all headed for home.
Considering that
there was also a classic car show at Mount Stewart, there was a fantastic
turnout and we all had a great day out.
A long and tiring weekend but thoroughly enjoyable.
No comments:
Post a Comment