South Central Mini Club

This show was a first for me at Bingley Hall and I looked forward to it immensely as I set off at 4.50am from Reading on the Sunday. I knew a few other Members had set off the day before so I knew I wouldn't have too much difficulties in locating the Club Stand. The drive up was great until I left the Birmingham suburbs and the sleet started and was soon substituted by some heavy snowing which it had been for some time as in places there was a good few inches. I quickly and easily found the Showground at 7.35am and slid across the car park where I was directed up the dreaded ramp, this will be explained shortly. As I parked up on the already populated stand I realized how filthy the car was and I set out to attempt to make it at least reasonably presentable. Soon I was joined by Roo and the stand preparation began in earnest with me struggling to keep up. Now back to that ramp, Shifty was to join us on the veranda overlooking the show and anyone wanting to reach these modest heights need to negotiate the ramp. However, Shifty was caught out by the ramp's change of angle half way up and that resulted in Shifty's car momentarily being turned into a seesaw until watching marshals' aided a rescue.

Aside from the snow and the ramp the day started well with a large unexpected attendance of both exhibitors and visitors in spite of the weather . The Trade stands were all ready and waiting when the doors swung open and a wave of intrepid shoppers and dedicated Mini followers flowed in and even the sun came out. With the show being located in the Midlands there were many of the more established and better known specialists in attendance which meant some good old nonchalant and disinterested rubber necking and treasure hunting in the used parts sections.

This Show is also a focus for one of the many rounds of Concours competitions and this was supported by some of the best cars in the Country, boosted by the Mini Van and Estates 50th Birthday year with a varied selection of very early Countryman's and Traveller's to some very late Commercials. Also being judged were some splendid Mini Saloons in various classes from Standard to Modified, in an adjacent hall were also some BMW's. (Mr. Barber clears his throat at this point but does not resume or complete the paragraph.)

The Concours cars, Trade Stands and promotional gumph would be nothing without the support of the Mini Clubs who, like the SCMC at the very grass roots of Mini Ownership make extraordinary efforts to provide the entertainment of themed Club Stands. This year the theme of the Stands were Commercial Breakdown, presumably off the back of our own favorite commercial breakdown, (No, not Jasper Carrot) the Mini Van. It was decided that our theme should be Mini Eggs and work began between those exhibiting well before Christmas to produce ideas and materials to be used to decorate the Stand and the Mini's upon it. We were sadly pipped to winning by some extremely well assembled stands such as Mini Bar that consisted of a Mini converted into a Pub, a Mini Roll with obvious results and Mini's have feelings too recreation.

Throughout the day, good times were had by all and it soon came to leave once the populous of visitors vacated the premises. We safely negotiated the ramp exiting the building with only the closest of scrapes. After a quick check of all cars we were ready to leave. Easier said than done perhaps as the car park was treacherous with black ice and fluffy snow but we were soon on the road in a convoy of four.

The journey back to the Thames Valley was sadly a little more attention grabbing than the lowlights of the show, with plunging temperatures, grid lock going into Brum and two hours into the drive Roo's car developing a power drop to candle light strength headlamp proportions. At Warwick Services we all felt we were entitled to a rest and we did. On return to the car Roo found that her battery was flatter than big flat rectangle thing. After observing an over voyeuristic RAC man's attention which I pointed out to our Mini boot based focus group he approached us offering to be Roo's savior of the M40. After a very efficient check over he revealed the cause of the problem to be a loose belt and an ill spaced alternator pulley. We were back in action in no real time and the shear luck of encountering this man was accentuated by the fact that this Man, who's name I can not recollect was once an employee of a Midlands based Mini Specialist!

We rejoined the Motorway and all was good again, the traffic was improved and we were making good progress. At the soonest opportunity Shifty dropped a gear and sped off to drop his Red Riding hood off as it was fast approaching bed time. And then there was three, I was at the front, followed by Roo and Matt at the rear. At some stage I noticed that our rear guard had gone leaving just Roo and myself, I assumed and later learned Roo had thought the same that Matt had taken a short cut off the A34 and headed home across country. This proved to be wrong however and it transpired that Matt had been involved in an accident resulting in some minor injuries and a very damaged car. A sad ending to a fraught good busy day, and despite being a cliché, Mini's can be replaced, Matt's cannot.