Stockwood Park Festival of Transport

Very changeable weather greeted this Show, I arrived under grey clouds, but soon came milky sunshine, followed by spits of drizzle and occasional sunshine, but overall it was grey. Nobody seemed to mind, children played in family groups and asked improbable questions of amused parents, whilst enthusiasts of all ages discussed technical features of exotic or simply early vehicles, and many white-haired gents reminisced of distant youth, their memories jogged by the sight of cars and bikes from an earlier era.

I found myself looking at a black Standard Vanguard in poor shape that took me back to my father’s identical car that we had in Malaya in 1949; a car incidentally whose handbrake I managed to release on our sloping garden which ended with the car in a ditch, up against a chain-link fence with a smashed headlamp!

I also noted how some car marques retained their symbolic badges, whereas others were in a constant state of flux – the Vauxhall Gryphon being a case in point for the latter.

I spent a fair time in search of a friend I knew to be marshalling and manning a Jaguar stand, only to be found by him whilst I was talking to some Jaguar enthusiasts – I was only two cars away from his car without realising it! We took some time chatting and looking around before heading to the Discovery Centre.