MG'97 for the Cambridge & District MGOC was our busiest event to date. A hardy group of enthusiasts took on the task to get thousands of MG's parked quickly, safely and in straight lines!
The local newspaper 'The Cambridge Evening News' reported that up to 5000 cars had attended the event, with MG's dating from the pre-war models up to the very latest model, the MGF.
Many of the UK's enthusiast, and some from european continent, took advantage of the camping facilities which were available from Friday night. The majority of the campers though arriving throughout the day during Saturday. The airfield at Duxford is in two halfs, seperated by the A505. On one side is the main airfield and then across the road is where much of the wartime accommadation for the service men was situated, many of these buildings still exist.
Post war M.O.D housing which is now in the private sector still enjoys the open space of the stations sports fileld, this is where the hundreds of MG enthusiasts made camp for the weekend ahead. Those who chose to camp did not need to bring their MG onto the main airfield, as there is a footbridge linking the two halfs together, making the crossing of the busy A505 no problem.
So if you were at Duxford and you thought you saw all the MG's then you were wrong, as there wre a lot more in the camping area. This years camping had been extended to two nights with the approval of the Museum authorities, due mainly to the success of last years event.

Many of the trade stands were available on Saturday, with further traders arriving sunday. There was of course plenty of oppotunity for a good look around the Imperial War Museum. The museum is always updating and improving its collection, so it does not matter how many times you have been to the museum before, there is always something new to see and enjoy.. This year sees the completion and offical opening in a few weeks by the Queen of the new, and impresive building which houses the museums 'American Collection'

Inside Out Of The Weather   'The American Collection'
Housed In An Impressive Purpose Built Structure

The MG Owners club always provide entertainment for the 'Saturday Party Night' and this year was no exception. Hit pop group of the 70's 'SHOWADDYWADDY' were top of the bill. Hanger 2 was turned into an entertainment hall, with the mainstage flanked by a display of aircraft and cars. The party night also traditionally is fancy dress, and there were plenty of original 70's costumes for which prizes were awarded to the best (Champagne & Travel Vouchers To Europe). Showaddywaddy made a dramatic entrance on stage with air raid sirens, searchlights and the theme music from the film 'Battle of Britain'. It was a great show! (and loud!)

After the late night party it was to be an early start once more for that hardy group of MGer's from Cambridge, reporting for duty at 8am sharp. The pre plannng was coming together, as we assembled in our designated club area, we were given a final briefing from Brian Fish, our club secretary. The gates were opened about nine, and the MG's started to roll in, there was then a steady stream of cars until well past one o'clock, when space to park any more cars began to run out, this I think is a a measure of the popularity of the venue.

Throghout the day there was certainly plenty to keep everyone occupied, apart from the obvious attraction of all the MG's, the MG Owners Club made sure that everyone was entertained, which included ,the MG Fashion Show of the Clubs Regalia, and two very talented groups of young ladies, one a group of 'Cheerleaders' and the other a group 'Marching Majorettes'. This sort of entertainment is fully appreciated by other family members, who, may not share the same enthusiasm as dad perhaps, for MG's!

We had a few visitors to our club stand on Sunday, but many were taking shelter from the strong winds which were not just affecting Duxford, but much of East Anglia & South East England, sorry about that. It may have been windy but the sun did shine, so much so you certainly needed your sunglasses as you walked around viewing all the highly polised paintwork and chrome in the concours arena.
I thought I knew how to keep a car clean until I took a walk around 'concours'. You must know the feeling, you have spent hours cleaning your MG, its immaculate, well you thought it was!
You have give them credit (or is it therapy) they all do a great job, and I expect they, as we will, will be back again next year, to do it all again!
Kelvin Fagan

For Images Of MG'97 Click Here
Duxford was this year's MG Owners' Club Main Event.
The Northern National And Other Events Are Shown Here

Navigator

This site is maintained on behalf of the Cambridge & District MGOC
by Kelvin Fagan mg.maestro@mgcars.org.uk
Try out our Search Engine page