There was also a disco which came on during the interval, and then later after the Memphis Belle Band had finished it's show
| Editorial | MG 96 at Duxford |
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Last month, June, saw the main event of the year for the MG Owners Club, MG '96, held on our local patch at Duxford. And what a great weekend it was ! (see report) Many thanks must go to those members of the Cambridge & District MGOC who helped with the Marshalling. We have recieved a letter from the MGOC thanking us, I have attached a copy :
Dear Kelvin
Now that the dust has settled after a hugely successful MG'96 at
Duxford, I would like to record our thanks to you and your fellow
MGOC members for your valuble help with the car parking. As you know
Peter Paige very ably masterminded the operation which went very
smoothly indeed and it is he who passed me your home address.
"We could't have done it without you" as they say, all our staff
resources were at full stretch and the fact the car parking was taken
car of, was one less headache for us. I have today written to Peter
to thank him personally and have forwarded a donation to the
Cambridge MGOC funds as a token of our appreciation for the committee
to use in any way they so wish.
Kind regards
Yours sincerely
Richard Monk
General Manager MGOC
The National MG event of the MGOC in June has always been, a relatively local event for the Cambridge and District MGOC. But '96' has seen a move from Knebworth ( which took club members about forty minutes to drive in their treasured MG's ) to it's new venue, Duxfords Imperial War Museum, Nr Cambridge - so now it's really local !
| The main event was on Sunday, but the fun started on Saturday night in one of Duxfords large hangars where for our entertainment the Memphis Belle Big Band played music from the nostalgic 40's. Everyone who attended had a great time, many entering into the party spirit by coming dressed in 'period costume' and prizes of a bottle of Champagne were awarded to two couples. The first couple, a RAF pilot with large black moustache and his wife ! The second couple to win a prize was a very smart young Adolf ( sporting a very
fetching pair of shorts ) and his companion Eva ! There was also a disco which came on during the interval, and then later after the Memphis Belle Band had finished it's show |
It was an early start for a small army of Marshalls ( 7.30am ) who were to throughout the day guide the thousands of visitors in their MG's who came thru the gates, The Cambridge & District MG Owners Club along with the some members of the ' Lions ClubEpsom MGOC and the local Air Cadets . The Gates opened at 8.00 and there was a steady stream of MG's until well after lunch time.
The Cambridge & District MGOC along with a number of other clubs including...
who all had their own area display, showing about six cars.
Cambridge cheated a little, as we were on home turf, and squeezed in a couple more with a line up of -
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3 x MGB GT 's ( 1 a Jubilee ) 2 x MGF's 1 x MG Maestro EFi 1 x MG Maestro Turbo 1 x MG Midget 1 x MG MGC 1 x MGB Roadster |  |
Once again like many other events such as this, there was the usual selection of trade stands and auto jumble stalls. One of our local members bought himself a new bonnet for his GT, only to realise he could not actually get it in or on his MG, to get it home. ( It's a good job his father has got a Volvo estate ! )
There were MG's of every type from A to Z ! Once again the MGF attracted a lot of attention, along with it's designer Gerry McGovern, who seemed to be helping the BBC out, we shall have to watch the local news or even Top Gear as the film crew were filming all day and not just MGF's, they seemed to be giving the event full coverage ?
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At the time of writing I do not have the attendance figure to hand, but their were thousands of people and I would hate to make a guess at how many MG's there were, but at lunch time there was not even room to park a unicycle !
So there you have it MG 96, was it a good move a change of venue ?
Yes I think so !
With good access, excellent on site facilities, and in the event of rain we could have retreated indoors. As it happens this was not necessary though maybe some people were forced to shelter
from the sun as the temperature on the Tarmac hit almost 30 degrees C, the sunburn on my arms tells me perhaps I should have seeked a little more shelter.
I made many new friends over the weekend thanks to all who came and said hello. I seem to leave an impression on visitors from the USA. I had been speaking with a visitor from the States who later came back to the Cambridge Display to see if anyone was going back into Cambridge as they had a train to catch. They had travelled up from London to Duxford while on vacation in the UK.
MG is the Marque of friendship so how could I refuse, I think really they wanted a ride in the MG Maestro. Apparently Dennis and his wife Irene ( from the Smoky Mountain British Sports Car Assoc. Tennessee. ) spent sometime looking over the 'modern' MG's on the MGM Group display, he was fascinated by these MG's he had never seen before, and I might add was suitably impressed after a ride in one !
Many thanks to both the Owners Club and Peter Paige ( Cambs and Ditrsict MGOC Area Secretary ) for arranging such a wonderful event, ( hopefully this report does it credit )
by - Kelvin Fagan
Contact the clubcambs.mgoc@dial.pipex.com