VWs at REME

During WW2, the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers under Major Ivan Hirst restarted the old Volkswagen factories. Production of the Beetle helped Germany find its feet and the humble car went on to sell in its millions for decades. In 1948 the first Beetle was exported to the UK, arriving in black it was treated to a two tone Oxford and Cambridge blue paintscheme by the importers Colbornes. This car was offered to the REME museum in Aborfield as part of a display in honour of Hirst and his work. And it was at this musuem, 10 minutes from home that Lily and I found ourselves on her birthday morning. With lots of family and friends due to descend on us at 2pm we left Kim at home to finish the preparations in peace whiler we got in an hour or two of Volkswagen spotting. Rolling in through the gates the carpark was already full of old Dubs with the promise of even older ones out the back so we saddled up and headed in.



Having been to the museum a few years ago we aimed straight for the vehicle hall to check out the big military beasts and the VW display





Outside in the sunshine there was some very old metal lined up. The first UK import, I was lucky enough to get hold of the keys to this car a few years ago to get some close up photos.







We bumped into a few faces during our walk round. Snapper David was there in his lovely red splitscreen crewcab that is definatly not "some old pickup!"



There was a large military Dub presence on the field.





As well as plenty of civilian cars, all from the late 40s and early 50s. I'm not that hot on my early stuff, but theres something about a split rear screen that looks so right.





Vans were out in force too, with everything from stock panels, to custom campers.









With time running out and not wanting the party to start without the birthday girl, we had a last chat to some friends and grabbed our goodie bag and headed home. Along with the usual stickers and badges I was pleasantly surprised to find a bottle of Volkswagens finest "spicy ketchup!



Sadly with defence cuts the barracks at Aborfield are due to close soon and along with it the museum. REME has been just up the road for so long that I'll miss the place once its gone, the random machinery parked up for display or just being worked on is always a highlight of a drive past the gates. Hopefully the museum will get another resting place and the show can continue.

Steve.

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Camping at the Castle

The last camp out of the year for us is usually VW Action at Santa Pod, but after Big Bang at the start of the year when Lily didn’t really take to drag racing whilst she was trying to sleep we decided this was a no go for us. Luckily our good pal Matt invited us to join him and a massive group of his mates at a new show he was helping to organise and run. Amakuru was a one off show (but I can see it becoming a yearly event after this years success) supporting a charity that does work in Rwanda Set in the fields below Arundel castle in West Sussex it’s a beautiful part of the country to camp in and with early bird tickets a bargain we we’re booked in. As usual we both had Friday off so we could wait until the traffic had cleared before heading off, careful plotting of the route meant that apart from a couple of miles on the A3 and A27 we drove through the countryside on a really quiet drive. No of this M25/M1 nonsense! We stopped for a well earned bite to eat in the middle of nowhere.



And a little while later rolled in to the old town of Arundel, swinging past the castle and into the pay & display carpark we were a little intrigued, but soon enough the fields behind this opened up to reveal a gathering of marquees and campers lined up. The gate staff were overly friendly (Matt had rounded up his mates to marshall during the weekend) and we were soon parked up in the “non LTV” camp with the JTBs to one side and a view of the castle to the other.





Having pitched and unloaded everything and nattered to the others we went for an afternoon walk into town, it has to be the closest show to a town we’ve ever been to, in a couple of minutes we were nosing round the shops.



Back on camp the numbers had grown and it was full of familiar faces and some new ones, we ate, we drank, we nattered, we relaxed.





The sun went down, the mist came up and at midnight after some laser pen assisted photography I hit the airbed in the awning for a snooze.



Saturday dawned grey, but it soon brightened up, breakfast was a bacon roll for the three of us.



Then it was off round the show and the traders, blink and you might have missed it! Yes it was a small show, but with the town and some many friends around it didn’t really matter as we were able to relax and enjoy the company and the area for once. First stop was birthday girl Fay.



Walking round we saw the town crier in all her garb and I couldn’t resist getting a few very “British” together in one shot.



All round the camp people were chilling in the sunshine.







Alan supplied birthday cake for Fay and we all noshed on its chocolatey goodness.



After a crawl round Lily was ready for a nap and we headed again to town, this time up to the top of the hill.









Mid afternoon and word on the street was that a rowdy bunch had gathered alongside some old pickup and there was live music. I turned out that The Rocker Covers were performing an impromptu gig in the town square. Nearly all of the people on camp had already heard these guys play at a shows we hadn’t gone to. They are a three piece rockabilly group from Bristol that does some really cool covers of modern songs as well as some older stuff, they were in the middle of s Johnny Cash number as we arrived. Brilliant.



Thoroughly entertained and now hungry we headed back to the camper and fired up the BBQ for some meat washed down with cider. Before the evening entertainment was on we took a stroll round the second camping field, there was still plenty of space for expansion, but it was a good turnout for a small weekend show in its first year.





As it wasa bit chilly hot chocolate was the order of the evening for some.



Then with Lily asleep in the buggy and Kim relaxing on the blanket, I ventured inside to try my hand at gig snapping! The Rocker Covers rattled the tent for almost an hour with everything from Kings Of Leon to The Police, it was amazing, I not really into my music but I really enjoyed myself as did a rammed marquee by the screams of “more” when the time was up.











We wandered back to camp and nattered some more, but after a day walking round I was knackered and at just after midnight I hit the airbed again. At around 2am I was awoken by the sounds of another impromptu gig in the corner of our camp as the drums were wheeled out once more, I fell asleep again to some interesting singing!

Sadly Sunday dawned grey and bleak after a quick breaky we packed and as the rain began to lash down we decided to head for home via a nice pub.



The Selbourne Arms did us proud and we finished our drive home in sunshine. For a first go it was a really nice little show, a few more traders would have helped, but as I mentioned before the town was so close you could fill a day wandering round the shops there. This is probably the last camp out for us in 2011. Lily has successfully slept under canvas and tintop for four long weekends and she has loved every minute of it (apart from the night racing at The Pod!) as have we. It’s a few day shows and meets now as we wind down for the winter. More camping in 2012 for sure.

The rest of the photos are here.

Steve.

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