Popping up the road to Bearwood

We are really spoilt for choice when car shows are concerned, within 20 miles of us each year there are dozens of little meets and big shows. Bearwood now seems to be a regular on our schedule. With the weather undecided we held out till the last minute, then jumped in the Camper for the two minute ride to the College and the car show. Normally we get waved round the back, but this was set aside for pre-booked cars, so we were told to join the line on the driveway "can you just back in between that Porsche and the other Camper and the post!"



First stop was the food stalls for lunch, tempura prawns & chips, wasn't cheap, but very tasty. We sat and listened to the jazz band playing and chatted to a group at our table who'd come up in a Rolls Royce and an Aston Martin. Fed and ready to go we set off round the gravel past rows of Jaguars, TVRs and Astons and a very orange BMW!









Not wanting to miss out, the Italians were out in force too, with several gleaming Ferraris and a Lamboghini that made a lot of noise.







Heading down the steps from the terrace we stopped for frozen yoghurt before more cars.









As we got to a little VW corner we had one of those 10 minutes, the sort where you bump into everyone you know. First up and old VW friend who has defected to the convertible Morris Minor world, Roy the owner of the Purple Split, Darren who sold us our first Beetle and some old friends of my brother. We then stood and watched the College's hovercraft spin round the field while Kim and Lily went for a nature walk!







Each year, the show has a celebrity car on display. Previous vehicles have included some of Classic Team Lotus stable. This time it was a genuine Alan Mann Mk1 Escort from the 1968 British Saloon Championship and Uri Gellers "spooned" car.







We headed back round to the courtyard to see the cars there, the queue for sitting in the emergency vehicles was fairly small so we took advantage with Lily clambering into a massive Mercedes lorry and Fire Engine.







The courtyard contained a wild mix of cars from the cleanest Transit vans I've ever seen this side of a showroom, through the Monkimobile and a Bond Bug.











Out on the drive we past the Camper and looked along the last few cars as others left.







It was a sad end for one Beetle owner, the 5spd Berg gearbox in the back of his bug was locked in gear, meaning a long wait for a trailer to get him home, they were still in good spirits as we left.



And with that we clambered back aboard and headed the two minutes back home. The Bearwood show just keeps delivering. Lots of the same vehicles, but also plenty of new ones to boot. Its a lovely afternoon in brilliant surroundings. The rest of the photos can be found here

Steve.

Bearwood College car show

Last year I blogged about this event being the closest to home and nothings changed. Five minutes after pulling off the drive our little convoy was parked behind the huge school building at the college in a line up of around 200 cars. We decided at the last minute that we might as well get some use out of both the Dubs today as the big Volkswagen show DATP had been cancelled due to waterlogged grounds.



We set off on a walk, Lily straining at the reins to rush off down the field. we steered her back up to the cars in the end!





The South Field was really just a couple of rows of cars at the foot of the steps, there were a few clubs in attendance giving a good spread of classics and modern cars.





Walking up the steps we brushed past Reading FC chairman, Sir John Madejski. Who was guest of honour for the event, he opened proceedings and then walked round every single car during the afternoon before handing out the awards at the end. I couldn't resist "papping" him as he past the air-cooled corner.



Up on the terrace cars from the Barkham Club were arranged. They are quite small but have a huge variety of motors on display.







Bikes were also out in force, with several lines of old and new mounts.





We had a brief visit to the traders, but bought nothing except a pair of ice creams before carrying on round the North Court and driveway areas. More stunning cars had parked up.













We bumped into our friend Roy who was there with his Splitscreen van. He was in snapper mode too.



With everything seen we headed back to chat with Roy and Linda and relax before it was time to take the short cruise home.





And thats it, another brilliant day out that cost nothing more than a donation to charity. The rest of the photos can be found here

Steve.

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