Southern Classic Bike Show
2013.
Friday afternoon
I pick up George, in the car, on the way to the venue at Kempton Park. George
was due to cycle over to me, but as it was pouring with rain I thought it would
be best to fetch him. On the way I went into to Tesco to get a few cans of beer
that were on offer and to support my local Post Office bought some whitetac
there for photos and posters for our display. There were a few hiccups with
where we were placed. Most of the stand had no board backing so we improvised
on where we could put things. I managed to get some wire to hang the banner
from and tried to put up posters on the board with sellotape, but it would not
stick to the board. Each time I thought I had someone would open the main doors
and the poster would float off the board and down to the ground. The tape just
did not stick. Abandon that idea so George enthusiastically whitetaced all the
A4 photos we had to the back wall which were shutters for an out of use bar.
Below that we taped a big a1 size photo of an LE. It was near 4pm by then and
we had done all we could to get the area prepared. The weather promised to be
dry for show day so riding the bikes there and back should be fine.
Saturday morning
I am up early and head off on the Valiant to the show. I arrive safely with
only a couple of idiots not realising that a little bike was going so fast. I
join the queue to check in and see Pete another volunteer from the museum. I
tell him where the Museum stand is and say I’ll be over later. Once I am in the
hall I may my way to the Velocette LE Club stand. Before I get there I see
George and at the stand Paul and Ron are there too. I had planned to get there
early enough to greet people as they arrived. There was only Chris to arrive
with his trailered LE. The final positioning of bikes could only take place
after Chris had got his bike on the stand and assembled the Police manikin. Chris
arrived about 9am he had not been able to use my bracket as he had a single
seat and the springs were in the way. We had got everything in place with a few
minutes to spare just before 10am and opening time. Georges KSS was first in
view on the stand as you came in the door, then my Valiant, Paul’s MK3 LE,
Ron’s MK3 LE and then Chris’s Police MK3 overseen at the end by a stern looking
Policeman keeping the stand in order.
By 10:30 the
hall was starting to fill up so I went over to the Museum stand to see how Pete
was getting on. He was OK so I went for a little wander to find a bacon roll to
keep me going and look for someone who was selling oil. I would buy some later.
I dropped in on the LE stand, handed a flier to one of the judges who was
looking very hard at the Valiant and then went to get myself another mug of tea
as be at the Museum stand for a bit. There was a flood of people now and Pete
was getting into the swing of things with no punter passing without receiving a
flier. There was a great deal of
interest in the bikes on the stand, a late model Tiger Cub that had a striking
paint job, the Triton and the AKD. More on the AKD later. I had lost track of
time and it was about 1:45 and there were only a hand full of fliers left. Over
1000 had been handed out. Pete had a break from the stand for comfort and give
his nomination for the best stand. The nomination had to be in by 2:00pm. When
he returned I went back to the LE stand. Everyone had missed me. I talked to a
few more visitors and then went off to get my oil and a few other bits. When I
returned there was a rosette stuck to the front of the Valiant. I thought it
was for the club stand, but no it was a “Highly Commended” for the bike.
A few pictures
were taken to commemorate the occasion and I went off to the Museum stand to
find the Tiger Cub also had a “Highly Commended”. Neither stand got any other
prize. Around 3:30 we collected our exhibitor’s medals and started packing up
the stand. The stand took a couple of hours to set up and about an hour to get
everything cleared. Chris took away every bit that we could not carry on the
bikes in his car and we would do the returns at the next club night the
following Tuesday. For everyone it was a successful day and most enjoyable. It
was Ron’s first show event and enjoyed the fun. It was close to 5pm before I
was on my way. George followed me home as we took a circuitous route to avoid
the traffic on the Staines road. It was a relatively uneventful journey and
even had some motorists shadowing us on the dual carriageway wondering what we
were riding. Home safe and everything put away I celebrate with a few of the
cans of beer I had bought yesterday. What a day!
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