July was packed with events for SMGEC members with a Club night, coffee morning, car show, pub night drive and dine and finishing off with a motoring tour of the Derbyshire Dales.

Highlight of Barns Club night was the after dinner entertainment, a round of Play Your Cards Right again presented by Allan Wild assisted by June and Karen. Most amusing but sadly the star prize of a Caribbean cruise wasn`t won!

We displayed 8 cars at the Walsall Arboretum Car Show, held on the 9^th. A really enjoyable traditional show with a wide range of cars on display backed up with traders and refreshments. Our new pop up gazebos worked well protecting us from the sun as the threatened rain never appeared.  I`m sure we will revisit next year.

July`s coffee morning at Café Prego near Shenstone was, as usual, well attended with 37 members enjoying coffee and a natter including new Member Michael Steventon who has a MGF.

Fine dining was on the menu when Keith and Gill Johnson organized a Drive and Dine Evening run to the Whittington Arms near Lichfield with a party of 17. SMGEC members don`t need asking twice when food is on offer!

The month ended with a run to Tittesworth Reservoir in Derbyshire organized by Tony and Jan Clarke assisted by Phil and Cathy Wellstead. Starting off from Fairlawns Garden Centre all went well until Ashbourne Market square led a few of us astray. A combination of maps, Satnavs and local knowledge got us back on the route where we enjoyed the 55 mile run across the stunning Dales scenery including some challenging lanes before arriving at the reservoir for a picnic lunch. Yet again the threatened rain did not appear until on the run home. A fine day out to end the month.

May got off to a royal start with a Coronation themed Club night at the Barns. With the room decked out in red, white and blue, crowns and tiaras added to the celebration.

The long awaited Mid Wales trip on the 14^th saw 19 cars and 36 members setting off on a planned route to arrive at our base for the tour, The Ty`n Y Cornel Hotel, in time for a well-earned drink before dinner. Our three night stay at the Hotel couldn’t be faulted, with its scenic location on the shores of Tal-y-Lyn Lake nestled under Cader Idris. Their full Welsh breakfast setting us up for the day with an excellent evening dinner to look forward to. Day 1 was a drive to visit Portmeirion Village, famous as the set of the 70`s TV series, The Prisoner, we even saw a Lotus Seven in the car park! The coast road through Harlech and Barmouth took us back to the Hotel. On day 2 we swopped cars for trains with a trip on the Talyllon narrow gauge railway including a buffet lunch. The return run to the Hotel was along the coast through Fairbourne. The run home on Wednesday included at visit to Powis Castle. Thanks go to Renton and Helen Ward for organizing a memorable trip and the sunny weather!

The Waterside Café at Aldridge was a new venue for our monthly coffee morning, most enjoyable, I`m sure we will visit again.

On the 23^rd Charles and Patsy Jarman took 25 members on a visit to Edwin Tippers Lupin Farm to view his vehicle collection followed by enjoying a meal at the Boar`s Head at Sudbury. The Lupin Farm car show in August is the best in the Midlands and raises £k`s for charity each year, don`t miss it.

SMGEC had a full calendar of events in April with 2 tulip runs, a race meeting and a car show on top of our normal Club night and coffee morning. Firstly, Charles and Patsie Jarman took us on a 42 mile run to The Great British Car Journey Museum near Matlock. The 130 cars on display from the 50`s onward brought back memories of our early motoring, with lots of “I had one of them”. Well worth the visit.

Club night at the Barns was as usual well attended and after dinner the future programme was run through with some really interesting runs to look forward to, in particular The Welsh Away Trip in May.

The third Thursday coffee morning moved to a new venue, The Forest restaurant at Mile Oak. After a pleasant morning and then lunch disaster struck organisers Brian and June Cooper. They found themselves trapped in their MGTF when the central locking locked them in and the car refused to start! After climbing out over the boot a trip home on the AA lorry and calling out a mechanic left them £200 worse off!  Breakdown of the Year?

Our 2^nd run was to Jodrell Bank, first planned in 2020 by our late dear friend Roger Wood but twice postponed by Covid. After an early coffee at Aston Marina a run of 35 miles took us to the Telescope where Keith and Christine Timmis had made all the arrangements for the visit. The science displays were fascinating, way over my head but apparently it can hear a mouse squeak on Mars.

The month ended with a small group going to the Donnington Historic Festival to watch the racing and then 9 cars and crews attended the Chetwynd Deer Park car show.

Happy MG motoring.

Great to be back on the roads enjoying our MG`s Renton Ward finally managed to stage his many times cancelled celebrity picture quiz at the March Club night at the Barns. Most of the 36 members present struggled to reach double figures but as usual quiz star Janet Wallis swept to a 45 out of 50 victory. Too much Hello magazine Janet!!

The only run of the month was a trip on the 12^th to the Denby Pottery. Arranged by Des and Gill Barnard, the turnout of only 9 cars was disappointing but was probably affected by the possible inclement weather. The day in fact turn out to be pleasantly sunny and the run was most enjoyable though a stretch of monster speed bumps needed to be approached with caution if you wanted to save your exhaust! Lunch was followed by looking around the retail outlets, fortunately for me my wife restricted her spending to 4 trays of pansies for the garden. 

Brian and June Cooper`s third Thursday coffee morning attracted a good turnout of 35 members to sample the delights of Mary`s tea room at Bishton Hall. As many of our MG`s do not hit the road until April a few interlopers made an appearance. These included an Audi TT and a four wheel drive Porsche 996 which Keith Johnson was so smitten with that he sat in the driving seat pretending he was at Le Mans. Bishton Hall is owned by Charles Hansons Auctions and we were able to have a look at the recently found barn find collection to be auctioned at end of March. Amongst the cars was a MGA coupe with 4 wheel disc brakes, 5 speed gearbox and independent rear suspension. Not one for the purists but a good looking car estimated at £18/20K.

The New Year opened with our Club night at the Barns when event’s organiser Paul Titley ran through our plans for 2023. As I detailed last month an absolute feast of activities all through the year. Highlights must include our two away trips to Wales and Northumberland, which will put some miles on the clocks, good job the price of petrol is falling!

The first of our popular  monthly third Thursday coffee mornings, organised by Brian and June Cooper, was at Marsh Farm where 30 members got together for coffee and tea cakes with some stopping on for lunch. They are an excellent way of meeting up when most of the MG`s are tucked away for the winter, I think my TF was the only one to brave the cold!

SMGEC has a long history of raising funds for charity and 2022 saw us continuing our support of the Dougie Mac (Donna Louise) Hospice in Staffordshire which will carry on in 2023. We raised a total of £1200 for this worthy cause from a charity run and monthly raffles. We also made a donation of £130 to the Red Cross Ukraine appeal.

Sadly on January 30^th many members of SMGEC gathered at St Michael’s Church in Stone for the funeral of Richard Homer, a long standing friend who passed away in late December. Richard was a true motoring enthusiast who embraced all forms of motoring from circuit racing to hill climbing. He also enjoyed driving wide-ranging trips on the continent, often in his fine collection of MG`s. Richard was an active supporter of the Club, always being good company with his quiet charm and great generosity. He will be sadly missed and all our thoughts go out to Susie and family at this time.