Talk about famine to feast! After months of being in the doldrums, at long last June saw SMGEC activities return with a bang.

At our zoom Club night on the 3rd we welcomed Amber Johnson from Dougie Mac Hospice who have now combined with our long supported charity the Donna Louise Trust. Following her presentation on the great work that they do we presented her with a cheque for £1,000.

The first outing of the year was the aptly named ‘The Great Escape’ run to The Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings at Bromsgrove. Supplied with escape routes and documents by the organizer ‘Big X’ , 16 cars enjoyed a 43 mile run to arrive at the Museum for a picnic lunch and tour, made all the better by the sun breaking through on arrival. A highlight of the visit was a ride on the narrow gauge model railway, great fun.

The ever present need for coffee and cake was satisfied when 16 cars and 30 members met up at the Strawberry Cabin on the 17th for an enjoyable outside natter.

On the 20th a small group of 10 cars attended a new event for us, The Chetwynd Deer Park Motorfest organized by Classic Motor Events. Probably effected by the damp and cold weather the attendance of exhibitors was low.

The month ended on a high with our Charity Run to Biddulph Grange Gardens organized by Roger and Sue Dudley. 16 cars enjoyed a challenging 43 mile run over the Staffordshire Moorlands to arrive at the Gardens. After enjoying the usual picnic, a walk or in some places a very steep climb helped to burn off the calories only for them to be quickly replaced by ice creams! Over £250 was raised on the day.

Happy MG motoring.

With Boris`s road map still on course SMGEC members have wasted no time in getting the wheels turning again. Our May zoom Club night was well attended where we welcomed new members Tim and Viv Hopson to the Club, long time MG enthusiasts they currently have an MG3.  Highlight of the night was Des and Gill Barnard`s presentation of their Yorkshire Away Days Trip in 2018. Des`s superb photographs and commentary brought back happy memories of that outstanding Trip when the Yorkshire scenery was made all the better by the sunshine. Great applause greeted Paul Titley`s announcement that his MGB GT is finally back on the road after a four year nightmare rebuild saga which has included three (yes three !) bare metal re sprays.

On May 20th, 30 members were able at long last to meet up for a coffee morning at Café Prego in Shenstone, organised as usual by Brian and June Cooper. Despite the damp weather spirits were high especially when a very large cake arrived to celebrate George Robathan`s Birthday. SMGEC members coffee and cake, sounds familiar? Also celebrating his birthday was Charles Jarman with a slightly smaller cake. A really pleasant return to something near normal life again.

Having been given the green light SMGEC event planning has gone into overdrive and so June, July and August are packed with a wide range of events which will certainly blow away the cobwebs from both cars and members. One special event will be our annual charity run to add to our donations in support of Donna Louise Hospice.  

Looking farther ahead our long overdue September New Forest Trip is now confirmed and will be a great way to celebrate our 20th Anniversary year. Now let`s get out there and enjoy MG driving again!

I`m starting off with a grump. Can anyone explain to me why 8,000 fans could stand side by side at Wembley stadium watching a Cup Final football match but a week later The Donnington Historic Festival had to be held behind closed doors?   Doesn`t make sense!

April being the start of spring brought not only flowers in the garden but the early signs of an MG Revival. The committee along with our events planner Paul Titley have been busy and as a result plans are in place for a full programme of events for May, June and July.   We have tulip noted road runs, classic car shows and the ever popular coffee mornings all ready to go. All of course still dependant on the lockdown easing going to plan but it`s looking good so far. It`s encouraging that as soon as any event is announced members are quick to sign up, the lure of the open road along with coffee and cakes (a well-known weakness of SMGEC members) obviously still being strong.

The April zoom club night was well attended and we enjoyed guest speaker and new club member, John Newey, giving us an insight into the running of his MG dealership. Among John`s cars is a potent MG X Power SV which we look forward to soon seeing and hearing on a club run.

My incontinent GT has been nursed back to good health with a reconditioned head and is finally converted to lead free petrol after running for 20,000 miles on additives. You can`t rush these things!

Having started on a grump let`s end on a positive note as we look forward to the fun and pleasure of being back on the road enjoying MG life again.

If we have been running the Covid Marathon then hopefully we are entering the stadium for the final lap and the finishing line is at last in sight. The return to something like normal life can`t come quick enough.

For our March zoom Club Night we were treated to a splendid illustrated presentation by guest speaker David Skillen. His subject was “The Bentley Boys – Playboy Racers” The life style and racing exploits of Tim Birkin, Sammy Davis, Woolf Barnato, Benjy Benjafield and others made fascinating viewing. These guys certainly lived life at full throttle both on the track and off!

For the first time in ages we have events to look forward to. Starting with a visit to the Donington Historic Festival on May 1st then followed by an old favourite, Lichfield`s Cars in The Park, where we have 20 cars booked to attend.  The Chillington Classic Car Show on July 18th is a new event for SMGEC and 13 cars have signed up for it. Looking further ahead our long awaited New Forest Trip is organised for September. I`m sure that as restrictions are lifted we will be able to quickly add events with Brian and June Cooper`s coffee and cake mornings being high on the list.

SMGEC was founded in 2001 and so it is our 20Th Anniversary this year. For our September Club Night ( hopefully back at The Barns) our Club President and founder member Peter Wallis  will be digging in the archives to bring out some of the highlights of 20 years of club life and surely some embarrassing moments too!

SMGEC members enjoy being part of a successful and friendly Club. If you are interested in joining us then take a look at our website for more details.

February`s activities were restricted to the now familiar zoom club night, organised by zoom master Phil Wellstead. The main event was our AGM which worked surprisingly well. Chairman Roger Dudley gave his report on last year’s activities which were obviously Covid limited, but this didn`t seem to shorten his speech!!!! The re-election of the committee went through unopposed as did the continued support of Donna Louise as our chosen Charity. Our Treasurer, Des Barnard presented the accounts which again showed the Club`s finances to be extremely sound. With the official business out of the way the evening ended with a good natter.

I am writing this as Boris`s long awaited road map has just been announced. After 12 awful months there appears, at last, to be a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. May 17th looks to be the earliest date that any sort of outside Club activity can be organised.  SMGEC`s event’s organiser Paul Titley has already set the planning wheels in motion. With the anticipation of being back on the road I decided to fire up my BGT from its garage lockdown only to find it had developed a nasty case of water incontinence from its head gasket. This only goes to show that both cars and men of mature age need to take regular exercise to stay healthy!!! I can`t even pick up a gasket from the MG Spares day at Telford as that has now been put off until August. Fingers crossed that the Donnington Historic Festival on May 1st will still go ahead.

On the bright side the vaccine programme has been a great success and for the first time we can view the future with cautious optimism. In the meantime, I trust you are keeping safe and well.