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.

The New Year began in January with the now normal zoom Club night. A look back to the fun and games of the Christmas party was followed by a presentation of SMGEC`s 2017 tour of the Causeway Coast in Northen Ireland.  The pictures and commentary brought back happy memories of the trip when the sunny weather combined with the stunning scenery to make it a wonderful experience.

Trying to put together a programme for this year is fraught, as expected the MG and Triumph Spares Day in February was cancelled although it is now planned for April, fingers crossed! Hopefully with the vaccine programme speeding up the future will be brighter with a visit to Cars in The Park at Lichfield being planned for July 5th. Our New Forest Adventure which was cancelled in May 2020 and then again in May 2021 has now been re planned for September 2021. Organisers Glyn John and Renton Ward were pleased that as soon as it was announced 18 cars signed up but are praying that it will be third time lucky! We also have two cancelled trips from 2020 that are “oven ready” and can be quickly put in the programme as soon as the lockdown is eased.

Although in 2020 our motoring activities were curtailed our charity efforts were not. Thanks very much to the efforts of our treasurer, Des Barnard, we raised £2550 to support our chosen charity, the Donna Louise Children`s Hospice.

Our web site is sponsored by MG dealers, Summit Garage of Dudley, who have kindly agreed to continue their support for 2021.Their Sales Director, John Newey, is an MG enthusiast with 6 MG`s in his collection including an MG X Power SV.  We look forward to him joining us on some runs this year.

Writing the monthly report for SMGEC used to be a simple task, there was always a host of activities and events to report on, in fact often running out of space to record them all. Covid has turned that upside down, normal Club activities have ceased, leaving only our monthly zoom meetings, which have done such a great job in keeping the Club alive.

December was no exception, the Club`s Christmas Zoom Party, organised by Sue Dudley and the Committee, saw 35 members joining in the fun and games with crackers and party poppers along with a drop of Christmas spirit! Phil and Cathy Wellstead put together a devilish Christmas quiz. “Which Dickens character served up a figgy pudding in A Christmas Carol” being one of the easier questions! A shock result saw our long standing quiz maestros, Janet and Peter Wallis, losing their crown, being runners up to new winners Alan and Karen Wild.

With everybody being encouraged to dress up for the party, the prize for best outfit went to Glyn John for wearing a smart pair of reindeer antlers teamed up with a bow tie. Santa and his elf were in attendance all evening, apparently they were spending the festive season with Roger and Maureen Wood at Stafford.  `

As I write this just before Christmas the new Covid virus has brought yet more misery and disruption, with almost all plans for Christmas and the New Year being blown away. The Club had proposed a visit to the MG and Triumph spares day at Telford as a first event in 2021, but that must be now in doubt. Hopefully the popular Donnington Historic Festival in May will still go ahead.

Hoping when you read this in February that the world will be looking a happier place.