Humbled, Excited, Ecstatic, Elated, Exhausted,.

These are just some of the emotions Nuala and I felt over the weekend.

We were humbled by the amount of work the "few" put in to organise and run the event and ensure that the "many" had a wonderful time at the most fantastic event ever for Marcos inventors/craftsmen/owners/admirers in the history of the marque.

After the battle of Britain the phrase "never have so many owed so much to so few" became famous. Well, I hate the way the word "hero" is bandied about these days and I have no wish to belittle that epic struggle fought by those brave souls of 69yrs ago, but boy oh boy, in the world of Marcos, I think that phrase can be properly applied once more. From the conception to the execution of the weekend, there surely must have been an enormous amount of work done by the joint organising committee and others.

Likewise on each of the Three days, those same people, joined by a small band of helpers had a mountain of work to do to ensure a smooth and successful event. Some folk gave up much of their time to stand for hours at each of the mystery tour locations, while others spent almost their entire weekend waving their arms and directing traffic (believe me, after nearly 30yrs in the Police force, I know only too well how thankless that job is).

We started our event on the Friday, arriving at start point one (the garden centre) a little later than planned. We were met by Jon Brookes and Roger who recorded our arrival. Even at that early stage the Marcos Marque was making itself known to the general public. Nuala and I were approached by a young mum and her daughgter who started asking questions about the cars and who had made them,when they were made and what engines they had etc. This lady was local to the area and she told us she was used to seeing all sorts of sports cars there, as many car clubs make the garden centre their meeting point, "but I've never seen any as beautiful as these before" were her words. image

On Sunday, while standing at the back of our car, Nuala and I were approached by a lovely gent and his family. He was over the moon at the sight of our dashboard and all those like ours, which were of the original burr walnut construction. At first I thought he just liked the wooden dash but after some minutes of conversation he admitted to being the chap that actually built them. He went on to say what a struggle he had with Mr Adams, who wanted to put Carbon Fibre dashboards in as standard. I must admit that from my point of view I am glad he won that struggle, as I too love the look of a Walnut dash in a classic British sports car. It is to my shame that I let him move on without asking his name. image

There were only two sad parts to the whole event for me. One was seeing that delightful little Mini Marcos colliding with the bank on the hill climb. It is always upsetting to see someone's pride and joy damaged and my heart really went out to the poor young lady driving it at the time. Warren from Topcats offered assistance, as did our own Mike Gardner coming to the rescue with Radweld, showing the true spirit of Marcos Owners. The young couple had a 200 mile journey home in the little car and I hope they made it OK. The other sad point was the end of the event. imageIt was the kind of experience I wish could have gone on forever and it is a memory I will cherish to my dying day.

On our way home, we decided to pay another visit to "ye olde Hobnails Inn" as the food and service on the Friday night had been exemplary. The look on the young ladies face was a picture when she saw the "Marcos" logo on my hat and shirt..."OH NO!" she exclaimed, "you're not ALL coming back tonight as well are you, we were hoping for a quiet night". We put her mind to rest and said no, there were only a handful of cars left after ours, so we doubted she'd see any others. How wrong we were, as soon after we were joined by roger Garland, his lovely wife and their foreign friends. After yet another fantastic meal and a brief exchange with our Marcos firends, we set off for home. The perfect end to a perfect weekend.

The words "thank you" are not enough but I am at a loss as to how better to express my appreciation to ALL those who played any part, no matter how large or small, in the excellent organisation and execution of the event. This just goes to show what can be achieved by the Three Marcos Owners Clubs when they pit their collective experience and awesome organisational skills along with their dedication to their members. So THANK YOU once again and I really hope that this superb weekend will not be the last joint venture and that any and every future event is fully supported whole-heartedly by the membership of the Marcos family as a whole.

WELL DONE ONE AND ALL. imageimage


Edited 1 time by Aviator UK Aug 19 09 8:57 AM.