Sunday July 30th June & Idris' Barbecue

It all started when .....

You know how it is, it's a bit like taking your wallet to a charity auction. It's the event planning meeting, everyone's volunteering to do something and you're feeling you should put your hand up and then before your partner can slap you, you hear yourself saying "everyone can come back to our place for a barbecue". Then quicker than you can say "Stop kicking me under the table!", it's in the calendar for the next year's events and it's too late.

But, you think to yourself, "it'll be fine, say about 15 cars will turn up and that should be easy enough to cope with"...

Victims of our own success

The day of the run arrives and the sun shines, then you meet your cheery area coordinator and he says those dreaded words, "We're expecting thirty three cars today Idris!!".

So it's frantic phone calls and extra trips to Tesco for more burgers, sausages and extra stuff so the masses will be fed. In the event, "only" thirty cars came on the run and June, Idris and their fantastic team of helpers really did us proud. A great afternoon was had by all.

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A new area (club?) record

We had thirty cars in the run and that is the largest number ever at a normal Sunday drive, in fact it's probably the largest turnout for any South Wales Area event.

Because a convoy of so many cars would block most of the M4, we decided to split up into three groups and set them off an 5 minute intervals with a shepherd (or shepherdess) at the head of each group. This turned out to be a great idea because with Idris' excellent instructions and a beautiful route to drive, we didn't catch the group in front until the coffee stop at Usk. It was at Usk that Ray and Marilyn finally caught up with the gang after having a bit if a slow Sunday start.

There was a lot of chatting and peering under bonnets and into people tail-pipes (!) as we spent an easy half hour filling up the main car park in Usk town centre.

Raglan, Raglan, so good they drove it twice

As our group left Usk, we decided to put the very capable Tom, Jodie and Splodge in the lead and due to a tiny error in the notes, we did a neat little double-take of Raglan before heading on towards Chepstow.

The drive then took us to the Black Rock viewing area and picnic place for an excellent view of the two Severn bridges and to stretch our legs. The parking area wasn't at all big enough and we had to double/triple park to all get in as we'd all caught one another up by this time.

Where's the food?

Then it was a short drive to Idris' place to start on the nosh so expertly prepared by their team of caterers.

Lawn, what lawn?

Amazingly, Idris managed to park most of our cars in and around the house; the dry weather having baked the lawn hard to prevent it being too cut up. We spent a lovely, lazy afternoon (well most of us did) eating, drinking and chatting.

The petrol urge was satisfied by regular trips to Idris' various garages and sheds to look at his fascinating collection of Austin Seven's.

Down came the rain

Just as we were starting to think about leaving, the heavens opened for a short, sharp shower where everybody had to dash out and put the tops up on their cars before starting to head off for home.

It looks like Splodge had come prepared for the change in the weather!
Does this make him a Union Jack Russell?

Many thanks to Idris, June and the team

It was a great drive followed by a lovely afternoon relaxing with friends old and new and being extremely well catered for. A thousand thanks to Idris, June and the team for making it all happen.

Comments

"Well done Idris and June! An excellent run, well the second bit anyway. I'm sure the first bit was good for those that managed to get there on time, and a fantastic BBQ. Not to mention a record turn out - they must have heard about your cooking."

"Even though the area was quite well know to us Idris still managed to take us down some roads we'd not found before!! The BBQ was so well organised that even with the high numbers Idris, June and their helpers coped admirably. Even the weather was pretty kind to us."

"It was a brilliant day out and many many thanks to Idris and June for making it a great day and wow some nice vintage car's also smashing thanks again."

"Many thanks to Idris and June for a lovely route yesterday.,only sorry we couldn't stay for what sounded like a great BBQ! It was great to drive an area I used to know (from Bus Journeys mainly) and to discover the wonderful Black Rock site which we had never visited before."