NORWICH WEEKEND - Saturday 4th October

As part of our season finale, we were once again invited to an open day at John & Lou Shortens premises in Lenwade, just outside of Norwich. This is always a firm favourite with the Magnette community because of the tremendous involvement John & Lou have had with "our" cars over many years. Over the course of the day, around 30 people popped in to say hello & be part of this very social occasion. Once again, the Shortens yard was filled with MG's with not even fairly heavy rain throughout the afternoon dampening the proceedings. Most people will be aware that Lou has not been in the best of health this year, but it good to see her enjoying her day amongst so many friends & acquaintances in the MG world.

In the evening, a party of 18 including John & Lou travelled the short distance to the King's Arms in Reepham for a pre arranged meal. The restaurant were very accommodating as two people were a last minute booking whereupon they hastily rearranged our table so that we could all sit together. The food was excellent, so a very pleasant evening was had by all. Most people stayed within the area so that they could attend the Pensthorpe Vintage Fair the next Day.

Sunday 5th October.

On Sunday morning, the weather was dry, sunny but a little cool first thing, by 10.30pm, about 12 Magnettes arrived at the Pensthorpe Vintage fair location within the nature park site.

We all parked up together in two rows amongst other clusters of classic and vintage cars, about 150 cars in total were on the site, along with motorbikes, tractors, romany caravans, military vehicles, static steam engines, model steam engines and radio controlled model trucks.

There were also many individual vintage displays, stalls, and craft displays, food tents, and craft and food stalls of all types.

We all enjoyed strolling around the vintage area and seeing all the other classic cars and static displays that were on show.

By noon the weather had warmed up, and the sun shone brightly for the rest of the very pleasant day,

We all enjoyed a very sunny picnic amongst the Magnettes, and every one then took the opportunity to visit the gift shops, and then take advantage of the free entry into the spectacular gardens, the wild flower meadows , and the huge wild life nature reserve, which included lakes, ponds,and a fantastic conservation area, where we saw a lot of bird wild life including lapwings, avocets, cranes and pink flamingos, there was also a wild animal area where we saw several of the rare red squirrels that live there.

Some of the Magnette members bid farewell mid afternoon after returning back from the gardens to their cars, and they then made tracks home, and others stayed on until the event ended later , before leaving to all go their seperate ways .

The whole vintage event and its amazing setting within the wildlife park was a very special day out for the register, and it made a perfect end to the Norfolk weekend, which register members who attended, all agreed that the Pensthorpe Park was a location that we would all want to come back to in future years for a register event in Norfolk..

text: Grant Howlett
pictures: Cynthia Harris, Grant Howlett &