Irish Austin Seven Club at Moreton-in Marsh

Memories of the A7 Centenary event

Anything I write here can’t possibly convey the sheer immensity of this event. It was absolutely huge and pretty comprehensive – reflecting, I thought, all the varied strands of interest in our little cars that Austin Seven enthusiasts enjoy. I think that 8 or 9 IA7C members managed to attend with our wives or sons/daughters, our Sevens mostly trailered over in view of the distance involved.

Several of us went via the Rosslare/Pembroke ferry route and Marje and I, Chris and Anne O’Mahony with Colin Pressey and his son Mark found ourselves on the same sailing. Our journey there happened on the hottest day this year but no problems with the post-Brexit custom we found as the correct forms had been completed in advance.

Marje and I stayed off site near Broadway  a village some 10.5 miles (UK of course) from the event  site which occupied a large part of a former RAF airfield  now converted into a training college for the UK’s Fire Services. Some members took advantage of the on-site accommodation which meant that they were ideally placed to enjoy the evening entertainments arranged by the organisers.

Wednesday saw a goodly crowd of Austin Sevens gathered at the Bugatti club’s Prescott hillclimb venue where some of the rare surviving competition Sevens were exercised on the hill to the delight of the crowds. Some of the attendees  took their own Sevens up the hill but I don’t know if any of our members did this.

I was hugely impressed by the “pop up”museum arranged by the A7 Clubs Association Archivist – Literature, Advertising , Trophies, Artwork Technical drawings and some very rarely seen examples of the ‘works’ prepared competition Sevens. A very comprehesive  collection.

Chris and Anne O’Mahony were impressed enough by the scale of the event to comment:

 “All we can say is WOW! In awe at the foresight, planning,efficiency,organisation and implementation by the team of volunteers responsible for the week. We had a great time, purchased from the Trade Suppliers,enjoyed the social gatherings and did a lot of local motoring, thanks to the five suggested routes on offer.

The Routes were scenic, mainly modern traffic-free and were certainly challenging, not sure if the hills and some of the narrow roads would be appreciated by some of our members but we were in our element.The visit to Prescott Hillclimb venue ticked off something that has been on my To Do list for the past 50 years! Roll on 2122”.

Chris and Anne O’Mahony

The “rally field “ parking arrangements tried, and to a great degree succeeded, in arranging for  similar years and models to be grouped together. there were some extremely interesting variations on our little babies – particularly in the ‘Specials’ section (my brothers ‘clinker built’ wooden bodied car was much photographed) this, unfortunately meant that our members cars were somewhat dispersed so meeting up was fairly haphazard in such a large space.

However, some of us managed to get together at the ‘Vintage Picnic on the Thursday and Cheers were raised on the exact 100 year anniversary of the Sevens official ‘launch’ back ín 1922.

Of course there were a great many opportunities for Marje amd I to renew contact with friends (now some are getting very ancient) from the UK Austin Seven club scene.

An event much enjoyed and the Austin Seven Clubs’ Association  should be justly proud of their achievement.

Ian Clayton

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