The arrival at Penshurst Place gives a glimpse of the back of the house and the walled gardens. Amazingly it has been in the same family, the Sidneys, since 1552 when it was gifted by Edwar VI to his courtier Sir William Sidney. The house, however, was already 200 years old by this point and had survived Henry VIII’s reign as he used it as a hunting lodge handily just six miles from Hever Castle, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn. Today it is still lived in by Philip Sidney, many generations down the line and still in private ownership. Unusual for a house and gardens of this size in the modern age.
They were delighted to host our gathering of MGs in the event field just a gentle walk along a tree lined avenue from the house itself. This is the second of the designated MG100 South East events following on from the Bluebell Railway in the Summer. It was an opportunity to show a “decades” MG100 timeline of MGs ranging from the 1930s through to the very latest electric MG. It was an incredible sight as the cars changed through the decades in a curve around the field. The Concours and Pride of Ownership were displayed next to them as MGs arrived at the show.
Two road runs descended on Penshurst late morning as they had enjoyed scenic tours of the countryside from Godstone and Otham to fill up the MG parking area. The souvenir rally plates were on sale and many collected theirs at the show. Proceeds from the sale of these are going to the Brain Tumour Charity which the Centre is supporting this year. Over £200 has already been raised by their sale and just under another £200 was raised from donations made when booking tickets for the event. This was the first time the Centre has raised charitable funds in this way and we thank you for your generosity.
Also launched at this event was a new limited range of MG100 South East regalia – Polos and Baseball caps with a new logo. They were available for pre-order and many were collected at the event by members and they are available now to order from the Centre’s online shop.
The competition took place with a self-judging PoO and a judged Concours and you can see the winners listed below. The Car of the Show was a little different this year and was chosen from amongst all those at the event by our judges. The winner was Gail Cooper and her 1934 MGPA.
As usual, these events can not take place without a huge amount of effort by the organisers – not only Peter Begley, Andrew Mitchell, John Morgan, Ian Russell, Will Opie & Austin Banner to name six but also the helpers who marshalled cars, manned the gate and dished out tickets in the gazebo.
Thanks to all of them and thank you for attending on a day when the weather forecast was threatening – in fact, it did bucket down at lunchtime for an hour but umbrellas were up and shelter found – it was a good time to look around the house or have a cup of tea in the café, failing that sitting under a tree having a picnic with umbrellas up was an idea – as one brave group did!
Concours Winner – Nigel Scutt, MGF
Pre 1956 PoO winner – David Leppar, MGTC
Post 1956 PoO joint winners – Adrian Clifford MGTF 80th Anniversary
John Langford, MG Magnette Farina
Post 1956 PoO Runner-Up – Richard Davies, MGC
