Helmingham Hall Festival of Classic and Sports Cars – Sunday 1st August 2021

Words & Pictures by Adam Woods – Sunday 1st August

We had surveyed members of the Eastern England FB Group earlier in the year and car shows were the second most popular idea after day trips. So, while we had never attended a car show with a car before, let alone organise for members to attend with us, when we saw what was planned at Helmingham Hall we really wanted to go!

Helmingham Hall is a beautiful moated house with listed gardens and this annual event came with rave reviews … hundreds of cars, thousands of attendees and all kinds of music, entertainment and stalls. And better still we got a great deal on entry fees! We needed to finalise numbers around a month before the event itself, so with the very welcome assistance of Kevin, we got the plans in motion, promoting out the event. Steadily the numbers grew until we have 12 cars booked. Edward kindly agreed to bring his gazebo, while Mandy brought some very handy stakes which we used to put up our orange bunting to match with the club’s colours!

In the days before we kept an eye on the uncertain weather, but things brightened up as we were advised that we were being upgraded to the Club Stand Arena and that over 7,000 tickets had been sold! The day came with an early start and some of us meeting at a nearby service (where lots of other attendees were gathering too) and so we headed over in convoy to Helmingham. We arrived on-site to our own special area, where we tried to work out how much space we had and whether we could fit everyone in!

We had a great range of Figaros (and members!) on display, and were lucky enough that Colin and Lesley brought their Figaro and Figaro Trailer which certainly attracted a lot of attention!

My three favourite things about the day?

1. As ever members are such a lovely bunch of people – everyone was pretty relaxed and chatty, just as we like it.

2. It never ceases to amaze me what an eclectic assortment of people come to look at our Figaros… and the reaction they always get from all ages and genders!

3. The event itself was well run with lots of food, lots to see, and lots to do… we were there from 8.30 am and it seemed to flash through to 4 pm in no time at all!

And so, like that, the day was coming to an end, we started dismantling our area and members started heading off… the rain had just about held off and we had a chance to reflect on what had been a pretty good day! And one last thing, a Newsletter Exclusive, I was in touch with Helmingham the following week and it turns out that while they announced the winner of the best club stand on the day, they didn’t announce that our stand had come second! So that was the feather in the cap on what had been a lovely day out for members of the Eastern Chapter!

Enjoy some of the pictures

Published on 2nd August 2021