MORGAN THREE WHEELER CLUB SOCIAL WEEKEND
16th, 17th, 18th SEPTEMBER
SPARES FAIR and A.G.M.
Based at The Abbey Hotel Malvern.
Many Thanks and Congratulations to Maria Parkinson, Ian Parkinson and all involved in organizing such a very successful event.
Report and Photographs of Morgan Factory and The Friday Brewery visits on Friday by Ross Herbert
The A.G.M. weekend kicked off on Friday with the conducted tours of Morgan courtesy of the management. We were lucky to get Bill Higginson as our guide, an evangelical advocate of Morgan and also a long time MTWC member.
The factory was the busiest I’ve seen it in awhile with orders for the new +8 and Aero8 being strong. The new three-wheeler is also still selling well and it was interesting to see some of the new innovations. The new V-windscreen compliments the car’s design and makes it look more like a traditional trike.
From the factory we moved on to The Friday Brewery in Malvern. My thanks to Gerald Lawford for a lift in his new three-wheeler. Bill Higginson had said that no one in Malvern bats an eyelid at Morgans we seemed to be attracting a fair level off interest however.
Situated on a small industrial estate it did not perhaps conform to the image of a cottage micro brewery but we were left in no doubt as to the expertise of the brewers. Various variety of beers were sampled, not too many as some were moving on to take the scenic run to The Hop Pocket at Bishop’s Frome.
Report from Ian and Maria Parkinson
‘A test of stamina and staying power.’
Friday morning and the visit to Morgan Motor Co took place at 1030. Well attended, we had two groups for what is always an interesting event. It was clear that they were extremely busy with all departments in full swing.
Our guides, Bill and Ken were as usual informative and gave a lighthearted tour. Rounded off with coffee and a pasty in the Visitor Centre it was a good morning. Thanks go to all at Morgan Motor Co for their friendly welcome.
Then, Friday afternoon it was a five minute drive to The Friday Beer Co in Malvern. An informative talk to around 32 MTWC members by Dr Gerald Williams on why and how the company started. Then sampling of the beers took place. The line up of Morgan’s outside was most impressive. Thank you to the team at Friday Beer for inviting us and we wish them well for their future in exporting their beers.
Mid Friday afternoon was for the brave, who despite downing the fantastic Abbey full breakfast only a few hours earlier were feeling hunger pangs.
A short run had been devised over the Malverns to the Hop Pocket Shopping Village in Bishops Frome. Despite the best intentions of the organiser ( me) a T junction on the route instructions was actually a right turn. This resulted in the usual scenario of Morgan mayhem as the convoy got lost in the countryside. Of course I knew where I was going and despite leaving later due to ensuring Liz Bamber got her Morgan lift I caught up the group as they reached the Hop Pocket.
Luckily no one had the courage to form a lynching party and I escaped with a ticking off. However Liz Bamber, being escorted around the countryside by Malcolm Lamb in his F Super arrived even later having got doubly lost !
The café was the busiest place there as we all needed a drink by now.
A short trip back to The Abbey was uneventful and we prepared ourselves for the evening dinner at The Abbey. The Friday night carvery is always a good spread of food that is included in the room price if you stay Friday night.
The Saturday Spares Fair was as good as ever. Really busy with lots of parts on offer. Traders reported a good trade.
It was after the Spares Fair was over we started to find out who were the hardy ones. A short scenic run of about 6 miles struggled to find willing attendees. After a bit of butt kicking a straggling group of around 22 members made their way around and stopped for refreshments in Colwall.
Some even managed to put one leg in front of the other and walk around the National Michaelmas Daisy collection in Colwall. Well done.
Late afternoon a weary bunch of members staggered back to The Abbey.
However all was not yet over and the punishment continued with a film show in The
Worcester Suite at 1600 hrs. Given the struggle we had to motivate earlier in the day it was
somewhat surprising that all bar 4 people turned up. So 46 sat down to watch some old
films of Morgan’s from the 60’s.
This was despite the organiser ( me) struggling to operate the projector.
Unsurprisingly, being in the dark some attendees nodded off and missed some excellent
film footage from the Motion Picture Library courtesy of Dave Farrow.
Then it was time for a quick change ready for the AGM Dinner. Sadly some overslept for the
dinner ! I will not mention names.
The company was good the food was good and the entertainment, well,
The choice of music was a 50/50 split from Ian Parkinson / Barbara Caroline. Neither won
and the 60’s era music played by Kevin Bethel went down really well. Barbara reckoned she
could not remember seeing so many on the dance floor.
Lessons learnt, perhaps a little less to do and Maria has made a note that each table at the
dinner gets a bottle of Sanatogen Tonic Wine. Although I think we should dish it out at the
start of the weekend.
Thank you to all who came. Ian and Maria.