Keith Davis & Son Ltd Parsonage Garage
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2 February 2020 From the club desk... In This Issue... January has passed in a flash but on a positive note the days are getting longer again! Facebook As you heard at the last monthly meeting we are Something fishy progressing with the year’s plans and to start with Meet the members the Rolling Road Day is set for Saturday, 18th April at AB Garage with the expert input of Adrian Evolution of the marque Blandford. Candles Run 2020 As you will read further on, Winter maintenance has Whitley Bred been progressing well for some, whilst the rebuilds are in full swing, or, indeed, some minor tweaking with some nifty period accessories. Maintenance matters We’re still looking for a date for a “Garage Day” for MGB owners who MG Motor News want to learn about front suspension rebuilds. If anyone would like to Merchandise volunteer their MGB please contact me. Elsewhere in this issue you will find an update from Neil Wallace on the Forthcoming Events 6th Cheshire Candles Charity Run, so if you haven’t already, please give Contact Us some thought to volunteering and assisting the team this year, it’s all good fun! Send us an email for more information As you will see in the events listing, dates are firming up and the club will about the club’s activities or to join us. have a stand at most of the listed shows. I have applied for a club stand Angie Haughton - Area Secretary for Gold Cup at Oulton Park but after two weeks of “pending” we have [email protected] not yet been accepted, however, I will keep you posted. Unfortunately yet again the alleged cut-off date for display vehicles is 1980. Neil Wallace - Candles Run In other news, Neil Shirley is cooking up a plan for Summer and we will [email protected] be working out a small and informal “competition” to encourage you to Mike Haughton - MGCC Liaison get out there this year in your MG, more details to follow next month. [email protected] In the meantime, keep a look ut on the website for details of the Sunday Martin Williamson - PR/Newsletter Lunches for February and March which Steve Brace is still firming up. [email protected] See you all at the next meeting on Tuesday, the 11th of February at THE Volunteers: Steve Brace, Neil TROPHY ROOM at The Cheshire County Sports Club, Plas Newton Lane, Chester, Cheshire, CH2 1PR. Kennedy, Neil Gray, Richard Hayes, and Matt Brookfield. Visit us on the web at: www.westcheshiremgoc.club Cover photo: “MG Family motoring” by Martin Williamson 3 Keith Davis & Son Ltd Parsonage Garage Family run, customer focused business, committed to providing value for money and traditional honest service & repairs on all modern and classic cars. Worked in the motor trade since 1971 and established in Aldford since 1993. Work undertaken on all makes & models - modern or classic. Traditional servicing methods used combined with modern diagnostic technology. Classic car enthusiast and MGB owner for many years. Maintenance, repairs and MOT testing undertaken on all classic cars including MGs. Parsonage Garage, Middle Lane, Aldford, Chester, CH3 6JA 01244 620 399 or 07714 157200 [email protected] citroen-specialist-chester.co.uk 4 From Facebook… This month...tales from the garage, David Thomas’ garage! “A few little jobs completed today, fitted a retro Wipac map reading light which was unused & still in its original box and then a roadster rear seat cushion.” Photos by David Thomas on Facebook. To join us on Facebook search for westcheshireMGOC 5 Something fishy. By Stuart Bebbington In 2016 the opportunity arose to open a fishmonger’s in Westminster Park with the adjacent shop becoming vacant. In partnership with Dave Williams who worked in the trade we set up Bebbington & Williams Fishmongers. Learning the fish business has been an interesting journey for me with 2.30am starts to get to market to source the best fish. The fish arrives from Scotland or the South and travels overnight to be ready for purchase in the early hours. Quite often we can have fish on the counter which has been out of the water for less than 24 hours. Fish is filled with omega-3 fatty acids and also essential vitamins such as D and B2. It is also rich in calcium and phosphorus and a source of minerals such as iron, zinc, iodine, magnesium and potassium. The fish trade is very fast paced with a good, quick turnover essential to keeping the freshest of fish on the counter. When we opened we realised that a lot of people were not accustomed to buying fresh fish so we developed a range of ready to cook products which makes life easier for the customer, providing a portion of seasoned fresh fish often in a cooking bag or oven ready tray with full cooking instructions. On the counter we have Teriyaki salmon, Mediterranean sea-bass, Haddock gratin and our hand made fish pies. The most popular fish in the shop is salmon closely followed by cod and sea-bass. We have access to oysters, lobster, mussels and a variety of prawns all of which are readily available at market. 6 Meet the members! Name: Stuart Bebbington Age: 48 What MG(s) or classic(s) do you own? I have a 1973 bronze yellow MGB. How long have you had it/them? Since July 2016. Have you had other MGs or classics before this one? I have owned it since 1997 although it has been off the road since 2003 due to MOT failure from rusting sills. I always wanted to get it going again but due to getting, married, having children time and money no longer existed. The restoration process started about 4 years ago and has been a bigger longer process than first anticipated, I'm sure that's no surprise to most classic car owners. Hopefully 20 is the year of being back on the road again! What made you decide on an MG? Growing up on a farm we had Land Rover's and at one time a mini pick up which we drove around the fields. Worth a fortune now I know, hindsight is a wonderful thing. My brother in law had a GT when he was 'courting' my sister and got me interested in them. I have always had an interest in older cars for their character and an MG was the most affordable for me at the time Working or Retired? I have worked as a butcher since leaving school and became self-employed in 1993 when I bought my first shop in the Chester market. The business moved to Westminster Park in 2012 and after serving Martin and spotting the MG badge on his wallet, we got talking and hence the restoration began. Single or partnered? Married to Jo-ann for 17 years, with 3 girls. Katie, Grace and Holly. I know this is going to be an issue with a two-seater car, some serious negotiating to be done! Hobbies, what floats your boat? I don't have much spare time at the moment, but I used to play a lot of football and have been known to do a bit of painting. Any bucket list items? I’d like to travel more. The dream would be touring Europe in the MG. 7 Evolution of the marque. By Martin Williamson Over the last decade we have been shown a number of MG concepts from SAIC, the current custodians of the MG brand. These have varied from the MG ICON, an SUV concept styled by SAIC’s UK based design director, Anthony Williams-Kenny to the more recent electric MG Emotion sports coupe. To say the reaction has been mixed is to understate the buzz on the internet discussion groups. Comments were both favourable and dismissive in equal measure. But there was no doubting MG had managed to gain valuable media interest on a global scale. That’s not something we have seen in a long time. On the whole, the negative comments tended towards the sheer ugliness of some of the concepts, but many enthusiasts were aghast that SAIC appeared to be missing the point of needing not just a concept, but a sports car halo model to reinforce the brand image. Whilst I agree that the likes of the ICON concept was no beauty queen with the effected over-riders, I was quietly pleased on seeing the images of the ICON. We had been told that an SUV is planned for 2014, and I had feared that SAIC would go down the route of a VW Tiguan or Hyundai iX35 look-alike; safe and generic. But the ICON can hardly be accused of that, if anything the styling is more of a Nissan Juke wannabe; not a bad thing given Nissan’s success in the small SUV sector currently. However, I think many people missed the point that this was a concept and as with many concepts, the styling is intentionally over the top and usually gets toned down before going into production. However the ICON as it is needs to go into production in my opinion. 8 I am equally torn between wanting that SAIC should respect the badge that we have come to love through our interest in the classic MG yet I’m wanting SAIC to be successful and evolve the brand further. SAIC are in a strong position in having the MG name if they continue to manage the brand correctly, but unlike previous custodians, they do not have an alternative marque to use for volume production.