The Hack Green meeting was an idea of Peter Barratt and Kevin McGeough to give the more northerly-based (well, north of Birmingham anyway) a "local" event to attend that would be an all-EMLRA show with something else to see besides. Peter claimed he would be satisfied if four or five vehicles were there. As it turned out, over twenty vehicles arrived over the course of 18-19th April, making it an event on-par with Billing and Beltring for attendance.

So what is a Hack Green Bunker? Hack Green started life as 1940 Chain Home RAF radar station, gradually evolved into a Cold War local command centre and is now billed as an all-weather tourist attraction under the guise of Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker and curatorship of EMLRA member Rod Siebert. Pretty it is not-the bunker, not Rod-but the surrounding views more than make up for this, as does the presence of a good canteen offering full cooked breakfasts and a walk-it-yourself tour of the internals that can easily take three hours.

I arrived on site Friday afternoon with Steve Marsh in the passenger seat and Marsh Jnr (Tony) in the back. For reasons I shall leave unexplained, part of our journey from the far east had involved Steve running alongside the 110 and trailer on the A500. (If you really want to know why, ask Steve.) A number of bodies and vehicles were already there, some of whom I didn't recognise - which was a very promising start. The weather, on the other hand, was becoming less promising by the hour, so as El Presedente had been kind enough to bring the dining shelter (aka random bits of canvas, rope and poles), there was an Erection Party mustered to do the necessary.

Saturday: Rod had promised us a pre-breakfast alarm call. Not much call, but plenty of alarm-he fired up the internal air attack alarm in the bunker. I wouldn't like to be inside it if that went off, it's more dangerous than the attack itself. It was loud enough outside the bunker to rattle mugs on the table and bring the entire herd of adjacent cattle to come running over. The external siren is designed to have a similar effect in Whitchurch. Which is eight miles away. By 0801 everyone was out of their tents, regardless of state of dress/undress, and very awake.

Despite the rain, the public car park steadily filled up and more members arrived to fill the field. Rob had organised things so that publics were asked to vote for the "Prettiest Land Rover" on the display before they left the site. (There were some votes for the "Hairy Land Rover", which is something else probably best not gone in to.) While all this was going on, multiple visits were made to the almost-adjoining agricultural engineers who had a yard full of ex-MOD SIII 109s for sale either in bits or whole items. Even with prior warning, they didn't seem very prepared for a dozen EMLRA members to turn up en masse and start unscrewing and unbolting bits of vehicles asking "How much for this bit then?" Most of us seemed to walk out with bulging pockets and thinner wallets.

When the Bunker closed at the end of the afternoon, Rob took as all down into the radar compound in order to announce how the voting had gone. Only then did he reveal that the public had not only been voting for The Prettiest, but also for one "most in need of a coat of paint" - what if the same vehicle won both? But we needn't have worried. As it turned out, Matthew Kaufman had put in a great deal of paint-stripping before the show to win his can of paint and emergency survival kit, and beat the rest of us out of sight if not the site too.

Ignoring the vote for the Hairy 101, Rob then went on to present third place to Mike Clements with his spotless 110, second to Anthony Burrows and Sarah Pattison with their winterised wading Ninety and first place went to-well, we all stopped talking to the show organiser at this point. Clearly the public had been impressed not by the as-new appearance of the freshly repainted Carawagon, but by the Wilton in the 9x9, tea on tap and biscuits by the barrel.

Saturday evening was occupied by various meal-obtaining forays, which included a tour of Nantwich by a fully-staffed ex-Northern Ireland Piglet asking for directions via the roof hatch from suddenly terrified locals. On the other hand, an Explosive Ordnance Disposal vehicle was conspicuously parked right outside the Conservative Club while the driver and occupants lowered the tone in a highly recommended Indian restaurant.

What started as a very small event for an expected few members turned out to be a first class weekend for a lot of members, due in so small way to Peter and Rod for the organisation and availability of venue and facilities. And the best chocolate muffins I've had for ages. Even the sausages were worth getting out of bed for.

To see what else you missed, try www.hackgreen.co.uk