Well, what can you possibly say about the LRO Spring Adventure? You could say that the weather was awful and we didn’t win any prizes – BUT YOU’D BE WRONG! The weather was fantastic the whole weekend with many a tender red face by the end of it. There were one or two beetroots by Sunday afternoon (you know who you are!). I’ll get to the detail that one or two might not want shared in a moment, but before that I must tell you about the other clubs. Land Rover were represented in many forms from the Freelander club, the Camel Trophy club, the Series 1 clubs, the Discovery club, the 101 club and there was even a contingency of Range Rovers called the Range Rover Register. Not an easy club to join that one, you can’t just own a Range Rover – you have to own a Ken Dodd feather duster and have a serious desire to dust your vehicle all day long in a sand storm (I think they train in the Sahara!). There was even a group of other Military Vehicles though you hardly noticed them because we totally dominated the event! We won Best Club stand, which afforded us a smashing trophy (to be melted down and sold as gold ingots) and a cheque for £150, of which £75 will go to the Army Benevolent Fund and £75 to the club. So a huge well done to every one who took part (12 vehicles in all) and made the stand look spectacular! We must have had about 500 square miles of cam net up. A big well done to Steve and Sharon for managing to tow an Ambulance with a 109 with only one or two minor incidents!

Okay – I have to say I feel compelled to share one or two details with those of you who weren’t fortunate enough to make it… Some honorary names were issued which you may find amusing, but you have to try to guess who they are with only a few clues. Are you ready?

I have no doubt that Bjorn and his brother will be issuing you all names at future events!

Now then… the Jack Russells. As we were setting up our stand a custom built 101 parked in front of us, when I say custom I mean the thing was a 6x6. The guy (ex- REME) had made a midgets motor home out of it! He had completely lined it with blue shag pile carpet and built cupboards from heavily varnished plywood. Nice. They had two Jack Russells who just wouldn’t shut up. Every time someone went past they yapped. They yapped when no-one went past. Strangely enough though they didn’t yap on Sunday morning when Steve decided a 7am wake up call was required with the assistance of his ambulance siren. Please bear in mind that they were parked right in front of his siren! It might have had something to do with all those knives being sharpened the night before? I’ll say no more. Private Parts shared the champagne he won at the Secret Nuclear Bunker the month before, which went down VERY well with everyone except Steve and Sharon who had gone for a lie down in their ambulance… It was decided that we should have champagne at every event so I’ll be supplying the next bottle!

During the weekend we had to drive our vehicles into the arena for public display. The first time went as the event organisers planned, us driving round in big slow circles wasting a lot of fuel, getting dizzy whilst the Presenter (Jerry Thurston) from Salvage Squad on Channel 4 waffled his head off. He had an interesting interview technique, he’d ask you a question into his microphone and as you answered him he’d keep the mic so the crowd couldn’t hear your response! However, the second time into the arena went slightly differently. We all did a lap, then went our own way! We weren’t on our own in there either! We had Freelanders, Range Rovers, Ambulances, Lightweights and even a M-class Mercedes trying not to get rammed by flying military vehicles! Now I’m sure that was far more entertaining for the crowds (it certainly was for us anyway!). Only one of us got told off for speeding at the Presenter, and that was Captain Calamity, well what would you expect?

All in all a fantastic and enjoyable weekend for everyone!

David Taylor 2004