I have to admit, Chris, there are a few clubs over here where the same
attitude prevails. (The Jaguar car clubs are particularly bad!) Partly, I
think, it's a problem of the existing members having known each other for a
long while and being content that their circle of friends is large enough.
After all, there are only so many people you can talk to during a meeting.
>From my experience, the newcomers - young or old - who make the effort to
insert themselves into conversations and then ask questions of the oldsters
tend to be better accepted than the ones who hang around the fringe waiting
to be talked to, or who try to bluster their way in as know-it-alls. There's
always someone in a club who is willing to look out for the newcomers (just
as there are always obnoxious twits like the Natter leader you quoted!); you
just have to talk to a lot of people to find out who that is. Being shy
definitely doesn't help!
Back to the Natter leader's comment: my come-back would have been to ask
what he drove and then to say how much you'd always wanted one of those but
how, starting out in MGs, you had to take what you could afford. Later, you
could have made the point that a 27-year old car is hardly modern, and
wondered - just out of interest - how old his MG was when he joined the
club!
Clubs, by and large, are a microcosm of life. Your enjoyment of them tends
largely to be related to the amount of effort you contribute to them. They
are, too, mostly bands of followers with a few leaders; by making a positive
contribution to the club (offering to organize events, work on committees,
etc.) you become a leader and if you are a good one you can eventually
squeeze the "Natter-leader" types into minor roles where they cannot upset
quite so many potential new members. That's my philosophy, anyway, and my
prescription for the problem of "what do we do when the oldsters fade away
and there have been no youngsters welcomed in to replace them".
Lawrie
-----Original Message-----
From: Nevard, Chris <Chris.Nevard@BSKYB.COM>
To: Nevard, Chris <Chris.Nevard@BSKYB.COM>; Lawrie Alexander
<Lawrie@britcars.com>
Cc: mgs@autox.team.net <mgs@autox.team.net>
Date: Friday, January 01, 1999 10:43 AM
Subject: Re: MGs & old fartdom in Blighty
>You would be amazed how many traditional middle class brits there still are
>in Surrey! The MG Car Club generally has a greater ratio then the MG
Owner's
>Club. The ones you met are just a little older now?
>There is a natter in Ripley just down the road from me which is very much
>like this.........this is how I fared (I'm not alone on this)
>
>Natter leader, after being forced by one of the other members
>...............
>
>"So what MG do you own"
>Me...... "A '71 Midget"
>Natter leader ..."Oh.....a modern one then"
>Turns away!
>
>I can't think what problems the couple with the MGF had who were also new
to
>the natter - extreme persona non gratia I imagine - they looked very much
>on their own.
>
>I go to another meeting now with a different club and attitude . It does
>worry me as to what will happen when all the older members die
>out.......what will happen to all the cars and club as this happens? Very
>few young people will be able to afford to take on a lot of these rare and
>often expensive cars. Friend's of mine in one of the Austin Healey clubs
>suffer the same problem.
>
>Chris (Age, 35 who now has a wax jacket to fit in)
>'71 Midget
>'78 MGBGT
>http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~spridget
>http://www.mgcars.org.uk/midgetspriteclub
>
> ----------
>From: Lawrie Alexander
>To: Nevard, Chris
>Cc: mgs@autox.team.net
>Subject: Re: MGs & old fartdom in Blighty
>Date: 01 January 1999 17:09
>
>Chris.......
>
>I must have attended a meeting of this same club before I left England in
>1964. Certainly, the characters sound the same! But maybe it's just the
>Weybridge influence? Surely, in the last 35 years the rest of the country
>has seen a melding of the population that has resulted in a decrease of
>these snob groups? (As well as a loss of regional dialects;
>on my last visit, I gained the impression that the whole country - BBC
>announcers included - now speak what can best be described as "Lazy
London")
>
>And what sort of MGs are these Surrey clubmen driving these days? One can
>hardly imagine the generation you described, Barbour jackets and all,
>crammed into T-types! If Bs are now their MG of choice, and the
>owner-attitude is as you described, it's time for more of you youngsters to
>emigrate to the US where MG clubs are populated by people who truly enjoy
>the cars for what they are, rather than the clubs for the social status
they
>confer!
>
>Lawrie
> -----Original Message-----
>From: Nevard, Chris <Chris.Nevard@BSKYB.COM>
>To: Christopher Banton <cyb@tridentgarages.co.uk>; mgs <mgs@autox.team.net>
>Date: Friday, January 01, 1999 7:55 AM
>Subject: MGs & old fartdom in Blighty
>
>
>>Earlier on today I went to the first MG meet of the year here in
Weybridge,
>>just outside London ..............this a light hearted
>>observation..........how do MG meets compare in the USA?
>>
>>As old fartdom begins to take over (by this time you will be well and
>truely
>>accepted by the AH Club & MGCC ) you will scowl and totally ignore new
>young
>>members to the club (young = under 55), MGOC fleece jackets will
definately
>>be a no no. You will have to take on a damp old leather smell (a bit of
>body
>>odour and stale tobacco helps) - you know that smell you get inside a damp
>>old VA Tickford or Y Type
>>
>>You must never go to the dentist - the browner the teeth the more cred you
>>will have within the 'T Register' - maybe tannin stains?
>>
>>Always drink ale from a pint jug.
>>
>>Half moon reading spectacles on a chain look good even if they serve no
>>practical function. Alway use them examining the engine bay of a new
>younger
>>members MG saying something like............"Of course in my day one
>>would............".
>>
>>ladies need to have some involvement with horses - if they start to look
>>like a horse even better. If they are 'into MGs' they must have one of
>those
>>Austalian outback hats with something like a Nepal to Reikavik Rally 1978
>>badge on it. A big smile with very red cheeks and a loud voice helps.
>>
>>When down the pub natter scratch your bum as you wink at the bar maid (who
>>is old enough to be your grandaughter) and order another pint with whiskey
>>depth-charge at you local natter.
>>
>>Try to marry within the family, first cousins are a favourite, this way
you
>>can keep those prominent front teeth which go so well with the Barbour
when
>>you are standing next to the Range Rover. They also look mighty fine if
>>complimented with a red silk neckacheaf when sitting in the 3000.
>>
>>Smoke a fine small cigar, monster cigars are a no no, they are the domain
>of
>>East End gansters, Americans and scrap metal merchants.
>>
>>When on the loo (don't wash your hands after, you will wash away that fine
>>touch you have for tuning SU carbs ) practice singing in as deep a note as
>>you can. If you do this enough you will develop vocal cords that 'boom'
out
>>above all others at your natter.
>>
>>Tell every body about the family connection with 'ol Cecil K - how you
>>vagely remember going in the back of his prewar MG when he used to make
>>visits to the 'family seat'
>>
>>At your MG natter......................
>>
>> You need to say things like "So what do you do for a living?" and "Don't
>>you kow" - the more affected the voice the better. If you refer to kids
>(not
>>that you will have to) they must be called ..........
>>
>>Emma
>>Gemma
>>Claudia
>>Caroline
>>Jamie
>>Henry
>>
>>The 'girls' are at finishing school in Switzerland
>>The 'boys' are at 'Uni' learing law so one day they can keep Mummy & Daddy
>>in the style they have become (or are pretending to) accustomed to.
>>
>>Always refer to the parents as Mummy & Daddy.
>>
>>All in the best possible taste and no offence meant to any old farts on
>this
>>list.
>>
>>Happy new year...........
>>
>>Chris
>>
>
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