Hungerford Arcade is always proud to have the fabulous West Berkshire Classic Vehicles Club show twice a year in front of the building.  May is the first which we have just had and the next one will be Sunday, 25th September 2016 (a note for your diary).

                                                                       Stunning Ford GT40

Many fabulous vehicles arrived and everyone had a fantastic day.  Two of the highlights were a vintage Dennis Fire Engine (I will be doing a separate, very interesting blog story on this) and a stunning Ford GT40.  I don’t think I mentioned that Mike and Colleen brought along their newly acquired, gleaming Austin Allegro – it was lovely and I will feature this in Part 2.

 1986 Dennis Odium Fire Engine Dennis RS with a Devon Body Photograph taken by Colleen Kent

We had three Jaguars, two XJS’ and one XJ6 Sovereign – stunning cars.  One XJS was on its way back from a show from the previous day, having won the Best in the Pride & Joy Class.  The trophy was presented to owner, Karen Turvey (who is a welder and engineer) by Lady Ashcombe.  Karen noticed our event and just had to join in which we all thought was marvellous.

I was very fortunate in that XJS (my dream car) convertible owner, Clive gave me a drive to Marlborough and back in his sleek machine.  We did have to stop and put the roof up with the touch of a button as it started to rain, but it could not put a dampner on my day.

                                                                 Beautiful XJS owned by Clive

We had an immaculate mini Clubman arrive after owner, Trevor Powell heard about the

show and came along.  He had a great time.

This immaculate Sierra Estate was stunning in its gleaming white coach work finish.

                                                              Gleaming Ford Sierra Estate

A huge thank you to Mike and Colleen for all your hard work in getting this show together and to all the West Berkshire Classic Vehicle Club Members who came along with their beautiful vehicles making it yet another great success.  Can’t wait for September’s show. Thank you from Rita, Adrian, Alex and everyone at Hungerford Arcade.

Look out for part two with lots more photographs and stories.

Hungerford Arcade puts a great deal of  importance on anything with a connection to Hungerford’s past history.  

When one of our customer’s spotted a skip filled with building rubble from a house being renovated, he was curious to notice an old photograph in amongst it.  Upon inspection, he saw that the photo featuring over 300 soldiers was of the 180 (MT) Coy, Army Service Corps stationed in Hungerford between January and July 1915  before they went off to fight on the Western Front.  He was so excited at this extraordinary find, he immediately brought it to Arcade co-owner, Adrian Gilmour.

(left)Dr. Hugh Pihlens receiving the photograph from Arcade co-owner, Adrian Gilmour

Covered in dust from the skip, Adrian cleaned it off and immediately contacted Dr. Pihlens of the  Hungerford Historical Association and told him what he had been given. Today, Adrian proudly presented the photograph to a very happy Dr Pihlens who will now research the history of the photograph which will, in time be published.

We would like to thank the customer very much for kindly saving the photograph from the skip and bringing it to us.  unfortunately, he did not leave his name.

You can see more by clicking on the link to the Hungerford Virtual Museum below:

http://www.hungerfordvirtualmuseum.co.uk/index.php/9-events/57-1914-18-first-world-war

Diana Birchall with her good friend, Roz Cawley

Hungerford Arcade never ceases to amaze us.  We had a very talented lady, Diana Birchall visit us on her way back from the Chawton House Library in Alton, Hampshire, where she had acted out a play written by her for the bicentennial celebration of the works of Charlotte Bronte.  Diana played the role of Charlotte and Syrie James played a witty Jane Austen.

Diana Birchall worked as a story analyst for Warner Bros Studios, reading novels to see if they would make movies. Her years of reading popular manuscripts have been conducted side by side with a lifetime of Jane Austen scholarship, and have resulted in her writing Austenesque fiction both as homage and as close study of the secret of Jane Austen’s style. She is the author of Mrs. Darcy’s Dilemma and the story collection Mrs. Elton in America, both published by Sourcebooks, as well as In Defense of Mrs. Elton, published by JASNA. Her play The Courtship of Mrs. Elton has had reading performances in ten cities, and in New York featured Tony Award winning actress Kathleen Chalfant. She also has a story in the Random House anthology, Jane Austen Made Me Do It.

Diana is a very vibrant, happy lady.  She said one of her favourite sayings is, “You are passionate Jane” from the famous Charlotte Bronte novel, Jane Eyre.

You can learn more about Diana at www.lightbrightandsparkling.blogspot.com

Hungerford Arcade once again played host to the BBC’s Bargain Hunt this week.  They filmed two shows, one in the morning and the other after lunch.  It was as usual, a very happy event loved by staff and customers alike.

                                                                         Charlie Ross, Rita & Adrian

The shows were hosted by that “very cheeky chappy”, Charlie Ross and as usual, he caused quite a stir.  Everyone seemed to want to shake his hand and have their photographs taken with him (I was no exception!).  He was such good fun and between filming enjoyed chatting to everyone.

                                                           David Harper looking for a bargain

The two experts were TV favourites, David Harper and John Cameron.  They were wonderful with the contestants and made sure they enjoyed themselves.  The Blue Teams and the Red Teams said they were overwhelmed by the choice they had in choosing their items and at first did not know where to start spending the £300 each team was given. This is where the expert’s advice is so invaluable.   However, they did manage it and were more than happy with their purchases and wished they could have kept them for themselves.  You will have to wait until the programmes are aired before you can see what they bought, but we will let you know when they are to be broadcast.

                                        John Cameron with one of the Blue Teams

                                             David Harper with Stallholder Ian Spuffard and one of the Red Teams

                                                                                    Lucky Rita with John Cameron

                                             The People who make it all possible – The Film Crew

HUNGERFORD ARCADE

CLASSIC VEHICLES SHOW

SUNDAY,  22nd MAY

9.00 am to 3.00 pm

The Hungerford Arcade classic vehicles show is definitely not to be missed.  The West Berkshire Classic Vehicles Club arrive outside Hungerford Arcade twice a year to hold this spectacular show.  They are wonderful people and enjoy showing people around their cars and will tell you the history and everything you want to know about their fabulous vehicles – you can even sit in them and have your photo taken!

Hungerford Arcade Stallholder, Ian Spuffard completed the London Marathon in style and raised £1200 (and is still growing) for his charity, CLIK Sargent, a charity for children living with cancer. Ian would like to say a few words of gratitude to you all and below you can see the official photographs of Ian on different stages of the Marathon.

Hi,

I am Ian Spuffard and I am taking this opportunity to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who has donated/pledged to sponsor me for my charity, CLIC Sargent. I am very proud to have run the London Marathon and raise money for this wonderful charity that helps children who are living with cancer.

If you feel that you would like to make a donation, you can go to the website at: 

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=ian

The website will be active until the end of May 2016.

Thank you again for your wonderful support.

Ian Spuffard

Well done Ian, we are very proud of you!

HUNGERFORD ARCADE

CLASSIC VEHICLES SHOW

SUNDAY,  22nd MAY

9.00 am to 3.00 pm

The Hungerford Arcade classic vehicles show is definitely not to be missed.  The West Berkshire Classic Vehicles Club arrive outside Hungerford Arcade twice a year to hold this spectacular show.  They are wonderful people and enjoy showing people around their cars and will tell you the history and everything you want to know about their fabulous vehicles – you can even sit in them and have your photo taken!

The Friends of the Atwell-Wilson Motor Museum in Calne will also be here with a stunning classic car which is to be raffled.  All proceeds will go for the upkeep of the Museum.  Last year it was a fabulous Mini Cooper.