Slight

The wife and I went away for the weekend for a Forties Event at Brooklands in Surrey, due to pressure of work, we left late the previous evening but arrived unscathed, which is always useful when travelling in a 1947 Bentley motor car. We booked in to our hotel, The Brooklands Hotel which is right on top of the track for Mercedes World, of which we had a good view of from our bedroom window.

All was going well, I would have liked to say we dined like kings, but we had arrived too late for the restaurant so plumped for a burger in the bar and some alcoholic beverage and so to bed to be refreshed and ready for the morning of the event.

I think it fair to say that should they be offering prizes for getting up at the crack of dawn, my wife and I would come last every time, hence booking the hotel for the night before and a leisurely breakfast before heading next door to Brooklands and the Forties Relived event.

We both have forties outfits and there were plenty of others entering into the spirit of the thing by dressing in period costume too, I feel most at home in the forties and should actually have been around in those days, I feel the more time passes, the more out of touch I am becoming with modern life.

I am lucky to be a Brooklands Trust Club Member which has many perks, one of which is access to the Members bar, where we had a pleasant lunch and a gin and tonic each before a bout of retail therapy which resulted in the purchase of two long collar forties shirts and a wicker basket for my wife.

By way of a change a quick visit to the marquee to listen to the band and to watch the dancing for a while, before having a wander round the museum itself and to admire the latest additions and upgrades due to a substantial injection of Lottery funding, money well spent I say.

The day so far was going swimmingly but gradually the clouds grew darker and the inevitable rain started which caused us to take shelter in the car for some considerable time. Eventually we came to the conclusion that the inclement weather was here for the duration so decided to say our goodbyes and return to the hotel to watch the Grand Prix on the television.

Stopping at the Chester Cordite stand we were going to speak to Stuart who’s company it is, but he was busy with a customer so we browsed for a while. Stuart sells the most wonderful suits based on genuine forties designs and it was from him I had purchased the two shirts earlier in the day. During the course of our waiting for Stuart to be free my wife managed to find the most wonderful tweed suit which she insisted I purchase, I resisted as best I could but all to no avail. It will require alterations as I have very short arms and the trousers will require shortening but the hardest bit to fit correctly is the trousers as they are sold by waist size but as they are forties cut, the top of the trousers is on ones chest! I shall take the suit to my tailor who will make the appropriate adjustments and the finished look will be superb.

My wife and I are getting ridiculously precious as it would have been considerably cheaper to have got up at the crack of dawn, driven to the event, spent the day there and then returned home, but no. We require a hotel for the night before as we unable to rise at a decent hour and then a hotel for the night after to recover for our days labours before taking a leisurely drive to get home, all at considerably more expense than the previous option costing some £12.50.

Whilst having a perfectly fine day, I’m not entirely sure we achieved value for money as the day was cut short by the inclement weather, perhaps we should have paid less regard to the weather forecast which originally said, there will be a “slight” chance of rain!