VanFest 2001


T2OC - 3 Counties Show Ground, Malvern, 14th-16th September

To say that we had been looking forward to the annual T2OC meeting at the 3 Counties Show Ground in Malvern was an understatement. This was to be the first year in 5 that Mark and myself would be able to visit in our own vans. Things were dampened slightly, when the kennel that was due to house our dogs in called to say that they had been infected with "Kennel Cough" which meant that both our wives had to stay at home to dog sit. How happy those 2 were! Unfortunately, we had paid in advance to the T2OC so we lost out. Anyway, to make up for not taking my wife, I took along, my 5 year old nephew, Liam (he's in most of the pics) after a year of promising to take him away for a weekend in the camper.

After 5 years of visiting the show, we know the directions from Wrexham of hand but it still took us nearly 3 hours to travel the 100 miles. We arrived at around 7.30pm on Friday to be greeted to the most T2's we had seen. The marshal (thanks to those that helped everyone all weekend) on the gate said that around 2500 people had already passed through the gates but finding a space was no problem among the throng. By the time we had put the awning up and had a quick look around, it was time for bed, well it is if your 5 years old.

The next 2 days was a mixture of checking out all the trade stands (up from previous years) and bribes on the bouncy castle and the fun fair. I found out the hard way the attention span of a little boy! The nights were fairly quite. We were so tired out from walking around, that we were glad to get back to the vans for a night sleep. We did visit the show hall to see and listen to the disco and bands but we arrived late and could not find any seats. Lost of people were standing at the back and it was all a bit to much for my nephew.

Over the weekend, we bought plenty of new panels to rebuild the sills and rear arches on Marks 1970 Devon but nothing caught our eyes in the swap meet. Mark could not make his mind up about a set of deluxe micro-bus interior trim panels and by the time he had, they were sold. Hard luck! Most of the vans in the For Sale section seemed expensive or has the residual value of vans jumped up. The number of T25's around the show and offered For Sale had defiantly increased over last year. Are they becoming more popular as Bay Windows in good condition become harder to find? The highlight of the vans For Sale was a green Westfalia, brought over from Germany, up for £4995. This van defiantly stood out from the rest.

The facilities at VanFest are acceptable. There was usually a queue for the toilets and hot water but they were very clean. The showers were hard to find and really for the number of people, a few more showers would be appreciated but it was no problem. The rain stayed away to just as we drove off on early Sunday afternoon and the nights were not too cold so a good show which I am already looking forward to next year. The highlight of the weekend was on the way home when Liam said that if he won the lottery, he would buy a camper!

Check out the pictures.

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If you see a picture of your vehicle and would like to add your name and a description (or even a copy), please get in touch and we will do the honour.


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