September 26th - Gathering of the Clans

In the Zoom meetings held in the run up to the Gathering of the Clans, the Organisers were slightly concerned that there may be insufficient entries to cover the costs of putting the event on. They needn’t have worried!

An impressive 108 cars, including 5 from Aberdeen, assembled on the field alongside the Scottish Antiques and Arts Centre at Doune. This field is also used as the Paddock for the Lothian Car Club sprint, the home of the only round of the British Hill Climb Championship currently to be held in Scotland. The course has been 1476 yards in length since 1977.

Although relatively warm for the end of September, periods of sunshine were interspersed with the occasional short period of light drizzle but that didn’t spoil what was an excellent day.

A varied mix of MGs from all eras were on display – the Octagon Car Club display of 30s, 40s and 50s cars was particularly impressive.

The incredible turnout of 108 cars and the generosity of those present who supplied raffle prizes and purchased raffle tickets, meant that the organisers were able to make a contribution of £50 to the Clackmannan Scouts for their help in setting up and dismantling the field layout and keeping the area tidy and litter-free, as well as £150 each to the two Charities below which were agreed at the last Zoom meeting:

• My Name’s Doddy Foundation – Motor Neurone Charity and,

• The Eilidh Brown Memorial Fund - Eilidh Brown sadly lost her fight against cancer aged just 15 years of age on 25th March 2010. Since then, Eilidh’s family have been working tirelessly to build a stunning countryside respite holiday home in the Stirling area for young people and their families who are going through, went through or sadly like us lost a child to cancer. www.eilidhbrown.co.uk  The house/respite home is completely built, but funds are still required to fit out some of the interior.

All in all, this was a fantastic day out and thanks to the MGOC Glasgow for organising the event - see you next year!

One of the members of the Glasgow MG Owners Club has produced a short video of the event, which can be found here: