S. Yorks Meet - THIS MEET HAS SHUT DOWN

I'm afraid that what ever you chose to do with the meet

the unwanted presence will most likely follow

its become a victim of its own popularity

people want to come , look and show off

I've spoken to Meadow Farm and it looks like that's the best venue to go for.

The location is easy to get to, Mondays are their quiet night so we'll likely have the pub and car park to ourselves and they seem really friendly.

I've not had any better suggestions so this is the one we'll try out next month and see how we go. I'll update the first page accordingly, but for your ease of reference.

Where
Just off J35 of the M1

Meadow Farm
Nether Lane
Ecclesfield
Sheffield
S35 9ZX

Their website: www.meadowfarmpub.co.uk/index.htm

When
From 7pm on the first Monday of the month. Next meet on the 6th of May.

What
Pre-2000 cars from stock to modified.

The Big Don'ts
Pot smoking
Anti-social behaviour, especially burnouts, drifting and excessively loud stereos
Littering

The Please Do List
Be awesome to each other
Enjoy the cars on show
Enjoy the food and drink available at Meadow Farm (and the warm when it's cold outside)

This is intended to be a fresh start for the Retro Rides South Yorkshire Meet and reboot it as a family friendly event where we can meet and talk cars, admire each others work and get ideas. Or just meet up with mates and a enjoy some food and drink with a decent backdrop of cars.

Anyone choosing to continue to meet at Meadowhall Retail Park does so at their own risk. Take this message as being an official cut with that event as having anything to do with Retro Rides.

Let's make this excellent together.

I'm sure the word will get around, it always does. Within a couple of meets certainly

Don't forget, new venue tomorrow night. Already had a handful of folks confirm they'll be there, I hope lots of people turn up and have a pleasant evening at the new place.

Time for a more proper update than I had offered earlier. In short, the new venue is a massive improvement over the old in many ways.

The only real issue is the extended car park is a slightly rougher surface than I'd like and it's gravel, which makes it less than ideal for really low stuff. However, that's really the only problem that was evident to me and was mentioned by folk that did turn up and it's something we can get around. Normally, the pub isn't too busy on a Monday night, but being a GLORIOUS day and a bank holiday it was pretty full when the first few folks arrived and almost all the tarmac spaces were taken.

So what about the venue? Well there's lots of grassy areas for kids to play safely. Food and drink in the pub is really reasonably priced, the cake selection is amazing and the staff are really friendly. Getting there is an absolute doddle, even though it's further away from where I live than the old venue, it's a far less stressful journey as you don't have to venture into Sheffield proper at all.

Night time lighting is great and the landscape is a pleasant mix of houses and greenery, making for some nicely composed photographs. It's also less exposed a site than the retail park which makes for a much more pleasant atmosphere, though that will change as we get into colder months.

The only other drawback is the space. There's enough parking for about 200 cars, we could probably squeeze more in if we had to, but tonight we got 40 cars with ample parking for twice that, the ACE manages to cope with similar space issues so it probably won't be an issue.

You actually want to see some pictures though don't you? It'll take a while, there's a lot to wade through. Full gallery is here .

There were some familiar faces in attendance. A few retro Fords had gathered really early on, making the most of the fantastic weather and the pub grub no doubt and who can blame them?






A bit on the new side, perhaps, but excellently well turned out and I'm a fan of the Street Ka, I think they're quite a good looking thing.




Early on, quite a few folk had already made it. The little Fiat was tidy and sat well with the other attendees. My chariot for the evening was my brother's white Astra estate.


This Polo is a proper giggle, I have a lot of time for it for being so absurd. We followed it in and got chatting pretty much straight away, the owner is a decent bloke.








Another early arrival was this Nissan Primera, only the second of its type I've ever seen.


Missed out on getting a better shot of the Corrado in the background, I think I've spoken to the owner before, it's certainly a nice thing.


RARE. Probably car of the day for me.






More soon, there's a lot still to come.

On the modern side of things, but the finish and the wheels made it fit in fairly well with the rest.




I don't know what the story is with this Rover, but it was impressive in its own way. Must find out more.


Some more of the performance Fords.


Superb Datsun 120Y was sporting a RR sticker. Daily driver for three years, just finished the usual Datsun weldathon and about to be given a rest so more work can be done on it. It's the first time I've seen a 120Y out in the wild since the mid to late eighties.




Awesome wheels on it too.






Dad wagon.


I liked this Honda, it was good.




Wheels were nicely detailed too.

So, it got to about 9pm, almost everyone had gone home and we thought that was that. This is how the car park looks normally on a Monday so there's oodles of space for us all to use.


Retro Rides South Yorkshire is ever the unpredictable meet, as I found out when I turned the key in the ignition and this lot rolled in.


By this point my camera batteries were nearly dead and I'd left the tripod at home as I hadn't expected to be taking night time shots. Still, got a few good pictures of the group that turned up from DIY Performance and got to talk to them and admire the wide range of cars they'd brought along.







So there, finally, you have it. Our first meet at the new venue and a turn out of about 40 cars and probably twice that people as many of the cars had lots of passengers. A great, chilled out atmosphere and a reboot that felt like it had put the meet back to how it was a few years ago.

I spoke to the staff in the pub who were happy for us to return next month and gave them our thanks for use of their space. Providing things continue in the same vein as it did on this meet, we'll be welcome along any time.

Did I mention the pub do takeaway cake? Because they do, and their cakes looked awesome.

Just joined, and don't own a Retro Ride as such (the MK4 Golf with the nice wheels is mine), but I do like my old motors and here is my selection of photos............ I hope the link works

www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.577918078895321.1073741830.466526190034511&type=1

Yep, i was the one in the blue t-shirt, as i say, i don't actually own a retro ride, but i don't have love looking at them (and taking photos of them )