Caravan Club South-East Q&A - Brooklands Museum

This is the very first event for the local centres that we have been to over the three years since we joined the Caravan and Motorhome Club. Technically we are in the East Kent Centre although we haven't been to any locally organised events.  Until today.  Saturday 22nd March.

The huge junction on the M25 with the A3 in Surrey and close to the venue, the Brooklands Museum, was going to be closed for some work. The junction work was started so long ago it's lost in the mists of time.  It's been another massive job and like the similarly undertaken task on the M2/A249 in Kent, it's so long ago no one can remember when it all started.  The years of disruption will be forgotten when traffic can move smoothly (again!) and save everyone 20 seconds on their journey through the area.

So the plan was to go earlier on Friday and stay locally in a Certificated Location in Hersham.  The journey then on the Saturday morning would only be around 20 minutes. But as previously blogged on the Blogger site and linked on Travellerspoint, the gas problem meant we had to cancel the overnight stay and make the journey on Saturday morning.

So it was about 8.30am when we hit the road. We decided to go in the van as Reggie isn't allowed into the museum as he isn't a guide or assistance dog. So we went in the van and therefore he could have somewhere to sleep whilst we were at the meeting etc.

We knew of the road closure I mentioned above and so I planned a route to potentially avoid the area.  I almost managed it. The plan was to set off around the M25 as far as the A217 and then go inside the ring, this is in the ULEZ Zone now for part of it. We are Euro6 and therefore exempt. It was slow going as the route I chose happened to be the signed diversion route! 

I used to live in Weybridge until I was 20 and then again for a few years after my separation and divorce, and the planned route took me to places I probably haven't been for forty years.  

Tolworth?  On the A3 and the Tower is still there and where the DVLA used to be and we went to tax bikes and cars. I went there to get my provisional motorcycle licence updated when I passed the test in 1978.

The Toby Jug pub across the road from the Tower. Gone. Being replaced by apartments!  We used to go to discos there in the early 70's.  Most weekends saw a group that had been to school together since we were kids and played football nearby. We went there for the music and the dancing!

The pubs we used to go to on the old A3, both boarded up.  At least Sandown Park Racecourse is still there... Then the traffic started to build as we neared Brooklands. The fall out from the road closure affecting the wider area. 

We parked up easily enough. The meeting was due to start at 11am, and we parked up at about 10.55am. Reggie had a comfort break and we left him. It was warmish weather and I left the rooflight open over his bed area.  A few treats and a bowl of water for him.

I took a few photos of the some of the cars in the parking as we walked to the Museum entrance.

The meeting was in the Napier Room inside the museum area. 

As a result we got free admission to the museum but would have to pay extra for the walk through tour of the Concorde aircraft outside. It was fully booked in any case.

The meeting went on for a couple of hours and then we were free to wander.  We went to reception and got a couple of passes so we could go and let Reggie out and have our sandwiches! Before returning to look around the exhibits.  

The museum celebrates the early days of motor and motorcycle racing in Britain. The track was banked but it looks as though you can't get to walk it any more. We spent a couple of hours wandering from building to building.  

The site was also involved in the early days of flight and there are exhibits from that past as well. Plus of course more modern aircraft or at least post-WW2 aircraft like the BAC-111 and VC10, as well as Concorde.

When we came to leave the traffic was much better and we had no real problems backtracking to the A217 and then the M25 again.  

We learned a bit about the local centres of the Caravan Club and the events we can attend. And the museum was the cherry on the cake!