Swedish Day 2011 was another great success and even though the weather looked like it might be cruel to us and give us some rain, it ended up very dry, warm and sunny with a steady wind blowing through the site

As in 2010 the weekend started on Saturday evening with a successful Carvery at The Sparkford Inn. 33 Swedish Fans sat down and enjoyed a three course meal followed by lots of chat until closing time.
Many of our friends from Europe were there sharing their love for both Saab and Volvo. Luckily for us, the English language was known by everyone.
Chris Hamley, a Saab specialist from Devon, arrived with his whole garage staff and their families and almost took over the pub car park with their six cars including a 9000 Limousine and Saab Astra van.

The day of the show saw Alex, myself, our families and members of the South West Saab group turn up at 8.30am to get things organised,

Some gazebos were erected and flags were put up to fly and with the strong wind they flew very well. The Volvos and Saabs started to arrive around 9.30, and there was a steady flow of Swedish vehicles driving through the gates. As in previous years, they were parked as they arrived therefore having a nice mixture of Cars on display.
By 11.00am over 100 cars had received their welcome bag and instructions. This year the cars were parked in an arc formation which turned out looking very nice. There were opportunities during the day to have photo shoots with like models if you wanted.

By the end of the day we had had a total of 141 different Swedish vehicles on display for all to see. It was great to talk to so many enthusiasts and to see so many people smiling all day.

The variety of Swedish cars was brilliant. The older cars were there, a Volvo PV544 and a couple of Volvo 1800's, a few Saab Two Stroke’s including a Saab 93 with spot light on the roof. The cars ranged from the 40’s right up to the most modern of the two brands including the new Saab 9-5 and the new Volvo S60.

The Saabs and Volvos came from all four corners of the UK, and were joined by many of our friends from mainland Europe.

The other attraction of being at Haynes was the Museum. Everybody who signed their car in received a reduced rate to enter the Haynes International Museum. Almost everybody took a visit to enjoy the great cars in the Museum. The children had the play park, go-karts, diggers as well as the wooden fort/climbing frame and the play bus. Others attractions were taking place, including a Swedish Knowledge Quiz with some very tricky questions. The winner was Etienne from Belgium who picked up a very nice limited edition print signed by Eric Carlsson. A raffle took place with many great prizes. I want to thank the many wives of the South West Saab group for looking after the many duties that go on during the day.

During the day there were six judging competitions going on. Three were named “The Most Admired Volvo, Saab and Truck” and was sponsored by Chris Knott Insurance and Tailored Transport. Each entrant was given the task of choosing their Most Admired Volvo, Truck & Saab at the show. Another was “Best in Show”, sponsored by Peter Swann from “The GB Motor Book Company”. As Pete said it was very difficult to choose one as there were a great many “Best” cars, so he decided to ask himself, which car would I like to travel home in? The local Saab garage was there to choose their favourite Saab and Dimitri from www.dimini.ch, an internet shop selling model cars, who chose his favourite Volvo at the show.
A big thank you to all the sponsors for supplying the trophies. The prizes at the 2011 show were awarded like this.

The Chris Knott “Most Admired Saab” chosen by the people at Swedish Day was presented by Paul Channer to Chris Redmond and his Saab 900 T16S.
The Chris Knott “Most Admired Volvo” chosen by the people at Swedish Day was presented by Paul Channer to Thierry from France with his Volvo 1800.
The Tailored Transport "Most Admired Truck" was not claimed this year.
“Dimini.ch's Favourite Volvo” was presented by Etienne Morsa to Rob Gray and his Volvo C70 T5
“Astley Saabs Favourite Saab” was presented by Jerry Peck to Andy Boorman and his Saab 99.
Peter Swann of the GB Motor Book Company’s Best in Show or later re-tagged as "Car I would most like to drive home in" was presented to Tony Grestock and his Saab 93F GT750.

I would like to thank everybody for supporting this event, the helpers, the five sponsors mentioned above, Matt and Haynes Museum for the location, my friends Pete, Clive, Mike & Marion, Mark & Carol and Alex & Isabel for the constant support, the local Saab owners group for their fantastic help on the day, the internet forums and blogs, including www.saabsunited.com and www.saabhuy.net and of course, my wife Kerry and daughter Azabeth. But the biggest thank you goes to all the owners of those lovely Saabs and Volvos that came along on the day.

Next years show will be held on Sunday the 13th May with a few additional activities taking place on Saturday including a road trip organised by Etienne.
Camping on site is also being planned. Hope to see you there.

Robin.