Ballygarvan Run

There is something about waking up on the morning of the first vintage run of the season, while you open the curtains and hold your breath hoping for a dry bright sky secretly praying for a nice day so you can drive your American Muscle car in a safe and enjoyable environment.

And that’s exactly what the Ballygarvan vintage Club got on the 22^nd of this March 2009. After getting the niceties of Mothers Day out of the way the covers were removed from the cars and off we headed to the picturesque village of Ballygarvan just outside Cork city. The event was held in aid of a local man Denis McCarthy who got injured in a car accident nearly 12 months earlier and is now confined to a wheel chair and all funds raised on the day were donated to his rehabilitation.

At around 11.00 o’clock on Sunday morning the first of the American V8s rumbled into Ballygarvan to join the more familiar classics already present: Fords of all generations and models were there in there droves, along with some British classics such as MGs, Triumphs, Austins and much much more. Also a large collection of vintage and modern tractors. Complementary tea and scones meet us on our arrival which was a welcome treat, and as we drank our tea and discussed the Grand Slam victory of the day before, more and more of the GAScc members arrived. Tom’s 72 Mach 1 got a great reception as did Mickey’s 65 Mustang convertible, all in all we had a total of ten cars and 15 members on the run and later met up with two more members at Charles Fort in Kinsale; one of them being Francis Mea with his recently purchased 1975 Camaro. When I say recent I mean just that. Francis purchased this very clean Camaro on that same weekend and is only after arriving back to Cork from the UK on that very same morning. With him was Richie Marshal with his 1970 Mustang (Boss 302 clone). It was 12.30 before we left Ballygarvan and met Francis and Richiew, we went through Half Way on to Crossbarry down to Innishannon, and from there to Charles fort with the sun shinning brightly on us the whole day. It was perfect driving conditions. After a brief chat and a few photos in Kinsale we moved on to Riverstick, where we stopped to get petrol for the cars and a sandwich for the drivers. Back to Ballygarvan village for approximately 3.30 where we were greeted by sausage sandwiches and tea. Although shortly after we arrived back to the village most of our members headed for home. I believe that many people stayed on to enjoy the carnival type atmosphere, with no shortage of music, craic, food and drink

in there was approx 80 cars on the run along with about 40 vintage and modern tractors. The Ballygarvan vintage club raised a total of 6500.00 Euro towards the cause and GAScc were delighted to be invited to attend. We hope our participation in this event was some help to Denis McCarthy and his family, also GAScc wishes to thank Ballygarvan vintage club especially John O Donovan, one of the organisers of the event, who made us feel very welcome on that day.

Hopefully we will see a few more well organised events such as this one in the near future if you wish to look at more pictures of this event there are over 100 pictures uploaded in our gallery under shows and Ballygarvan

Jason o Driscoll