Autism Awareness Month VW show

Autism Awareness

Living in the UK, it’s easy to be spoilt for choice if you ever want to go to a car show of some description. There are also some great shows in nearby Europe too. However, sometimes you stumble across a little gem that’s right on your very doorstep. This was us when Lorna and I happened across a show that was taking place a couple of minutes walk from where we live. It was being put on by our local Autism Adult Day Care Center as a fundraising event in support of www.autismsussex.org.uk as part of the wider Autism Awareness Month. We got the details of the show and were lucky enough to be included for this their first inaugural ‘vantastic’ event…

breaking out the cargo door canopy in the spring sunshine

The day started off a bit overcast and drizzly weatherwise, but Hastings is renowned for its sunshine, and sure enough, this soon cleared away and it turned into a lovely sunny spring day! 🙂

What a mug

We got a chance to try out a new addition to our camping kit for the bus. I had bought two YETI Rambler 14 oz. mugs. They are supposed to be the toughest, most over-engineered camp mug out there. Unlike our old enamel mugs, these have double-wall, vacuum-insulated bodies to keep cold drinks cold, and hot drinks hot until the last sip. Well, this would be the opportunity to see if they live up to the marketing hype, as I made drinks in them earlier at home and walked them over to the show…

the YETI rambler mugs with double wall vacuum insulation lived up to the hype — the YETI rambler mugs with double-wall vacuum insulation lived up to the hype

Have to be honest, the mugs really outperformed my expectations! They kept our drinks, not warm, but actually hot for well over 60-90+ mins! I loved the oversized opening of the mugs, they would be great for soups, porridge, ice-cream or whatever, not just teas and coffee. A real multi-purpose item – so big thumbs up from us! 🙂

Lorna busy crocheting some of her hand dyed wool — Lorna busy crocheting some of her hand-dyed wool

Early Bay beauty

Lorna was in her element, chatting with people, enjoying the sunshine and doing some crocheting as part of her final project for her MA. So I thought I’d take the opportunity for a little wander around to check out some of the other buses that had turned up for the show…

beautiful original condition late bay Westfalia camper

We had been parked up next to a superb condition, late bay Westfalia camper in immaculate condition, inside and out. It really was a beautiful bus 🙂

very early (1968) bay westfalia pop top camper — very early (1968) bay Westfalia pop top camper

Pop tops

There were other pop-top campers on display including a very early (1968 first year of production) Westfalia camper plus a Viking conversion camper. Later on in the day, a rare split-screen Dormobile pop-top conversion arrived and looked ace!

nice Dormobile split screen pop top camper — nice Dormobile split screen pop-top camper

The show was being held in a fairly small industrial courtyard space for the event, and some of the slightly later arrivals could not all fit in. Maybe they were unsure of the weather so headed off a bit later when the sun came out? I guess there were 20-30 odd vehicles in the end? So not massive, but there was a nice selection of air and water-cooled variations, plus a nice vibe about the whole event.

trouble getting every bus to fit into the main area

As part of the charity raising event, there was a special locally well-known split-screen ‘fire bus’ that was very popular with the kids (of all ages) busy raising money for children’s charities.

the special fire bus was a hit with the kids and was busy raising money for charity

So as a small VW camper based show with some stalls, food and some great live music by Kayleigh Ann (a local Hastings singer-songwriter, check the video below for a snippet…) I thought it was a great day out, and hopefully raised some money for www.autismsussex.org.uk as part of the wider Autism Awareness Month.