Essex Figaro Day Trip – Sunday 30th October 2022

Words, Pictures and Video – Adam Woods

This year we managed to put together five-day trips across the Eastern Region! Spookily our Halloween event would again take place in Essex! Well, it wasn’t really that spooky as we had intended to do something else in Essex in September, with October planned to be a visit to IWM Duxford in Cambridgeshire, however, when that didn’t work out we switched things around, did Cambridgeshire in September, and needed to come up with something for Essex for Halloween weekend!

After last year’s visit to a once-secret nuclear bunker, we wanted to come up with something equally as enjoyable for members to enjoy, especially as October could inevitably be less appealing weather-wise. We found Stow Maries Great War Aerodrome fairly quickly, so the next question was where we would meet and whether we then find somewhere to stop off on the way. And so began a long and onerous mission to find somewhere in Southend with decent facilities for breakfast, enough space for parking, and an outlook onto the sea. Having believed we had found somewhere we then went about finding somewhere to stop. We came across the vast complex of sites that is Battlesbridge Antiques and Craft Village and were so impressed with the site that we decided it would be better for members to meet there, and have a chance to browse (at least some of) the vast array of shops, and then take a shorter route to the aerodrome.

With 17 cars signed up, the day arrived… and the rain! We were out early on the Sunday morning signposting the route, getting a little bit wet in the drizzle… just hoping it wouldn’t get any worse… by the time it got to 10 am, the drizzle had turned into the rain! But we grabbed our allotted area of the car park and one by one we welcomed Figgy folk waving them to their parking spaces, dodging the odd puddle here and there. As ever it was a joy to see familiar faces, as well as welcome new members attending their first Figgy event!

Once we had all had a chance to explore a bit, and grab a bite to eat, we all re-convened at 11.45 and took a few minutes to enjoy some of the crazy Halloween decorations bewitching many of the Figaros attending. Sadly two cars were unable to make it, so our final numbers were 15, but the great news was that it had stopped raining so we put our roof down, ready to film our departure from Battlesbridge, the route and the arrival at the aerodrome. We had a brief chat about the route, and after a chorus of beep beeps, we were off, dodging puddles on our way out.

We headed out from Battlesbridge and selected a country route that would avoid big stretches of A road and instead take us across the country and down some lovely country lanes to enjoy the autumnal colours. While it was a very grey day, we enjoyed the drive and the route, with a particularly lovely avenue of trees along a narrow track. Our route led us on past a farm and around a field towards the gated entrance to the aerodrome… to find the gate locked! With 14 cars behind us, the prospect of reversing down a single-track road wasn’t on my bucket list. After a slightly nervy few minutes the lovely people from the aerodrome came down to open the gate for us, and we rolled in and round, and onto the site to park in the central area of the aerodrome itself in our own exclusive Figgy parking area!

With 14 cars behind us, the prospect of reversing down a single-track road wasn’t on my bucket list.

Having parked up we were warmly welcomed by the team at Stow Maries Aerodrome and were all given chance to get ourselves a bite to eat, after which we split into two groups to be given tours of the site by the volunteers. And as we did, the sun came out, and the cloud lifted! Stow Maries Aerodrome does indeed hail from the Great War over 100 hundred years ago, and it was fascinating to learn about the site as well as some of the amazing vehicles including a 100-year-old electric lorry!! Our guide was a fascinating chap who dispensed so much information in a friendly and accessible way – we thoroughly enjoyed it!

And, so the day came to an end – one by one Figgy folk departed with a beep and a wave… and we headed off, to take down all the signs we had put up that morning!

2022 WHAT A YEAR!

After our first year of doing the day trips last year when we had 4 events and welcomed 33 different members, this year our 5 events saw us welcome 48 different members, 16 of whom attended multiple events we had organised. It is such a pleasure meeting everyone, and sharing the joy and smiles Figgys bring!

We don’t have any plans to put together anymore this year (our Figaro Sparky is going in for surgery in a couple of weeks) so I’ll get my thinking cap on for next year’s plans!

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Published on 4th November 2022

Essex Figaro Day Trip – Sunday 30th October 2022

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