THE WINCHESTER MG Owner’s Club annual Cobweb Spin has taken place across the city and has been hailed as a success.

The event was to celebrate the club’s 25th anniversary, the event was for the first time held within the city itself.

The name refers to the fact that the Winchester club traditionally host the first regional MG event of the year and it offers the opportunity to blow away those garage cobwebs after the winter months.

The event is open to all types of MG’s and other classic and sports cars and gives the owners the opportunity to display their pride and joy.

In addition to Winchester club’s cars, other regional MG club delegations arrived from all over the south including Southampton, the New Forest, Bournemouth, Poole, Newbury, Basingstoke and Chichester. The ‘Alresford Allsorts’ club were also represented as were many other local independent owners.

Around 126 cars descended on the city and were displayed at several locations including The Great Hall, Hampshire County Council courtyard at Elizabeth court, the Law Courts and in front of the military museums in Peninsula Square.

There were plenty of MG’s but other well-known car marques were also well represented such as Rolls-Royce, Austin, Morris, Standard, Ford, Vauxhall, Hillman, Morgan, Mercedes and many more.

Their ages ranged from the 1920s right through to modern day sports cars.

The spectacular sight of hundreds of classic cars set against a historic backdrop attracted many hundreds of visitors and provided many great photo opportunities.

The Mayor of Winchester, Councillor Jane Rutter, was in attendance and was treated to a spin around her own ward in a 1959 MGA. Asked to select the car she would most like to drive home, the Mayor chose an Iris blue 1963 MGB Roadster.

The owners, Mark and Marina Wooldridge who are members of the Basingstoke MG Owner’s club were delighted to be presented with a certificate and prize.

The Mayor stressed the difficulty in choosing just one from so many wonderful cars on show but explained that her choice was based upon a poster that hung on her bedroom wall when she was a teenager. It had featured a very similar MGB Roadster and she had always dreamed of owning one.

Club marshals made a charity collection during the event to raise money in aid of Combat Stress, one of the Mayor’s charities. A total of £311.72 was collected and will be presented to the charity as part of the Mayor’s total for the year.

The organisers have said that they are grateful for the support of Hampshire County Council, the Military Museums and Gentian Developments for providing display spaces and to the local businesses who supported the event.