Alison Budd - Concours d'eleganceBethune Retro 2009
Banishing the Blues at Bethune
If holidays have to end, then surely rounding off by going to a classic car meeting in France must be one of the better ways to finish a trip abroad. Before heading back to Calais, we spent a day at the annual weekend event at Bethune which features classic cars as well as all kinds of music - rock n roll, blues, you name it - as the town becomes an entertainment mecca for 48 hours.
Saturday is the quieter day, largely a day of arrivals but still the place to see many interesting as well as beautiful cars. The sports arena became the meeting point for the classic cars with other locations about town hosting events too. The American cars and hotrods congregated in the town centre, providing an interesting sideshow to the plethora of stages which, on Saturday morning, were still in the throes of construction.
As the day went on, the cars grew more numerous. We felt pretty lucky that the local group of 204 enthusiasts had arrived early and at one point, there were more 204s than any other model of car, Peugeot or non-Peugeot. It was the ideal opportunity to compare notes although we had to resort to the dictionary at times! They were incredibly helpful and were very willing to take time trying to figure out what I was actually attempting to say! In fact, emails have been flowing since then and it was great to make those contacts. Hopefully we may see some French cars attending a CPUK event in future months.
The concours d'elegance also took place on the Saturday with the local bandstand providing the backdrop. Cars ranged from the exotic (Ferrari) to the one-time commonplace in France (Renault 4, Renault Dauphine, Citroen Traction and 2CV amongst others) while Peugeot was represented by an immaculate 404 which towed a caravan while a younger member of the 404 family valiantly rode alongside in a matching pedal car. While walking back to the sports centre, we bumped into fellow members Richard and Carolyn Barker who had arrived after a slow journey courtesy of the M25. It doesn't seem as if France often gets hold-ups such as they had experienced!
Unfortunately, our ferry wasn't going to stay in port waiting for us, so we had to take our leave and miss the scenic tour that was organised for the Sunday morning. It was a great way of seeing cars that have largely disappeared from Britain and it certainly had taken away the 'end of holidays blues' feelings.
Alison Budd
