Barbecue 2023

Burton Section Barbecue

Pat and Shelley were our hosts for the Section Barbecue at Kingstone on Sunday August 6th. The weather forecast the evening before didn't look too good for outdoor events but we kept our fingers crossed that the forecasters gloomy predictions didn't come to pass. On Sunday morning I had a breakfast ride booked for a 9.30 am meeting with friends at Gilk's Garage Cafe at Kineton in Warwickshire. I left home at 8.30 am for a pleasant ride on dry roads. Gloria and I had decided that we would gauge the weather we I got back home and decide if we were going to travel to the barbecue on two or four wheels. I had another dry ride back home so we chose two wheels to go to the barbecue.

I chose what I thought would be a quick route using the A5, a short bit of A38 and A51 to Litchfield then on to Rugely after which we turned onto the B5013 that took us over Blithfield Reservoir and onwards to Kingstone. A couple of cars were already parked up so I put my well over to the side to leave plenty of room for more. It turned out it was the only bike there so I think most of the cars fitted onto the drive.

Pat and Shelly had erected some gazebos and despite the predicted poor weather they actually provided us with shade as the afternoon was bright warm and sunny. They had hedged their bets weather-wise by serving the salads and sweet courses in the barn with ace chefs Mick and Vic doing the cooking in the little octagonal wooden hut. It seemed to me to be a bit like cooking in a cross between a hot sauna and a smokehouse. These two section stalwarts are made of tough stuff and did a great job. Pat, cooking alfresco on a small barbecue, produced a fragrant selection of onions, peppers, sweet corn, haloumi cheese and chicken drumsticks. Assorted Green Salads, Potato Salad, Coleslaw, etc. accompanied the cooked items.

There was a great range of sweets to choose from. There was Tiramisu, Rhubarb Cheesecake, Chocolate Cake, two fruit flans (with cream if required) and perhaps some I missed. Well done ladies.

Numbers were a little down on previous years, maybe because of the predicted weather but the company and conversation were as good as ever. Some of the guests even ventured into the wood and were amazed at the size even though they only got as far as the ponds before they turned around instead of ploughing on into the undergrowth for who knows how far.

Mick with his chairman's hat on handed to Pat a token of the sections gratitude. I didn't quite see what it was but guess it was something eminently drinkable.

Thank you to all attendees for making it such a good afternoon. A few photographs of the afternoon below. Eddy