The Metropower Gazebo

Ever since the dawn of Metro enthusiast groups, clubs such as “Performance Metro Club” then later “Metropower” and others including TorqueMetro, Metro Owners Club etc. there has been no real club display material bar a few banners and flags - or anything as grand as what we’ve accomplished recently. The Metropower gazebo was a MASSIVE group fund drive created by the Admin of the group.

The generosity was absolutely fantastic and donations flooded in from members all over the country. The main focus of having a gazebo was to use it as a hub to attract Metro owners old  and new, serve merchandise, snacks and refreshments to all! But what better than to have a shelter from the typical British weather! That and it’d look as if we were a group with a real passion for Metros and modifying!

We managed to hit £500 in several weeks, the order deadline came closer & closer and we were still short of donations despite the odd £5 and £1 donations trickling in. We were starting to consider if the fully customised print design was affordable – the design also changed several times to allow the sublimation process to be achievable and not so costly.

Luckily a longstanding member and recent business starter Ralph Hampshire, showed interest in having a small advert included with the design of the gazebo, so site Admin George Morey who was creating the gazebo used his talents to change the design one final time and added Component Engineering’s advert. Ralph's generous payment meant that the gazebo was finally put through to its final stages and the order was placed with gazeboshop.co.uk.

A couple of weeks before Pride of Longbridge 2016 the gazebo arrived, sadly the bag for the frame of the gazebo was broken. This was no issue fortunately as they happily replaced the bag. A nice sunny day was all that was needed to erect the gazebo and see what the entire MetroPowers community’s donations amounted to! Luckily such a day showed itself and it looked great! 

Unfortunately, the gazebo's first outing was a bit of a disappointment, the first time Pride of Longbridge had been canceled in its lifetime and it was the one where we wanted to show off the gazebo, typical! Although it was put up and refreshments were served – Metro owners were scattered like the majority of the MG/ROVER clubs throughout the midlands not knowing where to gather next. Fortunately several events were graced with the gazebo's presence during 2016 including Santa Pod Tro Fest, National Metro and Mini day - although nowhere near as large as PoL.

The total cost of the gazebo was a few pounds short of £1000, you can imagine the responsibility that came with being trusted with the funds and purchasing. As the author of its creation and its design, I’d like to take credit but I don’t want it. As it was purely the Metropower community and its members that earned the credit. You’re all legends and so very generous, we hope you are able to experience its benefits in future shows – as that’s who it belongs to; EVERYONE!