Ireland: Mullingar - 21/11/2009 - ***Updated with Hotel Info***

[MoCam]

Hello all.

It was great to see so many Volvos in Mullingar yesterday. Really sorry that some of you who wanted to come along could not make it, but I totally understand how difficult it could have been for you, given the extreme weather we have been having in recent days, the flood situation that prevailed and the distance involved. Big thanks to you and everyone who actually made it along for the collective input and enthusiasm which helped make it happen.

After a really wet drive down from the north, we arrived to a brief few hours of brighness and even some sunshine. All in all, there were 10 Volvos. 9 at Anne Brook House Hotel in Mullingar, where we met for lunch, plus one more completely by fluke after we drove on out to Belvedere House (some of us via the scenic route and a wrong stately house!).

Belvedere was heaving due to a "Food and Design" fair taking place there, and we were parked all over the place. But we asked around and were directed to an overlow carpark nearer the entrance which suited us well. With the light failing fast, I took several shots of the cars and today patched the interesting bits together into a collage, which so far I have been unable to upload (getting a "not a valid image file" message). Any idea what I'm doing wrong? I know there were several others photos taken which we will maybe see copies of in due course.

Anyhow, I thoroughly enjoyed my day out. It was great meeting you all, seeing your cars, having some good craic and a bit of banter. Hopefully you all made it home safely and maybe we'll get to meet up again in the future.

Cheers,
Mo.

[Galaxie390]

Hi Folks,

Thank you all for a great day, I reckon it was well worth the effort despite the weather. I have to say you're all a great bunch!

I can't believe I met the dealer who remembers selling my 940 brand new, I'm going to email him as he said he thinks he has a load of history on the car. Should be interesting, I'll keep you posted. He also had some great stories about his time as a Volvo dealer and Volvos ability to build almost any car brand new (for a price of course).

Right, where's the next meeting...lol!

Cheers,

Rich

'94 940 - For sale

[Baffler]

Hi All,

We got lucky on the day with the rains holding off and allowing us the chance of a photo oppertunity and a chat, albeit a bit cold. Good to see such a nice range of cars and to meet you all in person. Hope to meet up again soon and hopefully the weather will allow more of us to get together. All in all a good day out

Half my pictures turned out a bit 'out of focus' - mind you, nothing to do with the couple of Lemsips keeping me on my feet




A few more pics here

[mchudd]

Hi all.
It was great to meet everyone.The cars were great and the criac was great.
The Hotel was spot on and the grub good.
Andy did a great job in orginizing us northern boys.
I hope to see you all again soon.
Cheers Mark.

[DarrenK]

I spy a window louver... Nice pictures, thanks for them!

It sounds like you guys had a good time besides the weather. It's unfortunate some couldn't make it, but understandable. I hope this weekend opens the doors to similar future meets!

[NI_Volvo_Nut]

Hey guys, I just got access back to the forums again... YEEHAAA lol

It was a great day, with the weather issues I was a bit concerned, but when I met with the Northern guys they were all happy to go ahead down, so off we set. And I'm really glad we did now. I've a bit of a report wriiten up, nothing special so don't get excited lol, and I'll upload my pic's once I get my laptop working on the forum.

Once again though, a big thank you to all who showed, everybody has said how well organised it was, and I appricate the comments, but it wouldn't have been a meet if you guys didn't make the effort to come as well. Here's to the future of Volvo meets

[NI_Volvo_Nut]

Well the day finally came, after months of planning and date changing. Although it’s nearly as if this meet wasn’t meant to happen.

A day before the meet, Ireland seen some of its worst flooding for decades, with many parts of Southern and Western Ireland under several feet of water. Sadly because of this some of us couldn’t make it, but regardless us Norn Iron ones were determined to get there.

We met at the Homebase on Boucher Road at 9.45, Carl, Mark, Maurice and I travelled in convoy to Sprucefield were we met with Omar.

We then made or way down to Mullingar, with me being volunteered as leader. We had heavy rain and strong winds most of the journey until around 10 miles before Mullingar, then the sun appeared.

We arrived in Mulling around 1pm, met by Trevor and his wife in the Hotel car park. After a lovely drive around the car park we got our cars parked in various areas around it. It was crammed to say the least, and with a great big bus in the middle of it all, didn’t help matters. (And no, I don’t mean my 740 )

With our rooms organised, and the rest of the guys joining us, we met in the hotel bar for a bite of lunch and to discuss where we are going.


We decide on Belvedere House, so off we set. Of course it wouldn’t be a proper meet if some of us didn’t get lost….
Eventually after 3 wrong turns and arriving at some poor old lady’s house, we made it to Belvedere House. We had a walk around the market and bumper into a gentleman called Padraic O’Riordan.

He was the owner of the local Volvo Dealership, when he seen all 10 of our Volvo’s arriving he said he just had to come and investigate. So after a bit of a chat, we discovered he had actually sold Rich’s car twice, once when new, and again 2 years ago. He also told us of his collection of Volvo’s, to which he headed off to bring his 240 GLT for us to see. The 244 actually belonged to the man who was first and last to fly concord. After parking up and taking a few snaps and getting ourselves completely frozen, we set off our separate ways.

All in all we had a great meet, 10 cars in total, and new friends made.

I would just like to thank all those who made the effort to come, Liam, Rich, Donal, Trevor & partner, Maurice, Mark, Carl, Rob & Omar without you guys it just couldn’t have happened. Also a thank you to Padraic O’Riordan for sharing his stories, his 244 and making himself known to the group.

Copy’s of pic’s below.

Here’s to more Volvo meets….

Andy

[NI_Volvo_Nut]

Love these pic's Liam....

[NI_Volvo_Nut]

Some of Donal's pic's

Amm excuse me .. Where is Belvedere House Please..?



Found it..!





This is Padraic..!












Notice the age profile of the following group...!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/1375259...57622860420314
I'm sure he won't mind me posting them lol

[VanhireBoys]

Originally Posted by NI_Volvo_Nut

Some of Donal's pic's

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1375259...57622860420314
I'm sure he won't mind me posting them lol

I dont mind at all Andy .. The pics came out underexposed .. a total mess..!
I promise to get better.... Meeting Padraic was a real bonus.. I definately would not have been able to make it if the M6 wasnt open... What a great bunch of people you all are...!

We will all have to do it again soon...!