All welcome to Willie Gavin Snr Memorial Run

Mullingar Classic and Vintage Club are encouraging everyone to come out and admire the many interesting vehicles that will be taking part in the Willie Gavin Snr Memorial Run this weekend, and to support their charity partner.

The late Willie Gavin was a long time and hugely enthusiastic member of the club. He drove in events in his immaculate Nissan Vanette or the Renault 5 he and his son, John restored, and was always happy to share his technical skills and knowledge.

In his obituary in the Westmeath Examiner last October, we wrote: ‘Willie Gavin has been compared to the TV character MacGyver because of his superb engineering skills. No matter what the problem, Willie could fix it - from mending a broken lawnmower to rebuilding a classic car, he could do it all. He was renowned for his attention to detail and it was often asked, “did you do it Willie’s way?” and more often than not, they tried to.’

The Willie Gavin Snr Memorial Run takes place on Sunday, March 6. Registration (entry fee €25; includes lunch and entry to the Belvedere estate for driver; additional passengers €5 each) is from 9.30am at The Downs GAA clubhouse and the cars depart at 11am.

The route is to Belvedere for 11.45am, where the public are welcome to view the classic and vintage vehicles, which will be there for around an hour and a half.

The convoy will then move on to Columb Barracks, Mullingar, to arrive at around 2pm. The vehicles will remain there till 4pm or 4.30pm.

The public are also welcome there, and any donations given will be forwarded to the oncology ward at Tullamore hospital will be welcome.

Mullingar Classic and Vintage Club have received support for the event from many local sponsors, for which they expressed gratitude. Among them are:

Topline Mullingar Hardware;

M Hynes Signs;

Domino’s Pizza;

Sleator Kia;

McNamee Tyres;

Quality Motor Parts;

Alan Bardon Motors;

Lift Hire Ireland;

Smyth’s of Killucan Homevalue;

Gordon Mitchell Consulting Engineers;

Tommy Macken Cars;

Robbie’s Tyres;

Colton Motors;

Hamills Motoring Services;

Roma Café;

Classic Car Detailing, Mullingar;

Gaffney Car Sales;

TEG;

Speedyparts, Mullingar;

Top Parts, Mullingar;

PW Shaw;

Mullingar Nissan/ Opel;

Keenan Bauer Motors;

Amber Court Restaurant;

Faulkner Sheds