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How is 2023 almost over, madness! So, following the last post, the next show was Dubs At The Castle (DATC) in Caldicot and it rained a lot, luckily we had a new larger awning for the campervan. Also luckily, the Welsh are used to rain and it certainly didn't dampen any spirits thereby living up to expectation. The show has a theme each year and in 2023 it was Hawaii so we donned matching M&S palm tree outfits and got stuck in. Come Sunday I got as much of the campsite mud off the Polo as possible and drove into position in the show field. After an entertaining charity auction I was very surprised to be chosen for an award and I corrected a mistake from 2021, when I last picked up a trophy at DATC, by taking my daughter up to collect the trophy with me. As mentioned in previous posts the next event was the second Type 86 OC (https://www.instagram.com/Type86OC/) meet at the Caffeine & Machine automotive venue on 24th July 2023. After taking the Polo to work in the morning I arrived early, cleaned up the Polo and had a lovely burger for lunch. Others then started to arrive, many before the 17:00 advertised kick-off time which was reassuring. By the time the evening started we had 6 Mk1 Polo and 5 Mk1 Derby which was an amazing turnout! I overheard the staff discussing this was fewer vehicles than a usual 'Club Night' but one of them did then point out "how often do you seen any this early!". Pizza, drinks a copious amounts of Polo-chat were had until they closed up at 22:00 and I stayed over in a comfortable room and headed back to work the next day. During the drive home my noisy-but-bearable clutch release bearing decided to become unbearable and I limped home. On removing the gearbox the bearing had totally failed and the ball-bearings tumbled out. It was clear I'd driven home by grinding the bearing body against the pressure plate but hadn't damaged anything else. I'm not sure why it had failed as it was a NOS Sachs clutch but perhaps the bearing lubricant had dried out over time. I have replaced it with another NOS Sachs kit but this time of a newer type with a sealed cartridge release bearing so hopefully that lasts longer. That's it for 2023 shows but I do have a big change planned for this winter which I'll update here once I've made some progress. Hope you are all well and having a good year, Cheers.