Vintage and veteran vehicles in classic Moone fundraiser

A MIGHTY selection of motorised nostalgia travelled throughout south Kildare and Co Laois recently in the Moone Classic and Vintage Road Run in what was the 15th annual outing of this classic run.

“It was about 200 vehicles – I don’t know, exactly, but we had tractors, cars, lorries and motorbikes,” said Giles Keppel, local plumber and chairman of the run.

The fundraising event was being held in aid of community alert CCTV in the Moone and Timolin villages, as well as for the two local parish churches.

“The oldest vehicle we had was a 1934 Austin 7, which belonged to Declan Grogan, the president of the Irish Vintage and Veteran Car Club from Tinryland,” said Giles.

To somewhat differentiate, a veteran car is older than a vintage, with a vintage car being at least 30 years’ old, while a veteran car is anything older than 50 years, although even the experts can disagree, with some adding sub-categories such as post-vintage and classic.

The run covered some ground starting in Moone at 1pm, before travelling through Castledermot, Maganey, then over to Ballickmoyler and Arles in Laois, before heading up to Pedigree Cross, back into Athy, out to Kilkea Castle, through the grounds, out the back to the High Cross Inn, and back to the auction in the Crookstown Inn, followed by music from The Breen Brothers.

“We don’t have the total figure raised just yet, but we’re expecting to raise over €15,000,” said a quietly proud Giles.

“Apart from the community alert CCTV, there’ll also be a few bob for the church in Timolin and the church in Moone,” said Giles.

We asked Giles how long the procession took with all those elderly vehicles and were shocked when he told us matter-of-factly: “Oh, 40 minutes.”.

Even Declan Grogan in his 91-year-old Austin 7?

“Oh, he’d be flying in that,” smiled Giles.