GM JEC’s Northern Jaguar Show – 2026

After months of planning, the big day was finally here. I have written separately about the work that went into organising the show and getting everything ready for the weekend. You can read that story here:
Planning the 2026 Northern Jaguar Show.

With a very early start, the volunteers arrived at 7.30am and we already had one exhibitor waiting to go in. Shortly afterwards, there began a steady stream of Jaguars arriving.

With all the volunteer marshals now on duty directing cars through the estate and into the show, there were no queues or frustrations. By 10.30am most cars were in and parked up.

Peter Leake opened the show with myself and Ian Pendlebury, and after that Bandage, our band for the day, played their first set.

With so many people chatting, mixing and admiring the vast array of cars, it really was great to see Jaguars everywhere you looked. The special feature Jaguars received a lot of attention and, of course, so did the XJ220.

At 12 noon the Vulcan engines started and the bomb bays opened to reveal a cluster of bombs, showing how they would have looked on their way to Port Stanley Airfield in 1982. Sobering to think that the bomb underneath the Vulcan on Sunday was a deactivated nuclear bomb.

At 1pm we had an enthralling talk from David Marks on the XJ40 Silverstone fire car and XJ220. With a lot of people gathered around, everyone got a great insight into the cars’ development and history. What cars.

With further sets from the band giving people time to chat and have lunch, the Best in Show awards came at 3.15pm.

Richard Jones, Events Manager at the Avro Heritage Trust, had been asked to choose the three cars he would take home with him after the show. The three he chose were the Mk9, owned by a member of the Cheshire Region, and two from the Greater Manchester Region – Lance Berry with his Eventer and Paul Greenwood with his Mk2.

Well done to them all. Richard also drew up a Highly Commended list, which included our very own Phil Matthews.

With the band going through their final set, it was time to start saying goodbyes as people began their journeys home – in a lot of cases, long journeys home.

However, there was still time for our unsung hero, photographer Frank Wilson, to take some memorable photos. The show will also be on YouTube soon.

After clearing up and putting everything back as it was, it was time to head home for drinks and a great meal.

Well done to the whole region – especially all the volunteers, but also everyone who attended and made the day so memorable.

We are going to start planning next year’s show soon, but want to look at a different type of themed show for 2027.

Watch this space.

From a personal perspective, I think the show was, again, a great success, with the glorious weather also adding to the day.

Pete and Ian, along with the other willing volunteers, have built on the previous 2 shows, which is a great achievement and a credit to the club and our region. It’s a testament to the quality of the show that we get members from as far away as Kent and Hampshire making the effort to attend.

The anniversary displays of XJS’s, XK’s and X-types were well attended, with 25 X-types turning out for the 25th Anniversary (I think I counted 9 or 10 XJS’s also, including Lance’s award wining Lynx Eventer).

The band was also a great addition and even attracted a few dancers !

It’s a real shame that due to changes that the Avro Museum are undertaking soon that we may not be able to use this venue for much longer, but I am sure our region will pull it out of the bag for another Northern Jaguar Show wherever we are.

Well done to all involved 👏👏

Phil

It was my last event before the XJ40 at 40 Part 2: Germany.

And what an event it was. Not only did we have the oldest XJ40 in the world on Display, but also a Jaguar XJ220 – car number 008

The guests at AVRO couldn’t get enough of these two very special cars parked underneath an AVRO Vulcan. It was a full on weekend promoting XJ40, the XJ220, and the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust who preserve these rare cars.

Thank you again to JDHT for trusting us with their cars and allowing us to represent them.

The Club is celebrating its 10th Anniversary year in 2026, and we made this our show of the year.

With 9 members attending, bringing their cars from as far away as Somerset, we were able to put on a good display of XJ-SC Cabriolets and XJS Convertibles. We were placed between the Greater Manchester JEC and the Cheshire JEC Regions.

The weather was spot on, and it brought lots of visitors who spent plenty of time walking around all the various Jaguar cars on display around the field and carpark areas.

Our members had a fantastic day at Avro, and were very pleased to have been invited to join in with the Greater Manchester JEC event. We look forward to attending the future events.

Laurence

Here is a selection of photos taken of our Region’s display of cars. There were 26 member cars at the event, with some spread out across the display area within dedicated model displays (XJS, X-Type) and selected show cars (XJS Eventer, XK150).

The Cars

The members and guests