Mostly British car show returns to Fort Langley

A double-decker London bus that toured Canada to promote the 1967 Sydney Poitier film ‘To Sir With Love’ will be among the vehicles on display on Sunday, April 24 in Fort Langley.

It will be the first St. George’s Show Langley by the Langley Area Mostly British Motoring Club (LAMB) since the pandemic hit.

LAMB member Martin Ross said the bus was purchased by a collector after it was brought over from Britain to advertise the Columbia Pictures production featuring Poitier as a teacher who wins over some rebellious East London students.

Ross, a LAMB member for 20 years, will be bringing his Morris Minor 1000, decked out as a police car, with him in uniform as a British “Bobby.” Police officers in London, England, acquired the nickname after Sir Robert Peel, who set up the first organised police service in 1829 with permanently appointed and paid constables.

“I’ve got some [police] paraphernalia that I’ve picked up over the years,” Ross said.

He owned his first Morris when he was 16, Ross told the Langley Advance Times.

“It was kind of a British family car” that was also used by police for street patrols.

Like most LAMB members, Ross has spent the two years of the pandemic doing “a little bit of puttering” on his car.

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This year, the number of vehicles had to be trimmed from the usual 85, to 60, because there was less space at the hall.

“They’re doing some work on the grounds,” Ross explained.

Classic cars will be on display April 24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Fort Langley heritage hall at 9167 Glover Road.

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St. George’s Day British Motoring show-and-shine is also a fundraiser, with a silent auction for the Langley Hospital Foundation.

“Its one of the things we like to do for the community,” Ross said.

St. George is the patron saint of England and LAMB tries to hold its annual car show as close as possible to April 23, the day that pays tribute to him.