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May 2016 - NPOC @ Nissan Plant Sunderland

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    Posted: 30 Apr 2016 at 1:05pm
As a change to our normal MOTM and because of the success of the NPOC turnout at the Nissan Plant in Sunderland, we are doing a Club Feature instead! - This May 2016 feature has many many winners!
 
The club got together on April 23rd 2016 at the Nissan Plant in Sunderland. This idea came to light after NPOC Member "Geordie" (Chris) got speaking to Nissan in 2015. 2015 marked the 25th Anniversary of the 1st Nissan Primera being built at Sunderland, so a 25th Anniversary bash was a great idea! With all the planning involved by both Chris (and the members here on the forums) and Nissan UK, we got it on in 2016. 

2016 also marks the 30 year benchmark of Nissan producing cars at Sunderland, so it was a 2 for 1 celebration all round really!

BIG thanks right off the bat to "Geordie" for his part in this, without his vision and the amount of his time he gave up in organising this, it wouldn't have happened. Our thanks also go to "Nabber", who also helped with this one and arranged an additional part of our tour inside of the Nissan Plant.

We are eternally grateful to Nissan UK, for all their hard work here and for making this happen. They extended a very warm welcome to the NPOC and made it a day to remember! - Thank you.

This feature is dedicated to each and everyone of you guys and gals, who showed out and represented the Club - THANK YOU Clap

This feature will look back at the day we all enjoyed and also the evening, as a lot of us stayed overnight in the area and met up for an evening meal.
 
Whilst this feature takes me a lot longer to knock up than a normal MOTM one, it's always a pleasure as it's you peeps that make it so much easier. I use your photos and your words Clap
 
During the feature, you'll see I have used "actual quotes" from the members who were there. These will be "in this colour" Smile.. There's no better feedback on what we do as a club, as it comes from our own members who attended this awesome meet  Thumbs%20Up.

This feature will look at 5 parts of the actual day - The meet up at the Premier Inn in the morning, for the convoy to the Plant / Our first arrival at Nissan (at the Sports & Social Club) / Photos of cars and members whilst at the Plant and in the main car park (before and after the Factory Tour) / Photos of inside the Plant and the Factory Tour / Photos at the Nissan Sports & Social Club / A few photos of the evening meal.

So let's start with the early morning meet up in the hotel car park and some piccies of the cars and members:






rrbarny wrote: "Big up for Geordie and Nabber for this  A brill event and I got to a few faces to names as well."






Katie wrote: "Thank you to Chris & Nabbs for organising and for everyone else who travelled to our fair North "






timeshock! wrote: "Huge big thanks for Chris, Nabbs, Nissan and everyone turning up. Great effort!"






Now let's have a look at the cars once we'd got to the Nissan Plant (Social Club):












Dunmanifestin wrote: "Chris, Nabbs, that was fantastic! Sorry I didn't get to say Hi, (or bye) to everyone, I was being reminded that I promised some sightseeing, and apparently a technicolour dream carpark of Primeras didn't count! Was great to see and remember a few names and faces... I will get better at attendance! Once again, thanks to everyone, you're all awesome."












nordic scooby wrote: "Nice to see all you lovely NPOC people again, it's been too long had a great time. "













chris3438 wrote: "Really great day, a big thank you to Geordie and Nabber for bringing it all together."

We then moved the cars (and members!) into the main car park at the Nissan Plant, here they are:







RS Tom-Hundred wrote: "What can I say other than this weekend was awesome form start to finish! Rockon

Landed in Sunderland at about 8:20pm and after a brief hello with a few peeps and change of shirt I was out on the town with Nabbs, Col, G, Rich and John!  Thanks for sorting the taxi and for showing me the town guys.  Great laugh had by all and thanks to the water drinking animal that is G for the lift back to the hotel too Clap

Saturday morning was great seeing all the Primeras roll up in the car parks and especially for me as a P10 fan without a P10, seeing Jimmy's awesome 4x4 P10 and also Christine's very tidy SGX at the other end of the scale was really cool.
The factory tour was amazing and fascinating.  Thanks so much to Chris for seeting this up and for Nabbs  for also sorting it and the passenger ride in the Qashqai on the rolling road etc Clap  Great effort guys.  
The staff at Nissan were all great and particular enjoyed talking to the ex test driver chap leading our tour so thanks to him and the others Thumbs Up  
I also enjoyed chatting to Monica and the cameraman for the interviews and that was nice that they took a bit of an interest in it too.  And for the record, after a couple of you guys pointed out the ladder in Monica's tights wasn't there before but was there after my interview - I had nothing to do with that at all! (though if I was a single man then I'm sure I would have been more than open to the idea! LOL)

Great to see so many Primeras around for this and my only slight disappointment is with myself for not taking more time to meet and  speak to more members who I don't see as often!  Time just flew by so fast and can only fit in chatting to so many people unfortunately.  Special mention for Les and his Sunny ZX though as it was great to see both at this meet Rave  Hope to see more of them at upcoming meets! Thumbs Up

The meal at the Premier Inn was nice in the evening too and nicely rounded off with few more drinks at the pub near the other Premier Inn and chatting with Kim, Taz and Dave etc! Big smile

Overall a cracking weekend, great to see a big turnout (long may it continue I hope) and thanks to everyone involved or attending for making it as epic as it was! Dance

Thanks very much to Dave for driving me there and back in the stickered up P11 Big smile  Good to have company for the long journey and to share the fuel/hotel costs and make it a cheaper weekend! Clap"









sprint wrote: "Massive massive thanks to Chris for his work with this and I'm really sorry I never got time to really chat to you!"






PrimeraPhill wrote: "Massive thanks to Chris and nabs for organising this! Fantastic to see so many members and cars in one place. Factory tour just topped it off!!! Have had a great time with great people and really enjoyed it."

Some photos of what happens inside the Nissan Plant, including the safety briefing beforehand and how good we all looked in Hi Viz / Goggles and hard hats haha!:









MaimunR wrote: "Hey guys and girls. I just wanted say what a fantastic day it has been today at the NMUK meet. I enjoyed the factory tour and it's been great meeting new people as well as seeing those I've met beforehand. Some lovely motors too might I add, especially seeing them all lined up and in convoy. Looking forward to future NPOC meets."









prim-n-proper wrote: "Another big up for Chris for organising today's event Clap Nice to meet up with old friends again too."






Beerygoodness wrote: "Awesome day."

Now let's have another look at the cars with some more photos once we'd completed the Factory Tour:










TheStigP11GT wrote: "Big thanks to Chris and Nabber for this awesome experience, was well worth the trip down, was great to see some familiar faces and as well as new ones, been a long time coming."










sch4463 wrote: "Superb and big thanks to organisers."










interloper wrote: "Fantastic day, factory tour was amazing. Loved the car ride for it's shakedown. Thumbs up to everyone involved!"











dysopath wrote: "We had a great day, It was great to see the factory, shame we couldn't stay longer at the sports and social, had to head down to Silverstone. Hope you all enjoyed the afternoon. Once again thank you to Chris & Nabber for organising this"

After the fun of the Factory Tour and the photos outside in the main car park, we fired up the cars and headed to Nissans Sports & Social Club and chilled out with a pie and beer, here's some photos of the cars that made it round to the Sports & Social Club (we know a few members went AWOL at this stage for various reasons):










roy.2 wrote: "What a fookin great weekend!! All the work put in by Chris/George/Colin and many people behind the scenes, all paid off. Thumbs Up  The NISSAN TOUR was a complete success. Handshake

Great to meet people I had not met before. A fantastic weekend. NPOC family Rules!! Thumbs Up"






twelve wrote: "What a great weekend. After missing every event possible last year it was great to finally get back out and see the old faces and also meet some new ones.

After the dropping numbers of recent events it was brilliant to see so many Primera's in one location. And they all looked so well presented, credit to everyone that made it there.

The factory tour was far more in depth than I had expected and extremely insightful.

Massive thanks to Chris for all of the effort that went into organising this and also to Nabber for the additional run through the rollers on the tour."





supertourer wrote: "Great day! Big thanks to Chris and Nabs [and anyone else involved] for organizing everything. Clap"

In the evening, around 25 of us headed back to the hotel for a meal, a beer and much chat as normal, not the greatest quality photos here (all from my mobile):





L_Wylde wrote: "Massive thank you to Chris for sorting this one out. Amazing day with the NPOC family. Thanks to Nabbs for sorting the sneaky extra part in. Enjoyed the day so much, and was quite spectacular to watch what really happens behind closed doors. You never look at a car the same way! Loved seeing you all, and can't wait for the next time <3 xxxx"





ragt20 wrote: "What an awesome meet, shame it had to end, could have happily spent the whole day there checking the various things they have there, even off the main production lines. 

Huge thanks to Chris and Nabbs for all their work in sorting this. 

Great to meet a lot of people new, old and some really old haha... It brought back some great memories of days gone by where we had huge turn outs like that at NPOC meets, hopefully this gets more people out to future meets. 

Loved all the various things, the Friday dessertless night out in town, piling on the water with the boys..haha, all the factory stuff and topped off with a great meal, although they did take ages in getting the mains and dessert to some of us. 

Looking forward to Japday already.."




FriedGold wrote: "Absolutely agree on the the work done by Chris and Nabbs. I know a lot of work went into organising this and it really paid off. Great day and it all went really well."

essNchill wrote: "WOW! What a truly incredible day!! I've taken hundreds of photos and seen so many awesome cars and people."

Now normally at the end of a feature like this, you'd see a massive closing comment from myself but for this one, you'll see my comment ^^ above ^^ and the honour of seeing us out of this feature goes to the man himself, Geordie (Chris), after all this was his gig.

So Chris.. Go for it please chap and you've seen all the thanks from our members in our comments above, from the Club Owners side.. BIG BIG thanks for this one!

Geordie wrote: "Well, what a great weekend, so a few thank you's from me.

Firstly, a MASSIVE THANK YOU to everyone who put in the effort and drove the miles to get to Sunderland at the weekend, and make the event the apparent success it seems to have been. The success of every event hinges on one main thing, which is member attendance, and to have nearly 60 people there for 0800hrs on Saturday morning (well, most were there on time! haha), keen and eager to take part in the factory tour was immense. It was fantastic to see, so well done to all Clap 

I've already been in touch with Monica to thank her for her support of this event. She was onto this right from the start, and could see how it fitted in perfectly as part of their own 30th birthday celebrations. She was a friendly, smiley point of access on the day, and has been a pleasure to deal with over the last few months. I'd like to get her something as a thank you from the club. Suggestions welcomed. Bouquet of flowers too obvious?

Monica has confirmed we'll get access to the pics and video after she has sent the press release out later in the week. 

Thanks to Nabbs for the part he played in the success of the day too. Those Roller Booths were a great, hands-on, touchy-feely addition, and a major highlight of the tour. Great work Mr George Clap

Thank you to Tim for remembering to bring up my Nissan key ring.

It's a slight shame that a number of Primeras didn't make it up to the Sports & Social after the tours. I know some members had to get away for other commitments, but I've read that some people were under the impression that the day was over after the tours and left straight from the NMUK car park. That had me thinking that maybe I hadn't mentioned that we were meeting up there for something to eat/drink and some chatter, so I checked and I definately did. It was a big meet thread, so I apologise if I didn't make it clear enough. My bad.

I have to thank everyone for helping to make the requested order of the cars down to the Nissan gates work. I had Katie and Paul in with me in the Maxima bringing up the rear of the convoy down from the Sports and Social, and we all commented about how awesome it looked to see the Primeras snaking down to the factory. Going home to Mama!! For me, I can honestly say that the image gave me goosebumps.

The complimentary sausage and bacon sandwiches that NMUK put on, with teas/coffees/fresh orange juices, were very welcome, and we ate them whilst the tour guides introduced themselves and ran through the do's and don'ts and explained how to work the intercom ear-pieces we had to wear. I have to say that I was really looking forward to the factory tours, but the actual experience was far more interesting than I could have imagined. Three hours sounds like a long time, but in reality, there was something new to see and watch every few minutes so those three hours flew by. The tour guides, all three of them by all accounts, were excellent value, and helped the morning flow with their knowledge, banter and humour. The roller booths part of it was an added 'hands-on' bonus. To actually get in the cars whilst the lads took them through the gears on the rollers up to 130mph+ was awesome, and the shop floor guys made sure nobody felt like they were getting in the way.

A thank you here to the guys who agreed to speak to Monica on camera about their Primera and Nissan ownership Clap. It was good that we could help Monica out with something that she had asked of us, in return for her backing of the event.

After the tours, up to the Sports and Social for a couple of hours when we had a drink, something to eat and some chat. It was a pity it was bitter cold, as it wasn't very pleasant standing outside next to the cars, but that's just a small downside to the day, and obviously out of our control.

Apologies if I didn't get to speak much to some members. I was a bit stressed all morning hoping things went to schedule and it went relatively problem free. I should be more relaxed the next time we meet!

Finally, at risk of repeating myself, I'd like to thank everybody who attended this meet for making it an unforgettable event. What should we do for it's 50th? LOL"

Congratulations once again to ALL OF YOU!

 
May 2016 MOTM / Feature - NPOC @ Nissan Plant Sunderland
 
Written by essNchill
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