Published: Friday, 13th June, 2008 12:00
Dad going round in circles to find go-kart wheels
By Adam Hewitt
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Martin Hodgkins with Josh, 7 and Holly, 6.
Pic by: Ian Longthorne
A GO-KART derby is in danger of veering off course unless some bright spark comes up with a wheely good idea.
Airline pilot and father-of-four Martin Hodgkins suggested the derby for the upcoming Hurst Horse Show and Country Fair, thinking it would give families some old-fashioned time together making and racing the machines.
But as with many of the other dads, fun turned to frustration as he struggled with one vital element.
He said: “There’s a big problem finding the wheels. When I was a boy we all made go-karts, we just went to the dump and asked there. The old pram wheels were ideal – they were big, just right.
“But modern buggies and prams have small, pre-moulded wheels, which just don’t do the job. I’ve been to the Bracknell, Reading and Maidenhead dumps with no luck. Other dads in the village here are having the same problem.”
Mr Hodgkins, from Dalby Close in Hurst, said he eventually thought to use the wheels off his wife Maggie’s golf trolley and others from a bike trailer.
But even with those four wheels, he is still four short, because his large family is entering two go-karts in the show, one for Josh, seven, and one for six-year-old Holly, both pupils at St Nicholas Primary School in Hurst. Anyone with any bright ideas is asked to get in touch.
More than 4,000 visitors are expected at the show on Saturday, June 28, and Sunday, June 29, at School Road, Hurst.
Organisers are promising a weekend of rural family fun, with farmyard animals ready for petting, shire horse dray rides, Morris dancing, ferret and terrier racing, maypole dancing and a bouncy castle.
There will also be falconry displays, search and rescue dogs on show, tugs of war and countless horse and pony events. Traditional rural crafts
including pottery and a working farrier will also be on show, as well as bodgers using foot-driven lathes.
The show is on from 9am-5.30pm on both days with a full barbecue and bar.
It costs £2.50 for adults and 50p for under-16s, with free car parking in a nearby field. Anyone who wants to enter a go-kart in the competition or who can help Mr Hodgkins and the other wheel-less fathers, can contact Sue Corcoran on 0118 932 0571 or visit www.HurstHorseShow.org.uk
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