MOTORISTS with a shared passion for classic cars converged on a workshop in Suffolk at the weekend for the first-ever ‘JagFest’.

The event celebrated the refurbishment work carried out at the Jaguar Restoration Centre in Acton, near Sudbury. Backed by Sudbury organisation Churches Together, the festival also raised awareness of Christian outreach projects in the town.

According to the centre’s manager, Paul Roach, the event was so successful it could now become a regular annual fixture.

He said: “We restore and repair all manner of Jaguars in our workshop and we thought it would be a good idea to invite people who have brought their cars to us in the past to bring them along and show them off. We were absolutely blown away by the number of people who turned up and we had a constant flow of visitors throughout the day.”

Mr Roach, who owns a Jaguar himself, said his passion for the classic cars dated back many years, adding: “Jaguar has a tremendous English history that goes back to just after the Second World War when a C-Type Jaguar won the Le Mans race in 1951. The race cars they developed were good enough to attract some of the top English drivers.”

During the course of Sunday, around £1,000 was raised for Sudbury’s Eden Project, which carries out Christian-based youth work in the area.

Mr Roach concluded: “Historic cars attract a huge deal of attention wherever they go. We wanted to use the business to generate awareness and money that will go directly to the local need.”