We have just downloaded/printed off the steam shows and vintage rallys that we hope to attend this year with our stationary engine!
The dates are:
29th April - 1st May Abbey Hill Steam Show Yeovil http://abbeyhillsteamrally.co.uk/
21st May - 22nd May Three Okefords Preservation Society Shillingstone Dorset http://threeokefordspreservationsociety.co.uk/
28th May - 30th May Selwood Steam & Vintage Vehicle Preservation Society Near Trowbridge
http://selwoodvintage.co.uk/
11th June - 12th June West Bay Vintage Steam Rally http://wdvtsec.co.uk/
18th June - 19th June Bournemouth & Poole Preservation Club http://bppcltd.co.uk/ Canford Arena, Near Bournemouth
16th July - 17th July Portland Vintage Rally - http://portlandrally.com/ Near Weymouth
22nd July - 24th July Netley Marsh http://netleymarshsteamandcraftshow.org/ Near Southampton
13th Aug - 14th Aug Purbeck Rally http://purbeckrally.co.uk/ Near Wareham
9th Sept - 11th Sept Swanage Railway Steam Gala Weekend http://bppcltd.co.uk/ Harmans Cross, Swanage
If you do come to any of these dont forget to come and say hello!
There may be a couple more yet, depending on what time "M" can get off! I think thats 9
A good day out for all the family at any of these shows! Can be a bit pricey, which is how we got into exhibiting in the first place!
It was all Mr Gullivers fault, "Im setting the bar up at a steam show at the weekend" he said, "should be a good night" So off we went with a tent, and had a cracking night, we didnt get much chance to look around! By the end of that year we decided that we should maybe get a little caravan as a tent was fine, but, we could do with something a little more comfortable.
So the search was on, over that winter we kept our eye out for a caravan, we eventually managed to find one at a price of only £157 but it was up in Preston! We bought it back down stopping over on the way in freezing temperatures and it all went well. It was a 2 berth Abbey 212 GT.
That year we did Shillingstone again, Abbey Hill and Netley Marsh, but it was getting a bit expensive, so we came up with a cunning plan! We found out that if you exhibit you dont pay entry fee's! Now Im one for a saving money, so we spent £250 on a Wolsely WDII Stationary Engine running a Lister Domestic Water Pump on a trolley. Hey presto, we are now exhibiting! Last year we would of saved on site fees £330 by doing the shows, so guess it will pay for itself easily this year!
I cant wait, its a relaxing time watching the world go by during the day, eating and drinking during the evenings, with free entertainment thrown in. Mind you, some of the bands are a bit dodgy to say the least!
The wind has dropped a little this evening which is good as its been battering the awning over the last 4 days. I think we are both use to sleeping with the caravan juddering every now and again!
Being so windy reminded me of being back up in Shaston, its 700 foot above sea level on the end of a spur, every day is windy there, but when it does get up its pretty violent. I was out walking our old dog "Chester" one day, the wind that day was pretty gusty, Id just picked up his doo dahs as all responsible dog owners should do, when a gust of wind caught my hat and without thinking I made a desperate attempt at stopping it from blowing away! Now, I had a dog lead in one hand, so couldnt use that hand without strangling "Chester" so my immediate action was to use my other hand, which Im afraid to say was still holding a bag of warm shite, which caught me fair and square in the chops! Thankfully the bag did not break, but on the way home I did not lick my lips once just in case! I managed to save my hat, but wished that I hadnt!
The Fiat 500 is now up on ebay for sale! Sad, but it has to go. A fantastic little car, Ive driven many cars over the years and even done a couple of track days, and I can honestly say its amazingly good fun to drive. Even Clarkson highly rates it, and thats saying something, oh and Michael Schumacher has one. What more can one say!
Tomorrow being Monday, Im back up in Shaston for the day, Tuesday will be spent down in Bournemouth and then back on site for the rest of the week - more postcards!
We move next Sunday, just down the road to another little site, we havent stayed at this one before so should be interesting to see what its like. We are only there for a couple of days, then back here again for another 28 days! So that will take us up to the middle of March! Time sure is flying!!
Hope you all had good weekend, ours has been very relaxing.
Till later............
Elvaston Steam Rally in Derbyshire is a good one, or would you not come up so far?
ReplyDeleteHi a bit too far to travel up for a weekend, but looking at doing the 1000 Engine Rally at Astle Park at Chelford nr Macclesfield. A 1000 engines would be an amazing experience!
ReplyDeleteWhen we were in Cornwall last year we went to a big country show at a place called Stithians (I thought it must be St Ithians but apparently its not!!).
ReplyDeleteAnyroadup....I took some piccies you might be interested in - think there's only one or two - I'll dig them out and stick them in your blog bit on the Cchat forum :)