Sewards of Petersfield

Christmas has been and gone and the new year has past. It's time to start looking at the rally season for 2009.

It's time to send in your entry form for the 2009 Sewards of Petersfield Steam and Vintage Vehicle Gathering and Road Run held at the Spread Eagle Public House, Liss, Hampshire. The dates for this year are July 11th and 12th.

To see pictures of the the previous events and to download the entry form for this year, please follow the links below:

We would like to say a huge thank-you to all the exhibitors and visitors who have helped support the previous gatherings. Without whom our efforts would have been in vain and we sincerely hope to see you at this year's event.

Pictures from 2008 Sewards of Petersfield Steam and Vintage Vehicle Gathering and Road Run.
Pictures from 2007 Sewards of Petersfield Steam and Vintage Vehicle Gathering and Road Run.

2009 Exhibitors Entry Form (PDF)
2009 Local Charity Entry Form (PDF)
2009 Traders Entry Form (PDF)

See you there!

We currently have more than 80 exhibits confirmed for this years Sewards of Petersfield Steam and Vintage Vehicle Gathering and Road Run.

The entries cover Steam engines both full size and miniature, classic and vintage cars, classic commercials, motorcycles, stationary engines, displays, models and lots more.

Liss Band are confirmed to play on Sunday afternoon from 1:30pm until 3:30pm

The winter months are now upon us, which means it's time to start planning the 2008 Sewards of Petersfield Steam and Vintage Vehicle Gathering and Road Run.

Before we get into any details about the 2008 event, we would like to say a huge thank-you to all the exhibitors and visitors who helped support this year's gathering. Without whom our efforts would have been in vain and we sincerely hope to see you at next year's event.

So what's the date you cry! July 12th and 13th: at the same venue, The Spread Eagle public house, Liss, Hampshire.

You can download entry forms for the event using the links below. If you attended last year we will send you a form in the post just after Christmas.

2008 Exhibitors Entry Form (PDF 49KB)
2008 Local Charity Entry Form (PDF 57KB)
2008 Traders Entry Form (PDF 57KB)

Here's to next year. See you there!

As the new season draws nearer we always ask the same question "when are we going to paint the living wagon?" This year was no exception. The wagon has suffered from the weather, the sun cooking it in the summer and the rain in the winter and the back off it and one side was badly needing some work. We decided to start at the back, as we rubbed back the wood it was clear that it could do with being replaced or we would be using a lot of filler. The decision was taken to use a good quality hard wood. Finding the wood was a more difficult task than we thought. We spent the afternoon driving around the local Hampshire timber yards with not a lot of luck. We didn?t have much time to wait as the beginning of our rally season was only just around the corner. Eventually found a supply of hard wood and we pick out the best 21 panels and paid the HUGE bill!

The wood was soaked in a wood preserve and left for a couple of days to soak in and dry. We spent the following weekend ripping off the old panels and replacing them with the new. We were pulling the old panels off and we uncovered a load of information that had been written on the inner panels of the wagon detailing its history from when it belong to its previous owner (Peter Fagg). The camera was then put to good use recording this information before we carried on with the task in hand.

What had started as a bit of rubbing back and painting had now turned into a big job and we could see that the first event of the season was creeping up fast. The difficult decision was made to forgo this event and get on with the reboarding. After some debating about which paint to use we then had to find someone that could supply it. The selected paint was micro-porous as this would allow the wood to breath so hopefully we wouldn't have to repaint the wagon every year. Two coats were applied and left to dry before replacing the window and reflectors etc.

The roof of the wagon was also starting to look tatty and in places around the edge holes had appeared over the winter so we decided that we should refelt the roof. This was done in a day and now looks much better.

We had to stop there as we had missed one event and we didn't want to miss any more, so we have a lovely reboarded and painted back of the wagon and the roof is water tight. It's a shame the sides of the wagon look slightly worn. Still it will give us something (else) to do over the winter this year!

Our plans for this years Steam and Vintage Vehicle Gathering and Road Run, to be held on the 14th anf 15th July are now gathering speed. With news in the local paper that the Liss Carnival will not be run this year, and out cries from local charities who use the carnival to raise a lot of the annual funds, we decided for the good of the community to invite these charities to attend our event. If you run a local charity please download our "Local Charity Entry Form" (PDF Format).

We are also producing a programme listing all exhibits that we receive entries for by the 15th June. There is space in the programme for local businesses to advertise. If you're reading this and would like to advertise your local business, please see our "Event Advertising" page for more details.

We're reviewing the route of the Road Run and will publish the new one nearer the event. Some of the model steamers struggled to make it round the 12 mile run, so we may shorten if a bit or offer two different runs.

If you have a steam engine, vintage or classic car, motorcycle, commercial, tractor, stationary engine etc. and would like to enter please download our "2007 Exhibit Entry Form" (PDF Format) and come and join the fun.

See you there.

Victoria at Liss Infants School

Back in November 2005 we were asked if we could take Victoria up to our village infants school. Our youngest son Harry, who is a pupil there, was very keen to take HIS traction engine to his school to show all his friends and teachers. They were studying different modes of transport and as the teacher said to me “They’ve all seen cars, bikes, trains, and motorbikes but never a traction engine.”

So one cold February morning we took Victoria back to school, the children’s faces were a delight to see. They were all very excited and well behaved, asking questions that were different from those an adult would ask. The local press were informed and they came along to take pictures, so we made it into the local newspaper.

All in all we had a wonderful day the weather was lovely and the children were great.

Top: Victoria waiting at Liss Station.
2nd: Victoria steaming along Station Road, Liss.
3rd: Entering through the tight gate of the Newman Collard playing fields, Liss.
4th: Spitfire fly past.
Bot: Chinook taking off at the end of the day.

Our village carnival this year was on June 10^th and as always we had been asked to attend with Victoria. This is an event that has been going for years and most of the villagers seem to join in, but this year was a bit different there was the England World Cup game on, so maybe numbers would be down.

Anyway, for us it was up and out earlier to start getting Victoria ready for the days events. Just before midday we were off down to the station car park ready for the procession to set off. There seemed to be a good number of floats and lots of people dressed up and at 1pm we set off for the slow trip around the village. There were a good number of people out on the pavements although we did notice that a lot of people were outside their houses rather than down in the village centre. The last part of the trip is a tight entrance into the local playing fields and getting lorries, tractors and even traction engines through can be tricky. All those who didn't make it through first time had to shunt around to pass through the gates, but unfortunately with Victoria and her wagon you only get one go and you can’t mess it up as there is no going backwards with the wagon on the back. So, with just the one attempt we were through.

The local playing field (Newman Collard) always has an arena with events such as a motorbike display team, the Double LL Club with some of their classic vehicles and lots of local side stalls. The Chinook helicopter was in attendance from RAF Odiham again and this year we also had a fly past from a Spitfire which was wonderful to see. The afternoon was spent chatting to the people and generally having a good afternoon with friends and family. By 4pm the crowds had started to drift away, probably returning home to watch the football match. We waited to watch the Chinook take off and what an experience that was, with us only being about seventy five feet away from the back end of it, we stood in the doorway of the wagon and watch it take off, the kids loved it.

All in all a good day, it’s a good village afternoon, lots of locals out and a real family feel to it.