Sewards of Petersfield - Rally Review

Top: Wallis and Steevens, "The Mistress".
Mid: Victoria in amongst the threshing machines.
Bot: A view of the Threshing area.

Another year had gone by and our favourite rally was fast approaching. This rally for us is what we would call an old fashion event, lots of room to steam about and not too many restrictions governing where or what you can and can’t do.

So, on the morning of Friday 9th September the wagon was packed and Victoria was ready to go. We had a good trip over to Heyshott without any major problems. As we arrived in the field it was laid out a bit different to previous years with all the attractions in one field and the ploughing and harvesting in the others.

We got camp set up and the kettle on by about 3pm. After giving Victoria a good clean ready for her weekend ahead we put her cover on and put her to bed. Then time for tea and Kev had his usual bottle of wine. The evening was spent watching other exhibits arrive and letting off a couple of model rockets, one of which hopefully took an aerial view of the site with its camera mounted in the nose cone. Then to bed so we would be up and ready for the weekend ahead.

Saturday morning is always good when you wake up and can just open the top of the wagon door and see what’s going on. The weather was looking good although there had been rumours that there could be a shower or two some when over the weekend. Lloyd and Kev started putting a fire in Victoria’s belly, while I started breakfast for their bellies. The day was generally spent relaxed and doing as much or as little as we liked, we went into the arena in the afternoon and chuffed round the field loads of times.

This year saw the "Wall of Death" there, which seemed a slightly strange thing to have at a harvesting weekend but I actually think it was a great addition with lots of people seemingly enjoying it.

There was a good selection of vehicles, about 50 tractors covering many different makes and models and lots of old bailers and threshing machines which all worked hard over the two days. A small but nice selection of cars, commercials and stationary engines in a line up running machinery such as water pumps and corn mills. As with every year the double LL club attended in force with a variety of different exhibits. The stalls ranged from those where you were able to buy a live chicken to put in your garden to those selling jam.

This year as with every year a choice selection of steam engines were on show. In addition to Victoria there were a portable of 1880 owned by J. Jones of Ripley, the Whittaker family with their 1890 Wallis & Stevens convertible, "The Mistress", and some model steam engines. On the saw bench were two engines owned by the Bicknell family. The Firefly, a Marshall of 1916, and Hooky the Ransomes Simms & Jeffries of 1920.

As always at a rally Lloyd decided to take Victoria up to the beer tent in the evening so at about 8.30pm off he went with the help of our eldest son Jack, who was steering. There was a bit of disappointment as the band failed to turn up but people didn’t seem to mind too much. There was a couple of impromptu acts, a few jokes were being told and a gentleman singing a very funny song. As the evening wore on the "Wall of Death" guys decided to open the front of their ride and turn on the lights and music. All in all it was a very relaxed friendly evening with everyone talking.

Sunday morning came and again we opened the top of the wagon door to soak up the atmosphere of the day. While Victoria was having her belly filled with fire I was once again preparing the breakfasts. The day was spent with more chuffing around and talking to people.

As the day started to draw to a close there is always a feeling that this is a rally that has a very special something. The atmosphere of this event is fantastic. The team that work so hard to put this show on should be congratulated. The organisers are helpful and friendly, always finding time to stop and chat. This is the rally we look forward to the most, and it never disappoints. We just hope that things don’t change. I don’t think that there is anything that we would change about this weekend even the weather was kind to us this year staying dry both days. Anyone wanting an enjoyable day out should visit and we will see you there next year, already looking forward to it.

Top: Fowler SRL ‘Lion’.
Bottom: Saw bench demonstration.

2005 was the 31^st annual steam show to be held at the Havenstreet steam railway on the Isle of Wight. As always it took place over the August bank holiday weekend and we decided to visit it on the Sunday. The day began with an adventure as we travelled by hovercraft from Southsea front to Ryde, the journey time across the Solent of 10 minutes being far too short as we were only just beginning to enjoy the experience when it was time to get off. The next form of transport was also a bit unusual. The railway network on the island consists of old London underground stock which gives rather a rough ride. At Smallbrook Junction we crossed over to the Isle of Wight steam railway line and travelled on a train pulled by a small ‘Terrier’ type loco to Havenstreet where the rally was being held.

On arrival we were a bit surprised at the compact appearance of the event, after leaving the station platform we walked straight into the fair, pausing to look at the attractive gallopers of James Horton, now steam powered, standing with Arthur Thompsons Fowler showmans ‘Lion’. It was the engines that we had come to see so we walked on to their parking area. Our first impressions about the cramped nature of the event were now justified, the engines, 20 in total were all squeezed together with very little space in which to make themselves at home, not only that, but the prospects of moving around on the site were virtually impossible due to the fact that there were exhibits everywhere. Later, the arena parade was rather a shambles and if there had been many more visitors would have almost been unsafe.

The engines were a varied selection with both local examples and machines on their way to the GDSF, one island engine met with an unfortunate incident on its way to the event when the low loader driver misjudged the height of a tree with the resulting collision knocking off the chimney and smashing the base. Luckily, it was possible to repair the damage and the engine was in steam when we saw it.

We discovered that there were several other engines in different fields so set off to discover them. We found a rolling demonstration in one of the public car parks and a wood sawing demo in another field on its own! It is painfully obvious that this event has outgrown its site and would benefit from a new larger field. It is nice to have the rally next to the station but it could be so much better with a bit more space.

Overall, the Isle of Wight steam show was an enjoyable day out, the passing trains added to the atmosphere and the railway staff were helpful and polite, it was only a shame that they had tried to cram too much into too small a space.

As you may have read elsewhere on this website, we didn't attend the Northchapel steam rally with Victoria in August. This was due to the bad weather for the long journey, so we decided against getting Victoria and the drivers wet.

On the Sunday, as the weather had cheered up, we decided to jump in the car and take a look at what we had missed. As we pulled into the car park we could see the rally, we were amazed at the field which the rally was on. It was on a steep slope, and although the field was large things seemed to be tight on space in places. The event is advertised as a steam rally and in previous years it has been well attended by steam engines, however, this year we could only see three full sized engines and a Foden lorry. The engines had very limited parking and camping space and were pushed up against the hedge. We watched as an engine struggled to park back in its space between two rollers.

Panoramic View of the Northchapel Rally.

Use the scrollbar to view the whole panorama.

There were a lot of other exhibits including a good selection of tractors, military vehicles and commercial vehicles. As always with a rally there were plenty of classic cars, offering a variety of different models. Motorbikes and stationary engines where also well attended. A nice touch were the helicopter rides which took you over the rally field and allowed you a birds eye view of the site.

All the daily arena events were going on, though having the steamers in the arena at midday on Saturday and 10.30am on Sunday is somewhat ambitious and it would have been better to have them in just after lunch time. This would give the engine drivers plenty of time to get their engines in steam and polished. Lets face it, when have you seen an engineman up and ready to roll at 10.30 on a Sunday morning, especially after a Saturday on a rally field?

We also wondered why the front of the programme is decorated with an American engine when there are so many lovely engines on this side of the water?

All in all we were disappointed to have missed the weekend away with Victoria so here's hoping that next year maybe the organisers will be able to change the site back to the previous field across the road and that the weather will be kinder.

Top: Marshall 76795.
Mid: Makers Plate on Marshall 76795.
Bot: Fowler Tractor 14406 - MTOTO.

The weekend after we visited Pickering we called in on the Driffield rally which is held on a showground just outside the town, it was just as well that we knew this as there was very little in the way of signposts indicating the route to the event. We eventually found our way onto the ground and made straight for the steam engines. As it was fairly early on a grey and damp Saturday morning there were still some engines raising steam on their low loaders but we saw them driven in as time went on, otherwise the steam section consisted of a good and varied selection of engines, most of which were well presented and in good order. There were several Marshalls on show including a very complete but derelict roller which was very interesting to look over, even having a set of firing irons and a road tax disc for 1963, presumably its last year of employment. It will make a nice restoration project, we only hope that it returns to steam in its current form. Marshall engines are apparently always well represented here as one of the trophies awarded annually is for the 'Best Marshall', an award that, in our opinion, Victoria would have no trouble winning, but we may be a little biast...

The whole event was well laid out with plenty of room for the exhibitors and the organisers were around overseeing the set up without being too heavy handed. As the site was a showground the facilities were good with toilet blocks etc and a large arena where things went on all day including, we were glad to see, traditional engine games. Other sections were well supported and there were the usual stalls, fairground and a selection of catering outlets to satisfy all tastes. One thing that we would have liked to have seen but couldn't stay for was a road run into the town of Driffield on Saturday evening, something else that more rallies should consider doing.

All things considered, Driffield was a good event, in fact we preferred it to Pickering but our preference for smaller rallies has been well documented in these pages. Long may it continue.