Sewards of Petersfield - Rally Review

After the disappointment of the cancelled 2007 rally due to the floods, the 2008 event was one of the best. Presented by the Herefordshire Traction Engine and Vintage Club at its regular site, the rally programme listed 33 full size engines with 32 actually on parade. They represented all types and classes from the humble but increasingly popular portable to three showman's engines.

There was the usual steam ploughing demonstration but this year behind protective fencing which, though probably a requirement of the dreaded health and safety police, hindered the publics' ability to get good photographs of these engines which was a shame.

It is nice to see however that the steamers are still able to chuff around the site on the wide lanes left between the groups of exhibits, we managed to get some great pictures as the engines moved about.

As with every year, in the evening engines set off for various pubs in the area and later collected at the "Walwyn", the pub just outside the rally gate where a mini gathering is held, centre stage this year being held by the Burrell showman's engine "Lady Pride of England" which generated lights until about 11 o'clock.

Other classes were well represented on the field with nice examples of cars and commercial vehicles, this year the layout was a bit different with the timber demonstrations given greater prominence which was good to watch.

Our only criticism is the untidy jumble of engines, caravans and low loaders at the end of the field which rather spoils the otherwise excellent layout.

Marcle is a good traditional rally where everyone, both exhibitors and visitors enjoy themselves on a large well run site, long may it continue.

One weekend in September we found ourselves with "Victoria" at The Onslow Arms Public house in Loxwood, West Sussex. This was for a vintage road run and the pub was the gathering place. It was Saturday 15th September and the idea behind this event was to raise funds for the restoration of The Wey and Arun Canal that runs behind the pub.

There was a good selection of vehicles there, including seven full size steamers. Michael Lugg's 1910 Fowler "The Admiral", Kate Russell with her 1926 Burrell "William the Second", Gerald Russell's 1928 Foden Wagon, The Wakelin's 1886 Marshall "Victoria Empress of India", T & K Hand and their 1903 Foster, Paul Brown with his Fowler A5 "Black Knight" of 1910 and the Marshall of 1906 "General Scrumpy" owned by Richard Stickland. Also on the canal there was a steam boat called "Morning Star" owned by Robert Jameson. This steamed up and down the stretch of water giving people a chance to have a ride on the canal and out on dry land there was a second steam boat owned by Sean Wiles which was beautiful. There were many classic cars and motorbikes all lined up in the car park in amongst these was Geoff Thoebold and his Stanley Steam car which is always a crowd pleaser.

At 2pm there was a 6 mile road run through the local lanes taking in a couple of villages along the route which most of the engines and cars took part in.

This is a lovely relaxed friendly do, the weather was very good to them and the setting is great, Good food and drink at the pub, friendly people, nice walk up and down the canal or if you wanted there always the steam boat to chuff up the water on.

Due to the success of the day, 2008 may a two day event.

One of the highlights of any rally season for us is the vintage harvesting event held in the shadow of the south downs at the village of Heyshott, it is a traditional harvesting and working weekend where all the aspects of the farmers year are demonstrated. Tractors make up the bulk of the exhibits though other vehicles and machinery are also on show.

Ploughing by horse and tractor takes place on several of the large stubble fields and an aspect of Heyshott that is possibly unique is the harvesting of standing corn by binders and early combine harvesters. The cut sheaves are transported by tractor and trailer to several threshing machines that are set up in the main field where they are threshed and the straw bailed.

Other demonstrations include sawing and timber handling.

The organisers are extremely lucky in their choice of weekend as they are almost always blessed with fine weather, this year was no exception and the event attracted record crowds, this meant that the local charities really benefitted.

The other steam entries were the Burrell single crank compound road loco No. 3657 "Morning Glory", Marshall traction No 70321 "Firefly" and Ransomes crane engine No. 31066 "Hooky". A Marshall portable powered one of the threshing machines and a small "estate" engine worked a sawbench.

We always look forward to Heyshott as it is all that an event should be, relaxed and fun and demonstrates to the public how things were done in grandfathers day.

The first Steam Festival was held on the 18th and 19th of August at the Weald and Downland Museum, Singleton and attracted 20 full sized steam engines and a good selection of models of all shapes and sizes. The setting could not have been better for the opportunity to take some really good timeless pictures.

The selection of engines was first class, including Arthur Thompson's Fowler showmans "Lion", Gerald Whittaker's unique Wallis and Steevens Convertible "Mistress", a full compliment of engines from the Lugg/Russell stable and the superheated Garrett traction "Olive".

The theme was supposed to be engines at work, or at least that is what we were told when entering Victoria. This was partially correct as there were two engines sawing in the woods and Lion was generating in the fair but this was the sum of the actual work.

Later, a pair of ploughing engines gave a demonstration of mole ploughing in the middle of the exhibition field which was, in our opinion rather risky, (especially in view of the fact that the organiser insisted on any moving engine being escorted by a man with a red flag). The ploughing demo was not fenced off and was so close to the exit from the arena that an engine was forced to drive over the rope to get out!

The rain curse of the 2007 season affected the event making the main field very wet but the engines were able to steam around the various hard roads on the site much to the delight of those brave members of the public that attended.

From a visitors point of view, we are sure that this was a very good event but, from an exhibitors perspective it could have been better. Communication from the organiser was very poor, almost non existent in some cases, which led to a frustrating weekend. Those exhibiting models were expected to camp in a field that was not even on the rally site, had no water or toilets and had just been vacated by a herd of cows, not the best way to treat exhibitors and many told us that they would not be returning.

Singleton Steam Festival has the potential to become a good event, the organiser just has to remember that without exhibits he has no show, and should treat them accordingly.

This year's show was held over the weekend of July 21st and 22nd. We had other things planned for the Friday before so we had decided to move Victoria to the rally field on the Thursday. The weather was looking good and we steamed our way to the showground at Five Heads Road, Horndean without any problems. Here we were shown to our post and set up most of the camp. The field was damp and the grass hadn't been cut around our pitch so it was decided that we would put the tents up at a later time. Then it was off home and wait until Friday evening when we would return to start our weekend ahead.

Unfortunately we were meant to be moving another engine to different rally but due to the continual rain this show had now been cancelled. We woke Friday morning the rain was coming down and we decided that we would wait until Saturday morning to return to the rally field.

Saturday morning arrived and the weather was looking Ok. We jumped in the car and made our way back to Victoria. As we uncovered her the rain started so it was decided that we would wait for this to pass and have a cuppa. Well it didn't pass and Saturday was a wash out! This has been the only time in the five years we have owned Victoria that we haven't steamed her on a rally field. By 3pm we were soaked and fed up and decided to return home for the night.

Sunday started brighter but the ground was a quagmire and our thoughts turned to getting Victoria and her wagon off the field. Luckly the day started without rain and the file was drying out. There was a steady stream of public, but I think this had a lot to do with another well known steam rally (Netley Marsh) only 20 miles or so away being canceled. Sunday evening Victoria chuff out under her own steam but the wagon had to be pulled off the field by a tractor.

All in all it was a lot of effort from the organisers, exhibitors and many helping hands, there was a large selection of cars, some tractors, stationary engines, commercials, military and trade stands, and on Sunday many more motorbikes. As for steam engines, this year Victoria was the only one in attendance.

This rally always seems the struggle in so many ways. Holding it on the same weekend as the well established "Netley Marsh" is the first problem. The field could be better laid out, as it can sometimes look a bit like a caravan site rather than a vintage rally. This is a rally that used to be a real success at other venues. I hope that will be the case again. A small handful of Double LL members work hard each year to put this event on and I hope that maybe next year the weather will be better. And try moving it away from the Netley weekend!

After the success of the 120th birthday road run in 2006, Sewards of Petersfield decided to put on another event at the Spread Eagle pub in West Liss, Hampshire on the 14th and 15th of July 2007 and were very lucky in their choice of weekend as the weather was fine and dry, unusual for the summer of 2007 when so many events have been disrupted by the rain.

The site of the gathering was in a meadow next to the pub with hard standing for the steamers and plenty of grass for the rest of the exhibits. Five and a half steam engines were present, (the half being the tender and some component parts of an 8 nhp Marshall colonial traction engine being restored by David Redman) and consisted of Michael Lugg's Fowler Road Loco and Foden tractor, Dave Freemantle's Fowler traction engine, Mr Pye with his Sentinel S4 waggon and of course the Marshall, Victoria, Empress of India. There was also a fine selection of cars and commercial vehicles, motorcycles and models. The weekend had rather a village fete feel as local charities had stalls there and Liss Band played for the visitors pleasure. Almost all of the vehicles took part in the road run on Saturday afternoon which took them to Petersfield and back, a distance of about 11 miles through some rather nice Hampshire countryside and then they processed through the village of Liss before returning to the pub.

The event would not have been possible if it wasn't for the support of some local businesses, with major sponsorship from David Neilan & Co and Futuresys Ltd.

If the opinions of various exhibitors and visitors are to be believed the weekend was a success and was likened to how rallies used to be, what better reference could an organiser want?

The annual vintage gathering at Kingsley near Bordon in Hampshire was held on the 23^rd and 24^th of June this year and we were as always looking forward to attending. Victoria had been groomed and all was ready for the 9 mile trip to the rally field. On our arrival after an uneventful journey we were told that the entrance to the site was "a bit sticky" after the days rain and to try not to get stuck in the gateway. We stormed in with the living van in tow and succeeded in getting almost halfway to our allotted parking space before the slippery conditions took over. The rest of the trip was done behind a four wheel drive tractor.

Saturday dawned clear and we all had high hopes for a good weekend, the C.S.V.A.C always put on a good show with plenty to see and allow the engines to move around so we were looking forward to the ground drying out enough to allow us to play. A good selection of exhibits were present, as per usual at Kingsley there were plenty of tractors and stationary engines supported by numerous cars and commercials. The steam section consisted of 5 machines, 3 traction engines, a Sentinel and a rather fine Stanley Steam Car which drove over from Haslemere. Due to the organisers being keen to preserve the field, movement was very restricted and there were no arena events or parades but this did not affect the enjoyment of the visitors greatly.

Sunday was another story and we awoke to heavy rain which continued in one way or another all day which had a dramatic effect on the gate. A lot of exhibitors started to leave by lunchtime as it looked like the rain was there to stay. It was evident that there were not going to be many visitors so all the steamers made arrangements to be towed off of the site about 2.30 ready to go home.

We were winched out onto the main road and after sorting ourselves out we set off for home. It is such a shame that the weather can so easily spoil the work of several months and numerous dedicated volunteers but this is England after all…

On the 2nd of June we decided to journey over to deepest Sussex and visit the Hadlow Down rally at Tinkers Park, an event that has been going for 42 years but was new to us. After finding the site, we parked the car and paid our entrance fee. We were immediately met with 4 or 5 engines parked just inside the gate, several of which had just arrived and were stopped outside the beer tent where the crews were refreshing themselves.

Looking at the programme revealed that 43 engines were expected but we could only see a dozen or so at first glance, so we continued our exploration. The field was not very large and sloped uphill with a small arena at the top, another field led off of the first and it was here that we found the rest of the steam section. The second field was more sloping than the first and all the engines were parked head up against a hedge very close together so it was very difficult to take any photos. It seemed that space was at a premium as the engines living vans were also parked tightly side by side with no room for the usual paraphernalia such as tents, gazebos and cars. The remainder of this field contained the car, commercial, military and tractor sections as well as the market arranged down the hill.

We found our spot beside the arena ready for the engine parade and waited with interest to see just how they were all going to get to the arena let alone get in it, as by this time the ground was packed with visitors but, at just before one o?clock things started to happen and a steady stream of steamers began to make their way to the arena unassisted. Due to the sloping ground and the rain of the previous day, difficulty was experienced by some engines but eventually almost 50 machines were shoe-horned into the tiny space which was an impressive sight.

Later in the day some engines returned to the arena for games such as invitation steering, an activity greatly appreciated by the public if the number of volunteers were anything to go by.

Hadlow Down is an old, well established event which has almost outgrown its site. Things are now packed too close together a fact that detracts from the marvellous selection of exhibits and means that visitors cannot fully appreciate what?s on show, it must also make life uncomfortable for exhibitors, particularly when trying to move about. Perhaps, sometimes, bigger is not always better.