A long tiring day but sunshine, heat,lorries, friendly drivers etc equals a worthwhile trip to this one of my favourite truck spots!
Our first stab at the Buses festival at Sewell aerodrome in Northants, a bit weak in signposting but when I latched on to the lorry directions it was plain sailing, the sat nav wouldn't have their post code at all. Anyway I got there as the latter vehicles were arriving. Not a big event but a strong middle sized contender for the present era. The were of course lots of things one could go on about but with such glorious weather and lots of old and not so old friends and buses it gelled together nicely. It would perhaps have be relatively simple to get advice from an expert on getting rallies right like Julian Bowden etc. But the young man doing the vehicle marshalling haven't really had any instruction, with room still for another 2 o3 hundred buses it seemed a daft idea to park them all so closely and for the second rally that weekend the lack of bus stop for arrivals on this occasion was a source of confusion. If they stick with this site assuming it is available at the right price it could be developed into a major bus venue. I met up with so many people I knew that was and is superb. The weather spot on. Annoyances, helicopters , we get them at home, remind me of being in Derry in the war years. Buses parked with back to sun, that is lesson one in old time photography books, don't do it. I went in search of people in the indoor sales and sit down area, surprised to see my films on screen with no request for permission. We had steered clear of the event as the stall rates even for not for profit organisations like PMP were horrific. So an event with great potential, cultivate friends in the hobby and industry it pays dividends. Here are some shots. A big hello again to those we met. Well the weather was warm and mainly sunny and while I was there nice and dry. The rail strike seemed to have hit a number of volunteers among which were three drivers which really meant the the scheduled and published timetables were more a hope than reality but eventually some services started and the Saturday traffic increased. There were other events like a boot sale and sports going on in the park. A fairground organ was bashing it out when I arrived, a sound track to many a vintage rally over the years. I was warmly welcomed and offered a convenient parking spot, as well as entry fee I made a small donation. I had three rides which offered some variety although a third to the same location would have started to get a much. Whally is a nice run though and Accrington later offered opportunities to get the cob webs out of the exhaust. Lots of lovey people about. A couple of minor comments, the bus stop for services from the show site were unmarked and each driver had their favourite spot and queuing was pointless. The sound system went from organ to boom boom generator which hurt my ears and thereafter I was determined to get away from the site and enjoy the sound of the engines instead, which worked well. I'm sure that by Sunday they will have got over some of the problems which arose and all would be well. Here are a few shots, I guess they were lined up for afternoon photography, perhaps a little close when there weren't that many. I think we all had to take a reality check with the future of bus events, while some like our NWVRT at Kirkby are still gowning many other have vanished from Showbus to Alton. The number of vehicles has tumbled, we used to pull in an excess of 100 at the POPS rally back in the day and Showbus 400 plus at peak, in recent times Alton has probably been the biggest bus gathering, even Detling which I'm sure will be back for 2024 was a victim of the weather which looks like getting even less predictable than the British weather we grew up with. So we have to take the bull by the horns and go with what we have and try and make a success of the events. To that end as promised I am trying to widen PMP coverage and take a few in each year that are new to us. This weekend we'll be with Town & Country on Saturday and the Buses show on Sunday. I think both have growing pains but give people a chance to grow their events and see what happens.Every week I look at Facebook and see wonderful vehicles that I've not clocked before so with a good outlook for dry and warm weather lets get out and give them a try. Meanwhile looking back at past events around the country starting with Duxford |
PMP Sponsors the North West Vehicle Restoration Trust at Kirkby.
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