Welland Steam Rally

21st - 23rd September

2007

    Now some of the more observant amongst you will have noticed the date of this rally has changed.  This was due to our glorious Summer weather back in July.   The whole rally site was washed out, along with the Much Marcle and the Catton Hall steam rallies, both of which were cancelled.  Welland decided to postpone the event for a few weeks, and hold it in September.  Now seeing as I'm on holiday this week, what better way to spend a few days than to set up camp and enjoy a few steaming type objects ?

Home sweet home, for a day or two

    It turned out that half of our 'usual' field had been sold, so we happily set up camp in the other half.  At most it meant an extra hundred yard walk.

    The numbers were definitely down this year, with at least two camping fields being empty.  The lack of entrants amongst the steam engines was also noticeable, ditto the bikes, cars, and trucks.  Having said that, there was still more than enough exhibits to keep us entertained and amused.  Hmm, speaking of entertaining and amusing, quite a few people overdosed in the beer tent . .  apparently.  . . . . . . and some folks overdosed outside their own tents.

Camouflage Claude

    The usual Welland tractor pulling event was taking place well into the night.  

The giant Ferris Wheel continued to be the main landmark.  The Helter Skelter and the Wall of Death were the two main absentees.   Despite things being a bit thinner on the ground, we still had a good time.

A big round thing

    By Saturday a few more Moonshiners had turned up.  Come to think of it, they weren't the only thing to turn up.  We had quite a nice collection of creepy crawlies.

  A spider and a spider's dinner   

    Saturday night was more or less a re-run of Friday night, with the addition of  "The Plonkers Agricultural Orchestra" - which when all's said and done, were a poor imitation of the Wurzels.  Still, folks seemed to like 'em, so that's all that matters.  By some strange occult power, most of us gathered in one spot long enough for a group photograph.

Now ain't that a scary sight ?

    Sunday morning saw even more Moonshiners turning up for the day. . . so once again we walked around, this time watching the parade of vintage tractors and the heavy haulage recovery demonstration, before taking a good look at the motorcycles.  I don't recall seeing any heavy horses this year, but I didn't venture to the far side of the venue.

    The word on site ( don't take this as Gospel ) was that postponing the event was a bad move - it would have been better to cut the losses and cancel the event.  I still had a good time, despite the noticeable lack of entrants.  There again, it ain't very often that the good old British weather throws something like that at us, so all being well, Welland will be back to the last weekend in July next year.

Cheers.

^..^

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