Wednesday 1 September 2010

Welcome To The Annual Rudwick Steam Fair,

again up early as we had miles to travel,
first the tram to West Croydon station,
Diana's first ride on the tram,
then train down to Horsham, wait for the bus to take us to the show ground, but just our luck we missed it and yes you guessed it one every hour, but we made it in the end,
the other problem was the show ground was three fields from the road past the car park, no problem if you are in a car but a long way on foot, but it for me was worth it just to see this beauty, I am not sure that Diana was in the same frame of mind though!
it was a steam and county fair, so of course lots of things other than steam engines to look at like a tractor competition, of which these above are part of the line up,
nice one!
Diana heard some live music, which by a strange twist of fate just happened to be coming from the beer tent!
the music supplied by none other than the New Forest Plonkers and great they were too,
so Diana listen to the music whilst I queued for the beer,
'Cheers!',
we then started a walk around the show ground and what a sight I saw, this was the twin of the caravan Mum, Dad and myself stayed in when we holiday at the Black Rock in Brighton, I never expected to see one like it ever again,
another old favorite, although I never owned one many of my friends had bought a ex-post office B.S.A. Bantam as their first bike,
I am now in steam heaven, sitting on a scale traction engine with a beer in my hand and Diana taking the pictures, what more could I want?
it must be remembered in days past in many places there was not a mains water supply, it had to be pumped up from a well, so many companies produced stationary engines to pump water up from wells or to pump it for irrigation to higher fields,
now this is what Diana wanted, a pretty in pink tractor,
another scale model traction engine, all steamed up and ready to go,
some more tractors lined up for the competition,
a lot of people also brought along their collections to display, I collect old stamps, this guy collects old petrol cans,
this collection proving yet again Christmas is almost upon us,
a full blown Christmas diorama,
then back for a beer, the New Forest Plonkers still playing for all they are worth,
then on to the next show ground, I should say that there were about 3 or 4 separate areas to look around,
and of course what county show would be complete without a ferret racing contest?
in this field a few old cars,
a Stanley,
OK it is my name but what is special about it? well we are at a steam fair so where else to find a steam powered car? yes it is a Stanley Steamer,
great looking car, but being steam powered there is no such thing as a quick getaway, it may take an hour or two to heat up,
now I have never heard of this one before,
it is a Rhode, American I am guessing because of it's name and being left hand drive,
this one is being left as it is, unrestored, but it is allegedly a runner,
and an Austin 7, many years ago I owned one of these, it had a fiberglass body that looked like a Le Mans racer, I still remember the number plate, VGP 750 I wonder where it is now,
another person's collection, this time of barbed wire from the US,
another stationary engine for pumping water,
and oilers, I must admit I thought they were pretty much all the same but it appears not,
this stationary engine powering a water fountain,
and a truly bizarre collection of bunsen burners,
a portable stationary engine, (is that an oxymoron?),
there was also a handcrafts tent,
it was a good day out that some were not going to miss even if they had been in an accident,
Diana has got three or four glass bead bracelets, but there is always room for a few more,
years ago they were more than a little expensive, but now ones from China sell for just a few pounds each,
it does not look it but this caravan is big,
a view along one of the lines of stationary engines,
and what is this? a bar-b-q contest, but we did not stay for the end of that, other things to see,
I brought along some peppermints for Diana to feed to the horses, but she was a bit frighten of them so it was down to me,
these were a better size,
in the tent next door an owl sanctuary,
the wise old owl,
and of course a rabbit show, (just do not tell the ferrets!),
and then a remotely controlled tank rumbled by giving this youngster a nice ride,
back to the rabbits, these are lop eared ones,
but there were so many I was not able to remember all of their varieties names, so there was Fred, John, Bill, Don, etc,
you could also but livestock if you so wished, there were a number of stalls selling chickens and ducks,
for breeding for meat or laying eggs, the ones above are a breed known as Skyline and they are very special,
because they lay colored eggs like these,
the start of the tractor parade,
by now Diana was hungry so it was spaghetti bolognase for Diana, the stall was manned by Thai ladies who all thought Diana was Thai as well,
Diana is not keen on dogs, in fact she is quite frighten of them, so there was no way she was going near this Tibetan mountain dog, especially with its bigger brother sitting nearby!
now I do not know the difference between llamas and alpacas, but I think these are alpacas,
but what ever there are they need a haircut!
it is enough to drive you quackers! ducks, rabbits and ferrets are amongst some of the beasts and fowl you can hire to visit your school from this group bringing the countryside in to class room, for more from the country show click on the previous post.

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