2005 Show report
Rally grows in spite of weather.
The 2005 Belvoir Castle Steam Festival & Family Show was a great success in spite of the weather doing its best to spoil proceedings.
After a great deal of rain prior to the show, Saturday morning started overcast and it was soon drizzling again. In spite of this there was a good turn out of exhibits and a reasonable day was had by all.
A thoroughly good party atmosphere was enjoyed by exhibitors and campers on the Saturday night with two beer tents full to the rafters – one rocking to the sound of 101 Proof and the other enjoying high jinks in the company of Dr Busker and his friends and their own, unique brand of entertainment.
No one seemed to notice the torrential rain outside which spoiled the evening tractor pulling and the fairground’s best attempts to keep going. The evening road runs were also washed out by a sudden storm and flash flooding, although the intrepid Ford & Fordson drivers had already set off on their five mile run and most returned looking like drowned rats!
The rain continued through the night and the organisers feared the worst as they woke early on Sunday morning to soggy ground conditions. Everyone though was very sensible, with vehicle movements kept to a minimum and alternative gates opened for exhibits to get in.
By 9.00am the rain stopped and we were treated to sunshine. The ground held up well and the crowds turned up in their thousands. At one point, with the overflow car park pressed into action, there was a pedestrian queue at the pay gates stretching over the brow of the hill in the car park, a distance of several hundred yards. But extra pay gate staff were called into action and before long everyone was in and enjoying the show.
The weather stayed fair and the ground dried out nicely until the threat of heavy rain late in the afternoon led the organisers to encourage exhibitors to pack up soon after 4.00pm. By 6.00pm there was more torrential rain and fortunately most exhibitors and heavy loads that needed to get away were safely off the show ground.
2005 Highlights
All of the booked steam engines turned up including Bill Maynard’s Burrell Scenic Showman’s ‘No.1’ all the way from Kent, Joe Walker’s Tasker B2 Tractor ‘Hero’ which was freshly painted in a splendid brown livery and roaded in with newly restored living van from Derby and winner of the Old Glory shield, Fowler Showman’s ‘Renown’ making a welcome return after suffering a disastrous fire which all but destroyed it at the owner’s premises in Wirksworth a couple of years ago. The Howard Bros also took the opportunity to show off Renown’s new transport (the original low loader was also written off in the same fire), which is disguised as a huge packing crate after Gary applied his not inconsiderable sign-writing skills.
Elsewhere there was a fine model tent display put together by Rod Sherwood. The tent was packed with a wide range of exhibits – one of the best displays in the country.
The Ford & Fordson Association staged their 60th Anniversary of the Fordson E27N event at the show and arranged over 50 of them in a huge 60 which was then photographed from above from the pleasure flight helicopter. In total nearly 200 of the mainly blue tractors turned out ranging from very early Ford examples through to the latest New Holland machines. It made for a truly spectacular sight and this was before considering the other 140+ tractor exhibits that combined to create one of the largest tractor lines seen in Britain during 2005.
Commercial vehicles were also very much in evidence with over 60 ERFs in the REVS ERF Gathering and 15 or so Fodens. In all there were over 150 commercial vehicles in attendance, including over a dozen PSVs, and a similar number of classic and vintage cars.
A number of motorcycle clubs grouped together to form a special committee to organise the motorcycle section at the show for which a special marquee was provided. Over 140 machines were displayed covering all makes and ages, again one of the finest displays you will find at this type of event anywhere.
The tractor pullers again put on a splendid show and there were good turn-outs for bygones, stationary engines and crafts. The Fengate Tea Rooms again did brisk business. There aren’t many shows where you can get a cup of tea and a piece of cake served by waitresses using proper china!
Miniature engines had a record turn out of 40 with scales ranging from 2” to half-size. Another first for the show was the newly introduced Period Caravan section organised by Nick Stanyard which created a sort of ‘Memory Lane’ with many of the exhibitors putting period displays outside of their old caravans.
The official attendance was 11,646 and the organisers are very grateful to its main sponsors, Old Glory, Tractor & Farming Heritage and Heritage Commercials magazines, all published by Mortons Heritage Media in Horncastle.
- Paul Appleton, Show Founder
• NEXT PAGE >> Open review from Old Glory Magazine, July 2005 issue.
