It has been quite a busy year really with a good few shows involved, and mainly shows of quality! It's amazing as you go on how you find good shows and move away from others.
Sadly, the Earls Barton Fire and Rescue Show didn't happen this year so my normal show opener wasn't possible. I did book 326 into the Rushden Cavalcade in May but on the day, I decided the tyres were too far gone for them to be safe. So the petrol carrier came off the bench that day, although as a weekend show machine, it's nowhere near as good as the goddess!
After a quick search, new tyres and wheels were sourced via David Crouch, a military vehicle collector and dealer in Leicestershire, who many might know for his main business - heavy vehicle recovery. A quick run across with the petrol carrier saw them loaded and a few days before the Newark Show in July saw John and Richard come across to help change them. With three people, changing three tyres took under half an hour!
As mentioned the Newark Emergency Services Heritage Show was a highlight of the year. The successor to the old Derby Fire Show, it took place at the Newark Showground. A busy few days saw my vehicles and those of David and John of the NFS-AFS group moved to the showground in readiness, although that's nothing in comparison to the journey that the Dublin AFS made - all the way via ferry and across North Wales in PGW 144. It was a great weekend, although a little light on visitors, but that it often the case with 'new' shows, so I'm glad it will be on again in early July 2016. It was a great weekend and nice to catch up with many old and new faces.
32 and 326 before the show:
The line up:
PGW 144 all the way from Dublin Civil Defence:
Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service's newest and largest toy - alongside the NFS-AFS Group's WW2 Austin TL:
"Are you okay down there?"
With Newark over, the next show was Welland. A large steam show in the West Midlands, it is well know for it's scale - steam, railway, trucks and commercials, ploughing field, tractor pulling arena and much more! With Tony attending with his AFS Control Unit, it was a decent journey across to meet him at Chievely Services on the M6 for a convoy into Welland. Worryingly, as we pulled out of the services 326 spluttered to a halt on the hard shoulder but it started again easily enough and was fine for the rest of the weekend! The scale of the site at Welland has to be believed, and once we met up with Dan, we parked. Although there for enjoyment, we were also there to provide fire cover for the show, so 326 along with Dan's goddess and a goddess belonging to Liam a local fire officer were there to work! On Saturday morning in the rain, we filled up then parked in our designated location ready for action. Thankfully, we weren't really needed. The Friday was very wet and the show was a washout but Saturday dawned dry. Sadly, Sunday was equally wet so it was knocked on the head and exhibitors dispersed back home.
The Welland Fire Station:
The last show of the year was the Lincoln steam and vintage show. A great show which draws a good crowd from quite a distance, it's always good fun. So Tony came up from Suffolk with the control unit on the back of his Atkinson low loader. We parked with the fire section, which happened to be most of the crowd from the Preston Park show up in the North East. We had a great weekend and with some great camaraderie - a show as it should be!
Two Dennis appliances which were parked with us - the right hand vehicle is a former Royal Navy appliance which initially served at HM Dockyard Trincomalee in Sri Lanka - beautifully restored right down to the last detail including the varnished interior:
So that's it for the year! With 326 now safely in bed, one of the jobs will be a conversion to electronic ignition as it's running a little rough. Watch this space!
