Shrewsbury Steam Rally 2014

We went to the annual Shrewsbury Steam Rally at Onslow Park on August Bank Holiday Weekend.

Loved watching the 'Tractor Pull' on the working field.

And a man cutting morning sticks using a 1923 Massey Harris stationery engine.

The rain tipped down all day long on Bank Holiday Monday, but it was still a great weekend. (PS did you notice 'The Mini' all lined up to strut it's stuff)
(PPS - the header picture is of the lake beyond the working field - you can just about see it through a gap in the hedge)
Have a good week
Molly

Redeemed By Love

A good friend of ours called by today. O/H has been having a bit of a time of it  health-wise and our friend brought us two complementary tickets for the Onslow Park Vintage Rally on August Bank Holiday Weekend. I think as well, that he brought his pride and joy to show us. It's taken him three years of solid hard work to restore it from 'hedgerow condition' to this. A 1963 Morris Mini. I love the Mini.Used to have one in the 1970's. It's surprising how much room is inside. I once bought an armchair from a furniture auction and after a lot of fiddling and jiggling managed to load it up in the back of my Mini and cart it home in style.

He has tried to keep all the original fittings.

The engine is immaculate and he's even got the original tool set that came with it.

I love old things that are restored. The story of my life really, I suppose.

With a Few Good Friends

'Curley', though that wasn't his real name - I'm just calling him 'Curley' to protect his identity so to speak. He was my O/H's much loved uncle and what a character he was too. As far as I can remember, he barely ever moved more than a few mile radius from the farm on which he lived, except for that one time when he visited the Motor Show in London - but that's a story for another time. He died in 1978. I have his funeral service card in front of me now. The inscription on the bottom of it reads :-

'He never failed to do his best
His heart was true and tender
He toiled hard for those he loved
And left us to remember'

Which I think, is fair comment.

15 Minutes of Fame 

Austin A40 Somerset 1952 Photo of similar from Wikipedia

 You might have guessed, that there was nothing Curley liked better than a set of wheels. The year was 1955 and Curley had just bought his Austin Somerset. His car was similar to the pic from Wikipedia except the colour was Duck Egg Blue. In a small village like theirs it would't be too long before the word spread like wildfire. Come Sunday, he was more than willing to taxi his two sisters to Chapel. Dependant on the weather, it was quite common for the entire congregation to spend forty minutes inside and then another hour after the service, congregating on the pavement outside. Curley arrived early, parking his Austin Somerset in a prominent place to wow the ladies. He was just in the process of escorting his two sisters through the chapel door when Dai the Bank swanned up in his fire new shiny black, 6 cylinder, 2600 cc engine A90 with cream leather upholstery and parked smack bang two yards in front of it.

 Fordson Major E1A 

During the same year, a new tractor arrived on the scene. The old Fordson Major EN27 terrible- two-tank had been traded in for a diesel powered Fordson Major E1A. How many folks can you pack on a tractor? Well at least six! My future hubs (aged twelve) sitting on the mudguard next to Curley. The man at the back went by the name of 'Colonel' He was an expert hedge layer. His skill was much in demand around the neighbouring farms and he travelled from farm to farm on a BSA bantam motorbike. As he got older he moved into a residential home. As part payment for his labour he would ask whoever he was working for, if they would be kind enough to cut him a bit of best bacon off the hook in order to sweeten up Matron! Next to him brother George. On the right hand side, near the exhaust, young Derek from a quarter of a mile down the road. He loved to help on the farm. Sometimes the two boys snook off down the nearby canal gathering tangled floats and lines caught in the thorn bushes. These were often left behind by exasperated itinerant fishermen. And the prized possessions of the finders keepers. The young girl, Olwen in the driving seat's family lived in Birkenhead. During the heavy bombing raids of WWII. her heavily pregnant mother and her two step sisters were evacuated to the relative safety of the countryside. And they were billeted to Curley's farm not knowing what the future held. Olwen was born in the farm house bedroom two months later. The families kept in touch for quite a few years after the war ended and Olwen loved to spend her school holidays down on the farm. Life was good again!

Up the Mountain

O/H's tractor needs a new glass fuel bowl gasket to make it go again. We tried all over Welshpool today to get one.  We tried Teme Valley Tractors. We tried John Deere Tractors. We tried Phil's Tool Hire

Then we turned up the mountain. There's a man who lives up there who's sure to have one.

We went further up the mountain  past a place called Little Hope. And then we finally arrived -
'Do you have a glass fuel bowl gasket for an International B275 tractor or would you be able to get me one?'

NOT A HOPE IN HELL.

Rebuilding the wall

Our house 60+ years ago

The wall along the edge of the garden

The  face in the window

Do you ever start, what seems a little bitsy job only to find it ballooning and expanding until it becomes a major operation.  As long as we can remember there's always been a hedge growing on top of the wall. Every year we've tried to trim it back to keep it in some sort of order.

This year, 'Chainsaw Man' thought he'd cut a bit of the brash off, to tidy it up a bit. We've had three full trailer loads so far, and hardly started.



Next job has been pulling out half a century's ivy  that's entwined itself through the stone blocks.



Once we've cleared the last piece ivy



the next step will be rebuilding the wall.






We were given some old photos of our house a few years ago.  I enlarged one of the photos as I scanned it today.  A little blonde girl appeared to be staring through the window watching us. I can tell you it gave me goose bumps a bit. Can't decide whether it's just a shadow on the curtains. What do you think?
I really love this old house. Perhaps there'll be a shadowy figure of me at the window in fifty years time watching the next occupants as they work. That'll give them the creeps for sure.

In the meantime, back to the job in hand. Hope the weather holds. I'll post some more pics as we progress and when it's completed.

Salop Steam Rally, Onslow Park 2013 (Take II)

We've just spent a fab Bank Holiday weekend at Salop Steam Rally, Onslow Park

A few pics and clips of what we got up too.

'Taxi!'



and just to round it all off .....

Well and truly zonkered ....... but what a weekend.

Shadow Shot Sunday in the Attic

I rarely go up there. It's freezing in the winter and like an oven in the summer. That's if we get summer.
I took these photos when there was a little glitch of sunshine - just enough to capture shadows on the wall

A corridor leads off from the main stair case into a little room we call 'the priest hole' . It's only about four feet square.

 It's quite strange with a caggle of letters which look as though someone has attempted to leave a cryptic message on the ceiling - or is it just a trail of smoke from a long burned out candle. I don't usually stop there too long to find out.

Linking up with Shadow Shot Sunday 2. Hope you've had a great weekend.

From the Old to the New

When we were coming home today, this little red tractor was parked near Goblin Lane alongside the black wooden railway bridge. For decades, it stood, one wheel missing and up to its axle in farm yard slurry.
The chassis was rotting and the big end probably gone.

And then, Farmer John set about and restored it. Now it trundles up and down the single track road, carrying hay and straw to feed his cattle over the winter months.
There's a little bit of rust around the exhaust and the one headlight's got a bit of a droop, But little Massey Fergy's looking good, don't you think?

Chiselled in Stone

St John's Hill

As you go up St John's Hill in Shrewsbury, turn left through the wrought iron gate at the top. This is where St Chad's is and the church yard is at the back. There aren't any modern graves there now, most of them date back to the early 1800's. The pictures I've taken are at various times  through the seasons. 

You might think that walking around a church yard looking at grave stones is a bit morbid, but I don't think so. Death is an inevitable part of life. It is. Like they say, the only two certainties in this life are dying and paying tax. And me? I just find a sense of peace there. When I go into Shrewsbury, if there's time, I never get tired of walking the narrow stone paths. And they even provide a bench by the cobbled circle for you to sit and ponder it all as long as you want to.

St Chad's Churchyard

At the top end, nearest to the Quarry gardens is a cobbled circle. I would imagine there is something beneath it - but it doesn't say what. Been there for quite a while.

The one above is a crypt in cast iron, beautifully engraved. Indication that in those times that they were quite a well-to-do family in the watch making business, so it says a bit higher up - but look at the ages - 25 yrs, 41, 26 - how did they meet their deaths so young? Was it through illness or accident or just sheer hard work. We won't know.

Mary Eccleston

Then there was Mary Eccleston - she was only fifteen when she died in 1827 and other infant children died with her. It happened on New Year's Eve. Was there an accident, epidemic? I've never been able to find out any more about her. There's almost a book in there.

Fungi at the base of the yew tree

One of my favourite things to look at was, a winter storm a few years back had upended one of the yew trees. The tree surgeons who dealt with it, carved their names where they'd lopped the trunk across.  You'd never know now because ivy has grown all over it. But they are there, underneath it, for posterity.

Onslow Bank Steam Rally 2012

Vintage cars lining up to go into the ring

Bank Holiday Monday (yesterday) we went to the Onslow Bank Steam Rally. It's held over two days. Sunday, weather wise was a a beautiful day, warm, dry, everything. Monday was forecast as heavy rain, gales ... you name it. Anyway we went early Monday morning. It's only ten/twelve miles away from where we live and a good day out so what's a drop of rain and a bit of wind. A lot of people stayed away because of the Monday weather which was a bit of a shame, because it was a fantastic day. There was a lot going on - the razmataz of vintage - acrid smoke, hooting, chuffing and banging of the steam engines. They converge here from all over the country. The  A458 is a nightmare when they all arrive on a Friday night and a Saturday.

One of the vintage push bike collection

I loved this bike - the day job and the leisure tennis racket for after work.

Love this motorbike too.  Could almost picture Steve McQueen in 633 Squadron ploughing through that rolled up barb wire on something similar.

The Old Guilsfield Bus

This bus belonged to 'John the Bus'. The story collated by Mrs Marie Jones goes : - 'John was a war victim of the 1st World War, having his leg amputated in France at the age of 23. On returning back home he started his bus business, conveying passengers. To do this the bus was adapted to suit his driving capabilities...'  Inside the bus, near the gear stick, there's a compartment where he used to store his artificial leg. Neat!

The old Crosville bus leading the procession 

I can remember catching one of those buses when I went to school. Nostalgia.

Vintage tractors make their début

Lawley Bros from Churchstoke using steam power to split  through tree trunks

The Association of Pole Lathe Workers at work

I came across my long time friend Jane at Levant there and we agreed to share picures - Check her site - she's got some great pics.
There's a link to my Flickr site if you've got the time - sorry about the repeats - I'm still practising.