Following a bad summer weather-wise, September gave us some glorious weather, which was just as well as the Society hosted its 49th Annual Rally, which proved to be a great success.
The theme for 2007 was a Special Display of the seven surviving engines built at nearby St. Ives by the Fowell Company. Although six of the engines attended Expo Steam in the late 1970's, it was not until our 2007 rally that all of the seven surviving engines were exhibited . The engines were lined up with the Shuttleworth Mansion as a backdrop, and alongside was a marquee housing historical information on the Company, the history of all 109 engines built and photographs of many of the engines at work. Richard Parrish kindly loaned some of the original Fowell casting patterns for the display. The engines were the Parrish family's 7 NHP engines No.'s 91 and 92 from Shefford , Jon Gorman's No. 93 from Cambridgeshire, 7 NHP No. 97 "The Black Prince" owned by Glenn Carter in Cornwall, 7 NHP No. 98 "Reliance" over from Ireland with Alec Crosse, David Miller's 8 NHP No. 103 "Cromwell" from Hampshire and Gordon Wells' 8 NHP No. 108 from Essex which hasn't been out for many years.
Another special this year was the last minute booking of Willem Kelders and Family from Holland with their two Verbeeck organs "Victory" and "Locomotion" which played in unison during spectacular evening performances showing film excerpts on a screen.
Engines came from both far and wide with the Barrack Steam Museum's Burrell Showman's "Western Pioneer", William Nicol's Clayton & Shuttleworth "Red Admiral" and Gary's Scott's Marshall "Rob Roy" attending from Scotland. Robin Daniels' Burrell Road Locomotive came up from Cornwall, joining the Fowell's from Cornwall and Ireland. The engine coming from the furthest East was Paul and Anne Blanch's Clayton & Shuttleworth from Strumpshaw, near Great Yarmouth. New engines for this year were Steve and Jason Brackstone's Wallis & Steevens Heavy Tractor "Little Atom" which has been featured in this magazine, Vince Allen's superbly turned out Foden tractor "Merlin" and the Cuthbertson family's Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies agricultural. New in the Showman's line up were Fowler "The Lion" with Jimmer Marsh at the helm and Robert Coles' Burrell Scenic "Earl Beatty". Peter Lidgitt's Fowler "The Lion" popped in en route to France where it will now reside with Peter. Michael Davies BB 1 Ploughing engine was working hard with Michael Beeby's Single Fowler in the ploughing field, as were diesel Fowler BB "Sally" with John Mann's K7 "Sevington".
Work was progressing well on Richard Maskell's 6" Foden "Katie". This could be seen in the display put on by Richard and his father Michael, of vintage vehicles, tractors, and engines.
Another new display this year was by the Vellocette Owners Club from Woburn with a selection of motorcycles. Colin Brothwell and team worked their sawbench hard all weekend with a second bench being run by Robert Herring's Allchin. Once again, Peter Wheeler, Geoff Scott Coomber, Neil Tingey and Co. put on a great threshing and stone crushing display with tractors. Vice - Chairman Michael Watts had his threshing tackle run by his Marshall "Punch" and the Saunders Collection Wallis & Steevens "Wheatsheaf" in the hands of Chairman Brian Sharp. Chris Case's large Marshall Portable was running the Society's Marsden Stone Crusher "Thomas 5 3/4". On display for the first time this year since restoration by member John Leech was the Society's Clayton & Shuttleworth Traction Trailer, one of only 3 known survivors in the UK. This was on the move around the site behind the Wyeld family's Foden Road Locomotive "Monarch" on both days.
A good selection of tractors included Donald Bowler's 1916 Overtime, which created a lot of interest in comparison to the newer models. Many vintage cars, commercials and military vehicles all added to the event once again and what was described as the cream of fair organs in the UK.
Saturday evening saw the informal road runs to Broom and Northill, which again proved popular with all types of exhibits. Later in the evening, a wonderful showman's line up could be seen in front of the fair and fair organs playing on both Friday and Saturday evenings. Evening entertainment in the beer tent was provided on Friday by Paul Neon and the Saints, and Saturday by Maxwell, Hammer and Smith creating a fantastic atmosphere on both nights.