Annual Rally 2022: General Information

This year’s annual rally is at Milton Keynes Museum on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 May.

 

Overview

The annual rally has always been the club’s biggest and best event of the year and as always we hope as many members as possible can come along to celebrate. The museum address is Milton Keynes Museum, McConnell Drive, Wolverton, Milton Keynes, MK12 5EL.

Like all our events it’s very informal. We encourage all members to bring at least one machine from their collection to exhibit, hopefully more. It’s surprising how much you can get in the boot of a car when you try! All mowers are welcome, large and small, hand and motorised. Bring family and friends too - even if they are not interested in mowers, there’s lots to see at the museum.

 

This Year's Themes

Atco: we have carried this theme over from 2021 to mark the centenary of the famous Atco name. We know that most members in the club have at least one Atco in their collection. There is plenty of variety in the models and sizes of machine made from the 1920s onwards and it is always interesting to compare seemingly similar models side by side to spot potential differences. We will be particularly pleased to see models from the 1940s, 50s, 60s and even later to go alongside the inevitable selection of 1920s Atco Standards and other pre-WW2 machines.

JP: this is another famous mower company that started production in 1921. Well known for the quality of its machines, and sometimes called the "Rolls Royce of Mowers", JP produced a wide range of models right through to the 1970s. A great many of these have survived because they were so well made and we know that many members have examples in the collections. It would be great to get at least one example of each of the models they made at our event. 

HM The Queen: to celebrate Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee we hope that members will bring mowers with some kind of royal connection. This could be, for example, the name of the mower: there are lots with a name linked to royalty such as Prince, Princess, and Marquis but we are sure that our members can find plenty of others. We would also like to see mowers with other kinds of royal connection. This might include, for example, mowers that were once used on a royal estate. Even a mower with a royal crest on its grass box would qualify!

 

Timetable

The timetable will be the same as last year.

Saturday

All Day: General displays

All Day: Themed displays

Sunday

11:00 - Auction

14:00 - Annual General Meeting (2pm)

16:00 - Awards and Presentations (4pm)

All Day: General displays

All Day: Themed displays

All Day: Competitions

Please read more information about the weekend timetable here.

 

Auction

This will be held at 11:00 on the Sunday morning. If you haven’t already entered a lot there’s still time but you must let us know before the event if you want to sell anything. We will not accept lots on the day because it adds to the committee’s workload when there isn’t much spare time.

Please read more information about the auction here.

 

Annual General Meeting (AGM)

This will be held at 2pm on the Sunday or just after. 

 

Awards & Presentation

The following awards will be presented at the end of the AGM:

• Best Grassbox Article
• Charlie Jones Award (for the member making an extra contribution to the club's activities)

The following awards will be presented at 4pm on the Sunday or soon afterwards. Competition for all of these is likely to be as fierce as ever:

• Spot the Part - identifying mower parts
• Best Working Machine - for a machine demonstrated during Sunday
• Andrew Grout Plate - voted by all exhibitors, their "choice to take home"

 

Souvenir

As always we will present each member in attendance with a souvenir of the weekend. These are normally given out at the end of the AGM.

If you are attending on the Saturday, please ask a committee member for yours and they will be pleased to give you one.

 

Club Shop

The club shop should be open on the Sunday only with a complete range of souvenirs, clothing and transfers available.

A full list of items is available on the website.

This year we have an electronic card payment facility.

You can place orders with Colin before the event and arrange to collect them on the Sunday.

 

Housekeeping

If you are planning to arrive on the Friday please do not come before 3pm because there won’t be anyone from the club to welcome you before then. After that, feel free to come at any time.

The museum gates will be closed when it gets dark but are open again from around 7.30am on the Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Please use the McConnell Drive entrance. Do not follow the Museum's "Brown Signs" because these will direct you to the public car park which has no vehicle access to the site.

Once on site turn left through the gate inside the museum’s main entrance and proceed slowly into the field but please keep an eye out for people who may be walking around the grounds. We hope to ask all club members to sign a book when they arrive so that we know who’s been.

All vehicles and trailers must be parked in the designated area as marked by signs or indicated by a committee member. This is for safety and to allow other members to drop off and collect their exhibits without hindrance.

Camping is permitted on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. The toilets and washrooms will be open until late at night and from early morning on each day.

The museum tea room will serve breakfast on Saturday and Sunday morning and light refreshments throughout each day.

On the Friday and Saturday evenings we generally send out for a take-away.