Annual Rally 2006

Milton Keynes Museum
Saturday 20/Sunday 21 May

A bit wet and windy this year but it didn't seem to stop our intrepid members from turning up in greater numbers than ever before. It was great to see old friends and meet some of our newer (and younger) members for the first time. We even had members from the USA,  The Netherlands and the Isle of Man on hand to give the rally a truly international flavour.

 

This is a small selection of images taken at the event. Click on any of the thumbnails to see a larger version.

THE HUMAN FACTOR

SPECIAL DUTIES

Henry Ellis is our man in the know when it comes to JP mowers. Here's Henry on the right explaining some finer point to John Hammond.

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

Engaging in a bit of buying and selling is a big part of the weekend. Here we can see some of the sellers with their stalls.

IT'S A BATTLEFIELD

 

This year we organised an auction for the first time. The event was held on the Sunday afternoon and we were fortunate to have an expert on hand to take charge. Christopher Proudfoot is a professional auctioneer as well as being a member of the club and made sure that everything went smoothly. It was raining so we arranged for him to stand under some shelter (although the bidders had to make do with umbrellas or get wet).

ENGLAND MADE ME

The biggest exhibits on show were these two monster Ransomes ride-on motor mowers dating from the 1930s.

THE QUIET AMERICAN

Actually this Ideal motor mower was pretty loud once the rain stopped and they managed to get it going!

THE POTTING SHED

There are always lots of interesting mowers to look at over the weekend.

THE COMEDIANS

The large sidewheel mower raised a few eyebrows until the owner pointed out that he'd added some new handles to the chassis of a gang mower unit.

WORK NOT IN PROGRESS

There are always plenty of mowers to see at the event.

MEN AT WORK

Members of the committee spend a lot of time over the weekend making sure that everything goes off smoothly. 

THE POWER AND THE GLORY

Each year we hold a number of light hearted competitions for exhibitors. A new prize this year was awarded by William Outram for the best working mower on show on the Satursday afternoon. The champagne was won by Mark Chapman with his 1920s Godiva motor mower. mark is seen above with the mower and being presented with his prize by Bill. 

A popular event each year is the parts identification competition organised by Richard Jones. This year's winner was Alan Hardwick who has won the prize twice in the three years it's been awarded. Alan is shown in the right hand image holding some of the items he recognised with Richard looking on.

The main prize of the weekend is the Andrew Grout Plate which is awarded each year to the owner of the mower that the exhibitors would most like to take home. This year the winners were Andrew Hall and Michael Duck of The Hall & Duck Trust for their Chadborn & Coldwell hand mower which may be one of the oldest surviving US mowers. Andrew Grout is shown on the left of the first image presenting the plate and tankard to Andrew (centre) and Mike (right).