Annual Rally 2007

Milton Keynes Museum
Saturday 19/Sunday 20 May

Another great weekend with new and old friends to meet and greet. This year more members than ever before made the trip to MK for the weekend and this made it one of our best rallies yet. The weather was kind (for once) which was good news considering the forecast had been for cold and rain all through the week before.

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

THE GANG'S ALL HERE

The images below show some of the Club members at the event. The weekend is always a good time to meet up with old friends and to show off the latest acquisitions and preservation projects. This year was no exception.

MOTOR MOWERS

As always there was an excellent selection of motor mowers, from early 1920s machines through to the 1970s. 

 

HAND MOWERS

Hand mowers always form the bulk of the machines on display and the variety never fails to amaze and delight the collectors present. This year we had an excellent selection which included some very unusual models which members have unearthed in the past year.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...

Although lawn mowers are obviously the main attraction many members also collect and display related items. The image on the left shows Mike and Pam Tomkins who normally display their collection of toy and model mowers. But this year they had a different theme, showing instead a variety of advertising posters which feature mowers. The image on the right shows a member's Godiva Engineering lawn edger. The company made mowers as well as other garden tools.

MAN AND BOY

We spotted a number of fathers and sons at this year's event.

Tony and Gary Houghton are putting something in the sack but we're not sure what.

Stan and Jonathan Hardwick share a quiet moment just before setting off back to North Yorkshire at the end of the weekend.

Bill Jeffries and father-in-law brought along a small part of their collection including this Dennis motor mower.

Also present were Christopher and William Proudfoot, Dick and Alan Hardwick and William and Henry Outram.

DON'T SNEEZE!

This was our second auction and the bidding was brisk for many of the lots on offer. A few novice bidders were a bit worried about blinking or nodding at the wrong time but our expert auctioneer Christopher Proudfoot made sure that everything was in order.

The three images at the top of this section show the auction in progress while the fourth image shows new Club Treasurer Dick Hardwick with an unusual cutter bought in the sale.

AND THE WINNER IS...

Charlie Jones Award

The Charlie Jones Award is named after one of the Club's late members and is presented to a member nominated by the chairperson in recognition of their contribution to the club. This year the winner was Geoff Christopher who has been an active member for many years. In fact, Geoff came to the Club's first ever proper rally back in 1990. Over the years Geoff and his wife Margaret have attended numerous events and are always willing to share their knowledge. He has built up quite a collection which includes a number of Automower motor mowers. The picture shows Geoff on the right receiving his trophy from Keith Wootton. They are standing behind each others' Automowers which they brought to the rally to compare.

Outram Award

William Outram awards a prize each year for the Best Working Mower. This year the prize was won by Christopher Proudfoot for his newly-restored Williams & Cie "Archimedienne". Christopher (left) is shown receiving a bottle of champagne with his son William (right) from Henry Outram (front).

Identification Competition

A popular event each year is the parts identification competition organised by Richard Jones. This year's winner was Vic Banks who we happened to spot filling in his entry form (left image). Vic is seen on the right hand image receiving his prize from Richard.

Andrew Grout Plate

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 Christopher and William Proudfoot for their Williams & Cie "Archimedienne". This was the second prize of he weekend for the mower as it had earlier won the competition for the best working machine awarded by William Outram. Andrew Grout is shown on the left presenting the plate and a special tankard to Christopher (centre) and William (right).

The images on this page were all taken by members of The Old Lawnmower Club:

Bill Jeffries (BJ)
Nigel Ball (NB)
Roger Wilkinson (RW)
Ron Oglesby (RO)
Bernard "Robbie" Robinson (RR)
Keith Wootton (KW)

The initials in the (brackets) can be found at the beginning of the names of the corresponding images.