Speech House Vintage Show 2025

[International Steam]

By way of relaxation after an incredibly hectic couple of days at Old Warden, I spent a morning at our local rally.

To be honest, someone should point out to the organisers that autumn comes earlier on this side of the country than further east. Maybe with last year's event cancelled owing to a waterlogged show ground and heavy rain all afternoon after I got home, it might be better to try a date earlier than the second Sunday in September.

There were, as expected, just half a dozen engines present but two were new to me. One I expected but the other was a pleasant surprise. I've travelled a lot further and seen no 'first timers'.

https://www.internationalsteam.co.uk.../ukindex25.htm

The Old Warden report will take 'days', currently I'm still suffering from 'sensory overload'.

[Steam Boy Hertford]

Originally Posted by International Steam

By way of relaxation after an incredibly hectic couple of days at Old Warden, I spent a morning at our local rally.

To be honest, someone should point out to the organisers that autumn comes earlier on this side of the country than further east. Maybe with last year's event cancelled owing to a waterlogged show ground and heavy rain all afternoon after I got home, it might be better to try a date earlier than the second Sunday in September.

There were, as expected, just half a dozen engines present but two were new to me. One I expected but the other was a pleasant surprise. I've travelled a lot further and seen no 'first timers'.

https://www.internationalsteam.co.uk.../ukindex25.htm

The Old Warden report will take 'days', currently I'm still suffering from 'sensory overload'.

When I was walking towards Ickwell Green to get the bus back to Bigglewade Train Station, I could've sworn I heard heavy chuffing in the distance from behind me. I'll have to check your report on Old Warden, just in case some more Traction Engines had arrived on-site after I left

[nj111]

"International Steam" , sorry you were disappointed. Unfortunately this venue primarily hosts many weddings throughout the year and rejected the club's request for an August date because people having weddings didn't want such an event happening in the adjacent field on the same weekend.
With regard to engines attending. This one day event has historically been extremely generous to charities , for many years around £4000 every year has been donated, leaving the club with marginal financial gain each year. For this reason the engines have generously attended without payment. An option would be to pay for more engines to attend but give very little to charity. It's also a difficult site with low loaders (little space) so most of those engines you saw had made a road trip to get there.
If you are local please feel free to attend a club meeting and input with your ideas for the future. Yes, this year was wet and last year the ground waterlogged, but all ten or so previous September dates have been blessed with pretty good weather.

BTW it is Forest Vintage and Machinery Show , not "Speech House show", they have no input into the event.

[carl_byrne]

Hi Nick

I am confused and welcome being corrected. When I looked up the date of the rally a few weeks ago, I found it (or so I thought) on the Internet as "Speech House . . . ". Are they different rallies or is the 'Forest Vintage and Machinery Show' often wrongly branded as Speech House . . . ?

Regards
Carl.

[nj111]

For the last few years the Rally has run under the title of Forest Vintage Show.
I'll explain why next time I see you!

[carl_byrne]

Originally Posted by nj111

For the last few years the Rally has run under the title of Forest Vintage Show.
I'll explain why next time I see you!

Thanks Nick.
Regards
Carl.

[International Steam]

If you go to the club's website (https://fvvmc.co.uk/theclub), the chairman's message talks about "The Speech House Show". If it's good enough for him...

And back in 2017 as my report says, it rained during the day and the ground was so wet from recent rain that only the Trotter was able to move.

In fact, I've now looked it up and the figures do show that September in the FoD is actually less wet on average than August, I certainly was not aware of the 'wedding angle'.

I do wish the show well, it's never been advertised as a 'steam show' although I think their publicity used to include a picture of a steam engine. As you say, it's a charity event and the organisers are in the best position to know what their punters want.