Astle Park.

We made a long weekend of it as it is probably the only 'going away' holiday we will get this year. Went up on Thursday and got settled into Macclesfield south premier inn, shopping in Macclesfield and Knutsford on Friday with a quick pop in to the site to see what was in the auction (waste of time and £4 - though I did pick up some part for an engine I haven't got yet from Ken Hickman). There nice and early Saturday, great show with best weather we have ever had (the odd rain shower was more of a pleasant 'refresher' than an inconvenience). Met up with NG types and some other old friends at 13:00 in beer tent as arranged (where were you Charles). Attendance looked pretty good to me and definitely more engines than when we were last there two years ago. Still more engines on Sunday - not so much as main exhibits, but many people had obviously dug out one of their 'Cinderella engines to boost numbers for the grand counting - the guy in the Anson tent was talking around the 800 mark, though time will tell how accurate that was. Had a drive over the Cat and Fiddle to Buxton in the evening and home today. All in a very enjoyable trip.

NHH

Wow, what a show!! Magnificent array of engines, and fairly decent weather too. On the way home I always try to decide which was the most impressive engine on the field. This year I'm torn between 4 engines :-

1. Ian Beardmore's "Akroyd", what a beast!!
2. The Juffer family's "Beijers" 2 Stroke Diesel, all 3 tonnes of it!!
3. The bigger of the 2 "Moguls" (apologies to the owner (name forgotten!!)
4. Once again "The Gaffer" ( IF's BIG Allan).

My hearty thanks go to " Campingstoveman" for fetching my little Ruston, "Belgian Frank" for accepting my offer on his "Lime Green Bernard", Geoff, Kenny and the Club Stall Crew for helping me to thin out my junk collection, the other Geoff and the Museum crew for making Saturday evening great anf finally to Martin H for carting my "New" engines home!!