Barleylands

A good day, consistently one of our favourite rallies, both Helen and myself find plenty to look at for pretty full eight hour day. Seems somehow to be have more effect on the legs than it did a few years ago though!

I'm not a great one for 'arrangements', they always prey on my mind until completed, but some of Peter F's swept bends were exchanged for (very few) beer tokens as planned, Peter A's engine being the mutually identifiable meeting point.

Never much in the way of jumble at Barleylands but a few of the engine exhibitors had stuff for sale. A Tarpen gen set looked good value at £50 ono, but I managed to talk myself out of it! Did buy an S-T pump for £30 from the same guy though. I also admired what I thought were some of those modern repro's of old enamel advertising signs so Helen bought one to keep for a Christmas pressy (apparently I am difficult to buy for). It had been splashed with coloured water from the vendor's display so when we got home I wiped it with a damp sponge, and the sellotape holding the plastic covered photocopy to the metal backing promptly fell off! Oh well caveat emptor and all that :-(

I've also just got back from Barleylands and have to agree about the entry price. £9 with a programme (full of adverts) came as a bit of a shock, but on the other hand the show is so big you could spend the whole weekend there and probably still not see everything. As I'm into engines, tractors, hot fog, classic cars and bikes there's a lot to get through!

There was a few nice engines there (a nice Austinlight setup, and immaculate Stuart P4, a couple of Gardner 0's, the 100HP Gardner, an unusual OC air cooled Bamford, Robinson etc.) but I thought [WARNING: RANT COMING ON!] some of the display areas looked more like scrap yards. Why is it that some people seem to like to display their engines amongst a sea of oil/petrol/water cans, deck chairs, tools, old Transit vans and trailers? There was generally plenty of room, so why do people stick all of their junk in a pile with the engine hidden in the middle?

And another thing! Why do some people think that 'original' can mean filthy, oily, greasy and muddy? It was quite apparent that the general public showed interest in clean original engines (rusty or otherwise) and nicely restored stuff but walked straight past the squalid engines and display areas.

There was also far too many engines not running or without any information displayed (although there was one guy who posted a most apologetic notice saying that his engine was not running due to a magneto failure!).

And I won't even start on the 'entry ticket engine' issue!

One other thing that I noticed was that the people who are well known in the business (through this group, SEM contributors etc.) never failed to put on a good show.

Somehow I think we need to get to grips with these situations before the public become so disenchanted and generally disinterested in our wares that they don't even bother to come and look.

If the tractor boys can put on a nice clean and tidy display, why do some of the S.E. fraternity fail so badly?

Without getting into the realms of regulation imposed by organisers, what can we do?

RANT OVER, sorry!

Mark

Probably because they always have....

One of the more opportunistic types has a few 5" lengths of BSP threaded pipe for £4 each, and there was a lot of junk type bits and pieces around.

Peter

Probably because they are misguidedly trying to produce an interesting period exhibit! That sounds like a useful service to me. Nor everyone is blessed with: piles of old pipe, a Rapidor, and a set of pipe dies, when they need a Lister D exhaust pipe:-) ttfn Roland