Dorset Fair – Why all the criticism?

I have never been to Dorset so I can't comment on the event but we do a few rallies as my wife has a stall. One thing organisers have to realise is fees come from traders and the gate. At £12 a head this isn't a family day out and we were quoted £380 for a 25' pitch stall. To be honest by the time you reckon traveling up and fuel plus the ground rent there is no way we could have broke even.

Sorry but we will support the smaller rallies who seem to regard traders as an asset and not a way to make money. There is also a far better atmosphere at the smaller ones, even rallies we have not made any money at we will do again because we liked them so much and it is a weekend away.

The smaller rallies are getting better I feel at the expense of the larger ones. Traffic jams, high prices are killing them. We did Pickering this year but not again. It has got to big to be manageable. Arena 2 was 1/2 empty most days and the standard of commentary was appalling. To say the commentators are part of the group being shown they really ned to do more work. One guy commenting on the lorries said "Now I think this is a Leyland lorry " THINK ?? It had bloody LEYLAND plastered all over the grille

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

I had hoped that my comments were qualified praise, rather than criticism. There is no doubt in my mind that the spectacle of the Steam heavy haulage ring is one of the finest that the vintage engineering enthusiast could hope for.

The engines and machinery in Granfer's Day were excellent, the early tractors were excellent. The cars and motorbikes suffered from that unfriendly lack of information that I was moaning about at our local rally yesterday.

I suppose if I lived closer to Dorset, I would go most years, though I do like the smaller more intimate rally, where I know a few exhibitors.

The reported rules about vehicles there sound weird , to say the least of it.

One question forms in my mind, How did Mr. Perman get in in his dodgy van?:-)

Regards, Arthur G

It's a later version of the Dormobile, what we now call a camper van.

Peter

PS: Need your mail address for the CH manual...

Kind regards,

Peter

Peter Forbes Prepair Ltd Luton, UK email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk home: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

Chris:

I think that it is the sheer hassle of getting there and back and the problems at the gate etc etc that put people off. I know we were told by Mad Mick years ago that it was worth staying down there for the week to see it properly, and that is what he does, but I couldn't do that easily with Portland around the same time, although Philip T-E managed to cover both, albeit only a day at the GDSF.

If there was better organisation to stop the horrendous queues and if the general atmosphere was more slanted to entertaining and coping with visitors rather than fleecing them, I would certainly have a go, but as John S says, it is not worth it on the present basis with so many better and cheaper shows to go to.

Kind regards,

Peter

Peter Forbes Prepair Ltd Luton, UK email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk home: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

Since I probably started this I'll throw my, probably odd, views in. Its an event that stirs very mixed feelings in my wife and I. As a spectacle of steam its without compare, Granfers day is superb (largely due to the Barnes brothers). There are a vast number of interesting displays, although strangely laid out. The stationary engines have some quality but too much dross. The French and Dutch contingents are always superb and obviously go to some trouble to create fascinating exhibits as well as greatly enjoying themselves. The general lack of info boards is not unique to this event! Entry at £9.50 (pre-booked) is very good value BUT the programme is overpriced and so is everything else presumably cos of the high stall prices. Throw in the cost of a full inside and out valet for the car and it all adds up to an enjoyable but very expensive day out and with the prospect of either eating dust all day or sliding on slime it becomes marginal. This year we cut our attendance to Wednesday only and were still on the end of a three mile queue at 0845. The auction having moved 2 miles, in what for me is the wrong direction, ruled that out. Despite all that I did get a few items from the SE traders (Mac being an obvious non-attendee) and found a few excellent 78s (managed to fight off a most unpleasant old bag who thought she could dive into the heap I was going through and then wasted much breath and rudeness in trying to provoke me to walk off :-) I am told that the HSE have decreed that next years event must be held entirely on grass. If so I may exhibit, and get the full benefit, provided I can rid myself of the lingering feeling that I am there purely to be fleeced. ttfn

Arthur,

The cheek of it, my "Tatty old Van" is a coach built Martin Walker designed

4 berth Camper called a Dormobile Debonair with toilet etc, the daddy of all the caravan inspired vehicles you see about today. I must agree that if you are looking for bargains then Tuesday night Wednesday morning is the time to look, we arrived Tuesday evening and stayed till Saturday afternoon and apart from eleven hours of rain Thursday, which by the way kept the dust down Roland, the weather was perfect. It has everything for everybody which is how something that big should be. Any way standards will rise next year as I have enquired about exhibiting myself. I will add that another interest I have is F1 and Aviation £12.00 is peanuts for a day when you can pay £300.00 plus for a weekend at the British Grand Prix or £45.00 for two on a motorcycle as a mate did to get into a show at Duxford. I will add that I am not made of money and have gone to Dorset for the last ten years and paid my way but this year I had a support pass and assisted a friend by taking and returning some of his exhibits so this year cost me nothing.

Martin P

There is no doubt in my mind that the spectacle of the

enthusiast could hope for.

tractors were excellent. The cars and motorbikes suffered

local rally yesterday.

like the smaller more intimate rally, where I know a few

With attendance figures like that I don't imagine anything said on this little backwater is going to affect the fair! Nor should it, for the real steam enthusiast I am sure it is a quite unmissable event.

Hi Nick, I still think the only un-missable Steam event is the Annual Boxing day pub crawl covering 3 pubs & enjoyed by all. All it costs is the beer money. See

have lost a little weight since then, Honest!

-- Dave Croft Warrington England

I'd blame the bulky winter clothing if I were you - or does that big tea kettle thing up front keep you warm?

I don't think we were having a go at you, Chris, mostly pointing out the view from a 'non-steam' viewpoint.

Paying for traction engines to attend is a well-known means of attracting machinery that the public will see, and the insurance is always going to be a big ticket item, but why the 'attitude' towards people with vans, why the very high cost of pitches (your argument about congestion charging is not really valid, the policy only encourages 'tat' salepeople who are always going to turn over a lot of overpriced rubbish to pay for their pitch) and why can't the organisation get its act together regarding site access?

It's not as if it was a new show, and yes, Mike Oliver has had his bad years, but it is so big now that money is the overriding concern, not the paying public or the exhibitors.

Like so many public events, it needs a rethink before too long (and I also include Duxford in that statement, which is getting way overpriced for what it is, especially on the flying days which we have had to stop attending due to the very high cost of admission and the relatively poor facilities)

If the USAF Museum can offer free car parking and free admission and free shuttle transport round the site, why can't Duxford?

Kind regards,

Peter

Peter Forbes Prepair Ltd Luton, UK email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk home: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

There has never been a culture of paying engines to attend, and at the same time engine owners have been happy to accept free admission if they were displaying, which seems a reasonable if one-sided arrangement.

I don't know if the GDSF pays anyone with larger engines for displaying, but I would think not. What does it cost Mr Noble to run the big Gardner and transport ? not pennies I bet, but as Martin says there is a certain satisfaction element involved which mitigates the costs, and if you have a haulage company in the family perhaps then it all starts to make sense.

I just don't see this all adding up, certainly not after going to Portland which has changed my viewpoint somewhat, having seen what they put on with mainly volunteer labour. It takes a week to built it all up, they have to hire the Jay County showground (although the club also owns a big piece of adjacent land which they use for visitor camping and parking) and the general show is very much engines and tractors only, no traction engines or steam stuff at all.

Yes, it is specialised and the only really large show in the summer, but such is the quality and ambience that people return again and again, which is what we are doing...

Kind regards,

Peter

Peter Forbes Prepair Ltd Luton, UK email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk home: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk

That's the problem, you don't matter to them and they make sure you know it.

We wrote to Michael Oliver to ask in the nicest possible way what the story was about the camping and didn't even get the courtesy of a reply.

The show has the same stuff as most decent size shows, just more of it.

If that's what they charge then some of the obvious tinks with their "stalls" of scrap clearly aren't there for legitimate trading.

Martin,

I really don?t want this to sound snobby, but there really is a big difference between a stationary engine and a steam engine.

I am talking both costs and hours put in. If we take an engine out, each day it takes 4 hours to get the thing clean again, It costs minimum £250 to get the thing to site and then will use ½ ton of coal per day. Then there is £500 quid to inspect and insure the thing each year and the maintenance costs are astronomical. A stationary engine will take £10 worth of fuel and a tow behind a car.

The main point is surely though, like it or not, they are the crowed pullers at rallies. Stationary engines are a much more specialised interest.

Just my 2p

Regards

Chris Bedo Kent UK

I'm not going to join this particular pissing contest :-) ......but will throw in that SEs will never be crowd pullers whilst they are lines of badly restored crap doing bugger all and with neither interesting info nor an interested owner. (e.g.There is a certain gorgeous engine of

18/21 hp whose owner might as well not be there). Granfer's Day attracts lots of interest and I took my "rusty old Petter-Light" to Yesterday's Farming and never got to sit down on Sunday. As long as we cannot interest the public they will stay away in droves and the hot fog merchants will have every justification for marginalizing the engines. I see no evidence that SEs are a more specialised interest. I also think that raising stall prices is a damn poor alternative to exercising selectivity. ttfn

The last remark I feel is very relevant. Some events ask what you are selling and others do not. Twice this year my wife has been refused on the grounds that they have their quota of her type of stall. That's fine by us, we just need to apply a bit sooner next year. Last thing we want is to go to a show where everyone is selling the same goods.

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Up and down, changing the plug every few minutes I'll be bound :-))))

Very true Roland, we need to get rid of the camping displays and attract genuinely enthusiastic owners. Its very sad that an engine is the cheapest way to get a free weekend at a rally without giving anything in return , if you are that way inclined. I'm all for a bit of intelligent selectivity.

Regards

Philip T-E

Hello Dave Small world isn't it, If I'm not mistaken I took that picture, when you handed your camera to the nearest Bod who wasn't busy. Glad to see my photographic skills were of some use :-)

Bit OT here , but there is another little Steam party in Mobberley ( Bulls Head ) this weekend. Just as free as the Boxing day event, and not too far from Warrington.

Cheers John

Hi Roland, as you know I am first of all an SE devotee. These days due to my wifes incapacity I show a vintage bicycle. It is the only one on show in England & I have a full display board.. Many people show old bicycles as an easy way to get into a show. These are the true event intruders. (apart from the villiers aircooled but have a giant mobile home brigade)