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WEST DORSET VINTAGE TRACTOR & STATIONARY ENGINE CLUB LIMITED

LATEST NEWS!

FRIDAY 20TH AUGUST 2010 - The summer holiday period has been with us a while now, with rallygoers looking forward to the Great Dorset Steam Fair near Blandford (1st-5th Sept). Early in September our club committee will be discussing the results of our own rally held in June, and whether we can support some local charities and good causes. I feel confident that we will, as in previous years. Dave Young is a film-maker and spent time at this years rally, filming mainly stationary engines. The finished article is now able to be seen at a number of locations on the internet, notably Youtube and guardian-online. It is also going to be shown this autumn/winter at The Palace Cinema, South Street, Bridport. The link below will take to it. Enjoy!

http://guardian.co.uk/travel/video/2010/aug/12/vintage-steam-rally-dorset

WEDNESDAY 16TH JUNE 2010 - ANOTHER GLORIOUS RALLY! This years rally again had the advantage of good weather for virtually the whole two days. Not until Sunday evening did the heavens open, and then only for a short while. Saturday got off to a magnificent start with the 'bygones' auction. Martin Chamney and his team assembled nearly a 1000 lots from bending springs to tractors. The visitors car park and overflow park were jammed with vehicles. Whilst the auction was progressing, the main field had hundreds of visitors being drawn by the hundreds of exhibits and displays to see. The Wessex Birds of Prey Group provided entertainment in the ring as well as parades of nearly a 100 tractors and similar number of motorcycles.

Sunday was families day, starting with the church service, followed by parades of vintage vehicles. The afternoon gave people a chance to sit by the ring and be entertained by Spirit De Combat martial arts group, followed by The Honeysuckle Hydratherapy Group's dog agility display which kept the crowds attention the whole time. The afternoon rounded off with the Grand Parade of anything that could move into the ring. To see a photo gallery of pictures taken at rally please click RALLY PHOTOS Below a scene from the rally.

MONDAY 10TH MAY 2010 - Despite sad events earlier in the year, the committee has worked hard to bring about this years WEST DORSET RALLY. With good weather we will have another bumper year with a mixture of regular and some new attractions.

TUESDAY 16TH MARCH - Following the sad news about John Butt, who was the club's membership secretary, would members please address any mail regarding membership to the chairman's address. This is-

DAVID LAMB, 61 BURTON ROAD, BRIDPORT, DORSET, DT6 4JE.

MONDAY 15TH MARCH 2010 - It is with great sadness that the club has to announce that JOHN BUTT passed away today. John has been a committee member of the club for about thirty years. He also for many years was the stationary engine steward at our annual rallies. John was an engine man through and through, there was nothing he liked best than tinkering with old engines, and held an immense amount of knowledge on Lister engines. He had an enthusiasm for anything old, and crafts that are generally no longer practised. John rarely missed any opportunity to visit anywhere there might be some old machinery. He also rarely missed a committee meeting or club meeting. The committee and clubmembers will miss him. The club extends their condolences to Josie, his wife and family. Below are a couple of photographs of John. (1) Evenings tinkering with old engines at Pete Symonds workshop. (2) John in foreground with Pete Symonds and Dave Lamb at a local rally near Dorchester.

THURSDAY 18TH FEBRUARY - IMPORTANT MESSAGE! - IF YOU AS AN EXHIBITOR/VISITOR TO THE 2009 WEST DORSET RALLY, AND STAYED AT THE 'QUARTERDECK' WEST BAY AND ALSO MADE AN ADVANCE BOOKING FOR 2010. PLEASE CONTACT THE 'QUARTERDECK' WHICH IS NOW UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT.

SUNDAY 14TH FEBRUARY - The February general meeting (commonly called Sub's night) was held on Friday 12th February. A good attendance of members were advised that the committee were now well into organising this years rally. Ideas for exhibits/attractions for the rally were invited, by chairman David Lamb. The latest issue of the club's newsletter was also distributed, by Tony Edwards, newsletter editor. A presentation was made to retiring committee member Ray Violet. Club president Loric Collins, on behalf of the committee and members presented Ray with a barometer as a token of appreciation for all his support over 30 years as a committee member. The directors and committee also invited Ray to become a vice-president of the club, which he duly accepted. Ray being an electrician, has looked after the rally electrics for many years. His wife Sonia, who also has served on the committee was presented with a bouquet of flowers.

SUNDAY 7TH FEBRUARY 2010 -This years committee are now preparing for this years rally, to be held at West Bay on Saturday & Sunday 12th / 13th June. The club's AGM had to be postponed for a couple of weeks, due to the icy weather we experienced at beginning of January. After a period of over 30 years Ray Violet has stood down from the committee. Ray has looked after the rally electrics all this time, and will be sorely missed. This years committee is as follows- chairman David Lamb, vice-chairman Ian Thompson, secretary Sue Thompson, treasurer Wendy Beaven, membership secretary John Butt, newsletter editor Tony Edwards, and the following committee members- David Dear, Jenny Edwards, Maureen Elsworth, Les House, Pete Legg (first year), Austin Phillips, Graham Rendell, Peter Symonds & Paul Violet.

SATURDAY 26TH DECEMBER 2009 - Apologies for disruption to the website and club email address. I understand that members have been experiencing difficulties in finding the website. It was not until people advised me that they had emailed me, without any reply, that I was able to investigate the problem. Work is in hand to rectify things, and it should be sorted during January 2010, well in time for next years rally - SATURDAY & SUNDAY 12TH/13TH JUNE 2010.

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Saturday 11th October - The club 'Harvest Supper' meeting took place yesterday where 14 local charities & organisations were presented with cheques totalling £7000. The evening was a great success and ended with everybody sampling the tasty supper prepared by clubmembers.

One of the club vice-presidents who has given up doing the same task at rally time after nearly thirty years, was thanked by the meeting and presented with a gift. The club hopes that Brian Cardale will continue to support the rally in the other many ways he does. Likewise Martin Chamney, auction organiser was thanked for another successful rally auction this year. Charities and groups who were presented with cheques were Fortuneswell Cancer Trust £1000 (£500 of which was generously donated by the 'Adams Axemen' who asked that their fee for appearing at the rally was included with the club's donation to a cancer charity. Bridport Sea Cadets £500, Bridport St John Ambulance £500, Bridport St John Ambulance Cadets £500, Bridport Cub Scouts £500, Dorchester Scouts £500, West Dorset Accordion Band £500, Freewheelers Bikes £500, Honeysuckle Hydratherapy Unit (dog agility group) £500, Dorset Spirit De Combat Group £500, Wessex Birds Of Prey £500, Dorchester Childrens Centre £500, Laurel Centre for Learning Disabilities, Chard £250, Bridport Disabled Group, 2 pictures below taken at the evening. Top one shows Terry Adams (Adams Axemen) along with club president Morris Biss presenting cheque for £1000 to Janet & Frank Cowley of the Fortuneswell Cancer Trust. Below is a group of happy faces after receiving cheques totalling £7000.

Thursday 4th September 2008- At this years Melplash Show a small group of engines (picture below) were exhibited in the main body of the show. Unfortunately there was not enough room to have a selection of vintage tractors as originally intended. Club vice-president Dan Cheesman was on hand to keep them in order. We are now heading into our autumn programme of club events with a presentation on Dorset wildlife reserves on Friday 12th September following our monthly club meeting. October meeting (10th) revolves around our harvest supper night, when the club presents local charities and groups with a donation from the proceeds of this years rally held in June. At this moment in time I can say that 14 organisations are to benefit from this years very successful rally. This years ploughing match at Chideock, just outside Bridport is to be held on Sunday 19th October. We hope a selection of stationary engines and other exhibits will attend. If the weather is fine, why not come to Chideock for a walk in the countryside and observe the ploughmen & women, trying to get the perfect furrow.

Saturday 12th July 2008 - The club's annual barbecue was held last evening, by kind invitation of Brenda Cheney, a vice-president of the club. About 30 members and guests assembled on the lawns of Brenda's home to tuck into burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and a variety of sweets. At the end of the evening, former club chairman Loric Collins auctioned off the remaining refreshments. A raffle was also held which raised £24 for club funds.

THURSDAY 26TH JUNE 2008 - This years rally has come and gone so quickly, it was a fantastic weekend with ideal weather. The committee and helpers moved into the field on Wednesday morning (11th June) to start setting out the rally. By Thursday morning the field began to have some shape of where different sections will go. Unfortunately we did not have delivery of the main marquee until very late that evening, which hampered progress of setting up the bar and and lighting. Exhibitors had been allowed to enter the field from lunchtime that day and fortunately there were very few early arrivals to block the access onto the field.

Friday was a day for everybody to work their socks off to get everything in place, but it was achieved. Friday evening the bar was in full swing with those exhibitors that had arrived Thursday. Meanwhile until darkness, vehicle after vehicle with all sorts of trailers piled high, followed each other in.

Saturday morning arrived with more goods for the auction, and early buyers wanting to have a good look over everything for sale. The Bridport mayoral party arrived by coach and horses around 11am, by which time the rally was in full swing.

Sunday was a more settled day with a chance to look at exhibits with a bit more time. The field was packed and the weather stayed dry for all to enjoy the rally. There will be more pictures and reports of rally on other pages as soon as.

MONDAY 10TH MARCH 2008 - The picture below taken approx 08:30 today shows how different the rally field can be during the winter months. Yesterday (Sunday) I walked across the field with ease, apart from a few patches of boot high water. Today much of the field was under 2 feet of water, and deeper in places. Lets hope come rally time we don't experience present weather conditions. Other pictures below show general conditions of nearby fields and West Bay.

SATURDAY 23RD FEBRUARY 2008 - Club members and other exhibitors at our rally (JUNE 14TH & 15TH) should be receiving this years entry form about now. Please note that Stationary Engine exhibitors WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO ERECT AWNINGS. This worked very well last year and gave more space to accommodate the number of exhibitors wanting to attend the rally. There will be some extra attractions in the OUTSIDE EXHIBITS SECTION THIS YEAR. Admission charges for public visitors are held at last years prices! ADULTS £5.00 SENIOR CITIZENS £3.00 11-16 YEAR OLDS £2.00. And as usual UNDER 11'S ACCOMPANIED BY ADULT ARE FREE!

SATURDAY 9TH FEBRUARY 2008 - Its been quite a time since I last was able to update the website, almost one year! The 2007 rally was another record breaker in terms of success and the weather we enjoyed. I (david lamb) was acting-chairman for the early part of the year, until we elected Ian Thompson. Ian was the person for the position and had a great year through to the Dinner & Dance in December. Disappointingly he decided not to stand for a further year and so I find myself chairman in my own right. With other commitments I have limited time to devote to the job, but will do my best with great support from the committee. The 2008 rally organising is under way, and will be another success, given favourable weather. The club is also arranging to become a limited company this year. The reasons for this are because the rally is getting bigger in terms of public support, we have to protect committee and club-members should anything untoward happen.

Other things happening are - we are going all out to have some interesting speakers/presentations at monthly club meetings. All are welcome. We also hope to arrange a coach outing this autumn to some place/event. We have had a year without a coach outing, so perhaps members are ready for one.

Other News! - Maurice Evans is getting married to his fiancé Kate this August.

During the Xmas/New Year period, a small group of members took part in an informal tractor road run around the Bride Valley area, during which we were able to assist a red-faced driving instructor who's car was stuck in the cobbles near West Bexington. Graham Rendell was able to pull him out with his International 450 4-wheel drive as the photo below shows.