Redhill Steam Fair 2007

So on Sunday we took a drive in Colin to go and see what was happening at the Redhill Steam Fair this year (having missed it last year) -

- and the answer was - quite a lot actually - first thing we saw (after parking the camper van right up on the top of the hill overlooking the site) was a group of firemen getting *extremely* tired as they tried to get the lid off an old car (they probably should have picked a Ford Fiesta or something rather than a Volkswagen, because it took them about 20 minutes and the bloke holding the heavy tools was absolutely dripping with sweat by the end of it) -

- you can see they take the doors off, then the roof and then they sort of snip the engine off from the main chassis and let it drop down, thus revealing (whatever tangled mess is lurking in) the foot well to the paramedics.

There was a mobile forge -

- making bits of twisted metal to demand -

- a huge amount of militaria (totally dominated the show actually) -



- when they all set off in convoy the entire site ground to a halt, and all the rest of the time the sound of fairground organs was puntuated by loud detonations from either blank firing rifles or large bangers -

- considering this is a "Steam Fair" there were actually only about 7 steam engines in evidence, but that was still a pretty good showing considering the size of the site -


- loads of buses, from the very, very old to the virtually brand new -

- a dog in a Scammell -

- some flawless living wagons -

- and then the market, where we bought a rubber mat, the actual stallholder wasn't present, so a very nice chap from the stall opposite came and took our money (£15) for a large matt (8 foot long, supposedly), but when we got it back up to Colin and unrolled it, it was only 6 foot long, so we trudged back down the hill to get a fiver back (as the 6 foot ones were only ten quid), when we got there the owner had returned, but absolutely couldn't understand what we were going on about, in the end I unrolled it, held it up to my face and said, "Look mate, there's absolutely no way I am 8 feet tall", he then muttered something about his Mrs measuring them up wrong and begrudgingly returned our five pound note, what a muppet...

Anyway, we finished the day with a quick snack back in the camper (during which it rained and everyone below us made a mad dash for their cars or the beer tent), and then home for roast dinner and a little Sunday night TV...a very pleasant day...