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...

Redhill Steam fair...

...was on yesterday, at exactly the same time as Redhill Air Show at Redhill Aerodrome and in a spectacular demonstration of lack of planning, both these events took place down the same very narrow, winding lane (traffic chaos)...Also, the air show was £15 per head entry, the steam fair was £3 entry, and from the steam fair site, all the fun of the air show was clearly visible...bit of a no brainer which to go to... ;)
The same fun fair people seem to come to Redhill as go to Laughton (interestingly), thinking about it, there can't be that many travelling fun fairs around to choose from...!



Whoops... ;)



Someone was selling a *full* penny jar...*shrug*



Lots of militaria as usual...in fact, loads more here than any of the other shows...





At around the apointed time for the air show to begin, everyone from the steam fair walked up the hill (and a few people puffed up the hill on their steam engines) to watch -



- too small to really see unless you zoom in, this was a Chinook helicopter



- which flew around a bit and then dropped a load of sky divers -



- this was followed by a few stunt planes and then a very impressive display by an RAF Tornado (again, a bit too small to see, I've got no optical zoom!) -



- but rather a fun afternoon in the sun/rain... ;)