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ANNUAL RALLY 2005Milton Keynes MuseumSaturday 14/Sunday 15 MayAnother fantastic weekend for the Club with lots of old and new friends meeting up to display their mowers. This year the large UK contingent was joined by collectors from the USA and Belgium making it a truly "international" event. This is a small selection of the mowers seen at the event. Click on any of the thumbnails to see a larger version of the picture. HELLO, HELLO, I'M BACK AGAIN...
Meeting up with old friends and making new ones is a big part of the rally. As our largest event of the year the Milton Keynes rally is the best chance to meet up with one another. DON'T MAKE ME OVER The event is an ideal opportunity to have a closer look at different mowers to see how they work and where the various parts go. This is especially useful for people who are trying to restore an incomplete mower.
In the first image Richard Durrant (left) and Steve Smith (right) compare notes on the 1921 Atco Motor Mower "Oval Frame". In the second image Mike Tomkins (left) and Tony Hopwood (right) investigate a JP motor mower. COME TOGETHER
There are always some unusual machines to see at the rally. Andrew Hall and Michael Duck of The Hall & Duck Trust have been coming to the event since 1990 and always manage to find something different to show. This year, among others, they brought the massive Ransomes horse mower (left) that Michael has recently restored and a very unusual Victorian hand mower (middle) made by a company from Ripon, Yorkshire. Michael can be seen in the third image packing the mowers up ready for transport back to the Trust's HQ. HOW DO YOU DO IT?
Members like to exchange ideas on how to preserve and restore their machines and this often leads to some intense discussions. Here Tim Durant (left) and Alec Hillyar (right) discuss one of Tim's Greens Silens Messor hand mowers.
Mark Kearns displayed a couple of 1930s Ransomes motor mowers as well as some smaller hand machines. KEEP ON MOVING... We always encourage members to demonstrate their mowers working and this year a few took the opportunity to show off their machines.
The first image shows Richard Dent with his Atco Motor Mower (generally known as the Atco Standard) from the 1920s. The second shows Jim Ricci aboard Roger Wilkinson's Dennis from the 1930s. Jim came all the way from America just to have a go on the mower! ONE OF THESE THINGS FIRST
Stan & Jonathan Hardwick brought along a selection of Shanks motor mowers that they will be restoring in the near future. Left to right these are Shanks Jehu and two different versions of the Shanks Firefly, all from the 1920s and early 1930s. YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT
This Keynsham motor mower was made in the 1920s. Like many companies at that time Keynsham only survived for a few years and examples of their mowers are consequently relatively unusual.
There are always some unusual hand mowers on display. Left to right these are: Follows & Bate "Manchester" sidewheel THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION...
Sometimes the mowers are packed in so tightly we just cannot get a clear view of a single machine. WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS... Each year club members at the rally choose their favourite mower. The owner of the mower receives a special award, The Andrew Grout Plate, named after one of our founder members.
This year the prize went to Christopher Proudfoot for his Clipper hand mower. Christopher is shown on the left of the first picture with Andrew Grout on the right. The Clipper mower is shown in the second image. The third images shows Andrew Grout and club secretary Robbie Robinson preparing to announce the winner and make the presentation. Another popular competition is the "mystery object" where competitors try to identify six parts taken from old lawn mowers. In the first image Richard Jones, who organised the competition, is seen on the left showing some of the parts to a group of potential competitors.
This year's winner was Peter Hampton who correctly identified all six items. Peter is seen in on the left of the right hand image with Richard Jones. This year our Charlie Jones Award for the member who has made a positive contribution to the Club was given to Christopher Thompson who has contributed to the Club's newsletter for many years and has also compiled our extensive "Directory Of Mower Models & Manufacturers". TIME TO GO HOME... The event passes so quickly that it's time to pack up almost as soon as we get there. But there's always the next event to look forward to...
PREVIOUS YEARS... Check out the images from the: |
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