Richard Hobbs » Events

My best video clips ever in one short video!

fishsponge — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 01:03:13 +0000

Just a quick post to let you all know about an EXCITING new video I’ve produced!!

Over the last couple of years I have uploaded 115 videos to YouTube. Some of the early ones are quite short and low quality (when I was recording on my old Nokia), but the more recent videos (March 2010 onwards) are almost all high definition (720p) and I’ve spent lots of time editing the footage to ensure only the best bits end up in the uploaded videos.

Amazingly (to me, anyway), my most popular video has had 484,073 views (as of Fri 4 Nov 2011) and all my videos combined have had 869,635 views, which I think is astonishing! Thank you viewers! I’ve also managed to gain 118 subscribers, so thank you subscribers as well!

I have uploaded a total of 12 hours, 11 minutes, 19 seconds of footage to YouTube, which has been edited down from around 50 hours of original raw footage. As you can imagine, not only have I had to watch all 50 hours of footage to produce these video, but lots of extra time has been spent editing the footage, rearranging it, adding titles, fades, transitions etc… so I cannot imagine how many hours it has actually taken to get to where things are now!

Anyway… I have recently taken the 12 hours of edited YouTube footage and cut it down further into a short video containing 3-4 second clips showing all the best stuff I have ever shot! The variety of stuff in this video, I think, is amazing, and I have done my best to make it as interesting and unpredictable as possible so you never know what’s coming next, so please watch the video below!!

If you can’t see the video above, click here to watch it directly on YouTube: YouTube – Best of “fishsponge” – Steam Engines, Land Rovers, Motorcycles, Off-Roading & lots more!

Also, if you liked the video you can either:

(this will keep you notified of all new videos I upload)

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2011 Strawberry Fair and Somersham Carnival

fishsponge — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 22:46:19 +0000

So… after the 2010 Strawberry Fair was cancelled, the 2011 Strawberry Fair happened and was a fantastic success!

I did not get any photos unfortunately. This is one of the events I don’t tend to photograph because I prefer to relax and enjoy the atmosphere rather than shove a camera into people’s faces throughout the day! Plus, I’m no good at photographing people, so I tend not to bother.

Anyway, this year’s event was surrounded by a fence, but it was still free to get in, of course, once you had walked past the sniffer dogs (at least we did… some of my friends didn’t have that pleasure, so maybe they roamed around for some of the day) and once you were inside it didn’t feel like you were surrounded by a fence at all, which was fantastic.

My favourite music tent, the reggae tent (which was later renamed to some other tent), was missing altogether, but there was still music present on stages. There were fewer music stages & tents though and what music there was seemed to be much quieter than in previous years. I can only imagine this was part of the deal made with the police and local community about being able to put on the event with certain conditions!

Anyway… overall, Strawberry Fair had exactly the same feel and atmosphere it always has, and for all intents and purposes was exactly the same, which is excellent!

So, well done and thank you to all the organisers and helpers that made the event happen once again, and bring on next year’s event!!

Now on to the only other non-steam engine, non-Land Rover and non-motorbike related event I’ve been to so far this year… Somersham Carnival!

Last year, I took my 1966 Matchless G3 motorcycle to the carnival, rode it in the procession around the village and then parked it up as an exhibit in the carnival field. I won “Best Motorcycle”, but was the only motorcycle. The same happened in 2009 too.

This year, there was no motorcycle category and I had broken my finger anyway, so couldn’t get the motorbike gloves on to ride it, so this year we went by car!

Again, however, I did not take any photos. Usually I do, but for some reason this year I did not.

Either way, it was another good day out, made especially good because my aunt, uncle, cousin and her husband and their two children (my first cousins, once removed?) were visiting for the day, by pure coincidence!

For those who may be interested, my aunt (Alison Hobbs) has her own blog here: http://alisonhobbs.blogspot.com/

My uncle (Chris Hobbs) has his own blog here: http://cwlh.wordpress.com/

My cousin (Emma Woolliams) also has her own blog here: http://erwoolliams.wordpress.com/

And my cousin’s husband (Peter Woolliams) has his own blog here: http://gloplastic.wordpress.com/

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The Events of 2011!

fishsponge — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 12:44:12 +0000

This post is theoretically going to act as nothing more than a list of events I plan to be at this summer. This will be a way of making you all aware of the existence of such events in case you wish to attend! I’m not going to list everything I’m going to, because not everything I’m going to is for the general public, but the events that the public can attend or have some involvement with I will list!

April

Cottenham Yesteryear Road Run (Sun 17 April 2011)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for a video of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

Convoy for Heroes (Fri 22 – Mon 25 April 2011)

May

Rushden Cavalcade of Transport & Country Show (Sat 1 – Mon 3 May 2011)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for a video of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

Jampot Spares Limited (JSL) Open Day (Sat 14 May 2011)

June

RDMCC Meldreth Manor Bike Show (Evening of Wed 15 June 2011)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for a video of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

Classic & Vintage Motorcycle Day, Cambridge Museum of Technology (26 June 2011)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for a video of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

July

Hollowell Steam & Heavy Horse Show (Sat 2 – Sun 3 July 2011)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for a video of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

Cambridgeshire Steam Rally, Swavesey (Sat 23 – Sun 24 July 2011)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for a video of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

August

Thurlow Steam Rally (Sat 13 – Sun 14 August 2011)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for a video of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

August Bank Holiday Steaming, Cambridge Museum of Technology (Sun 28 & Mon 29 August 2011)
Click here for videos of Cambridge Museum of Technology.

September

Haddenham Steam Rally (Sat 10 – Sun 11 September 2011)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for a video of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

Bedfordshire Steam and Country Show (Fri 16 – Sun 18 September 2011)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for a video of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

Kettering Vintage Rally and Steam Fair (Sat 24 – Sun 25 September 2011)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for a video of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

October

Great Chesterford Steam-Up (Early October 2011)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.

October Steaming, Cambridge Museum of Technology (Sat 29 & Sun 30 October 2011)
Click here for videos of Cambridge Museum of Technology.

You will notice that on some dates there is a clash of events. In some of these instances, I’m not sure which events I plan on attending yet, and in the others I have already decided. In all instances, however, I have listed all of the events so you can decide which ones you want to attend, if any!

Needless to say, as Summer progresses, I’ll do my best to get photos, videos and blog posts online covering as many events as I can!

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Cambridge Teslathon 2010 and The Petrol Pumpkin Burning!

fishsponge — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:11:23 +0000

On Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 October, Cambridge Teslathon 2010 took place at the Cambridge Museum of Technology.

The “Teslathon” is an annual event in which various tesla coil enthusiasts play around and demonstrate their tesla coils and other creations.

Above you can see a moderately high voltage pushed into an abrasive drill fitting and below are just some bent metal bars, again with high voltage pushed through them.

The other attraction at the teslathon is, of course, the tesla coils!

Here you can see the largest coil on display putting out 6ft (1.8m) sparks. This coil is roughly 6ft tall and I believe it runs at up to 1.5 million volts.

The other memorable thing from the day is the noise. It’s deafening! You’ll hear it in the video below if you turn your volume up, but for those of you who perhaps don’t have the bandwidth or time to watch the video, it sounds like a very loud buzzing noise which you can hear in the pit of your stomach. Your ears ring slightly after 2 or 3 minutes or it too. Truly awesome!

Feel free to view the Photos of Cambridge Teslathon 2010!

And also watch my video…

So… Bonfire Night!

I decided to burn another pumpkin this year.

Using a little more petrol than last time.

Now, petrol is dangerous stuff. We’ve all seen the news reports of people injured throughout the year due to misuse of petrol on bonfires etc., but I like to think I have enough of a basic understanding of flamable liquids (including petrol) to attempt various endeavours safely. This was one of them.

NEEDLESS TO SAY, DO NOT TRY THIS YOURSELF! IF YOU DO TRY THIS YOURSELF, I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY.

In summary, I took a pumpkin, carved it out for Halloween, put a very small amount of very old petrol into it and attempted to set it alight. The pumpkin was very wet inside as it was fresh and the petrol had vented most of it’s “flammability” over the last 6 months in my garage, so it was a little less flamable than fresh petrol.

Above is the end result!

It took a few attempts to get it lit properly as it was so wet and I was obviously being cautious with the amounts of petrol, but I got it there in the end!

Again, feel free to view the Photos of Petrol & Pumpkin Burning

And again, here’s my video!

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A 1940s weekend, a broken down car, a new car, and yet more steam rallies and events!

fishsponge — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 08:57:51 +0000

My last non-Warspite blog post seems to have been on 15 August, shortly after Thurlow Steam Rally. Since then, a lot has happened. In fact, it has probably been the busiest 6 weeks of the year! I won’t document everything here though… that would be too much (assuming what is below isn’t already too much, of course!).

Ramsey 1940s Weekend

I’ve been meaning to go along to this event for a couple of years (ever since I learned of its existence), but this year is the first year I’ve managed to make time, and what a great event it is!

It is held in the now-unused RAF Upwood and contains a huge variety of exhibits ranging from a Hawker Hurricane to cars and motorcycles from the era, right down to pots and pans that would have been cooked in and other items that would be been inside many homes of that period. There were also various flying displays throughout the day, live music inside one of the hangers, live music outside, lots of people in period costume, and the list goes on!

It was at this event that I picked up an empty 13lb field gun shell casing which we now use as a cutlery holder in our caravan.

Photos of Ramsey 1940s Weekend

Broken down car

Picture the scene… it’s the Friday at the start of the August Bank Holiday weekend. You have plans to go somewhere on one of the days, and possibly somewhere else on another of the days (because it’s your birthday). 5pm rolls around and you get in your car to drive home ready for the 3 day weekend. You start the engine, drive out of work and join the dual carriageway on your way home. As you drive down the sliproad you change from 2nd gear to 3rd, then to 4th. As you put the car into 5th gear, the gearbox linkage falls apart, you are therefore stuck in neutral and you have no choice but to pull over on the verge 400ft down a 500ft sliproad.

It’s now 5:15pm on a Friday night at the start of the bank holiday weekend, and you took the breakdown cover off your insurance policy 2 weeks earlier because you had never used it and decided it was a waste of money. Nice one!

This is the situation I was in at the end of August! I managed to find a garage to tow me back, but they weren’t able to look at the car until Tuesday. This left me without a car for my birthday/bank holiday weekend. Also, to top it off, the repair was potentially going to end up costing more than the value of the car, leaving me car-less permanently!

So, I didn’t bother going to one of the places I wanted to go to, and I took the Matchless to the other…

Cambridge Museum of Technology Steam-Up Day

On two of the days during the bank holiday weekend, the Cambridge Museum of Technology down Cheddars Lane in Cambridge held another steam-up day. These are a fairly regular occurrence (2 or 3 times per year), but this time the Mayor of Cambridge was visiting to open the winch engine house to celebrate 50 years of the museum being open, I believe.

I didn’t take any photos this day, I’m afraid as I’ve been there so many times before, I’ve started taking the same photos over and over again! Feel free to search my site for “cambridge museum of technology” if you wish, though.

Anyway, with no car to get me there I decided to set off on the Matchless! Sadly, the engine started spluttering and eventually stopped completely half way along the A14. Thankfully I’d enough momentum to get me to a layby where I deduced that “crap” had made its way into the fuel tap in the bottom of the petrol tank. Having promptly shoved a piece of rigid wire through the hole and then getting covered in petrol, I set off again only for the engine to splutter and stop again about 1 mile later at Bar Hill. This time the fuel tap was clear, but the filter inside the carburettor was so blocked it was a wonder any fuel made it through at all! So I unblocked this properly and set off again. Third time lucky. I made it.

It was a good day out again, despite the rain for most of the day!

The new car!

So… as I didn’t know how much my car was going to cost to repair, I decided I had to start looking for a new one, just in case it turned out to be a lot. While deciding what type of car I wanted as a replacement, I asked myself, “Why have I never gone looking for the car I dreamed about since I was 5 years old?”. There was no reason whatsoever, it just hadn’t occurred to me to buy this vehicle at any of the times I’ve been looking for a new car. So this time, I decided I was going to have this vehicle whether my existing car was fixable or not. I found a nice one, asked a friend to come along with me to check it out, and eventually bought it. You can see my replacement for the Ford Mondeo below…

This is not a picture I grabbed from the web. This is my car.

In summary, it’s a 1997 Land Rover Discovery ES (with the 2.5 litre 4-cylinder turbo-diesel 300TDi engine) and it’s my favourite car out of all the ones I’ve owned!

And no, the snorkel isn’t connected at the moment, but will be very soon, and yes – I do intend on using it for what it was designed (although [a] I need to be a little careful as I need this car to get to work and back and [b] I’m not a millionaire so can’t damage it too much!)

Histon British Legion Bike Show

No pictures online for this one yet I’m afraid. They’re still on my phone and I’ve not had time to process them!

As I was a little nervous about the motorbike spluttering and breaking down I decided to take the car to the bike show this year. I would have liked to take the bike, but just hadn’t regained the trust in it yet! The bike show was as good as ever with a great turnout this year! The BBQ was great too, and it was another enjoyable afternoon out!

Haddenham Steam Rally

Haddenham was one of our favourite rallies of the year, mainly because our caravan sits right in with the exhibits, so we’re never far from the thick of it! This does mean some of the exhibits are a little spaced out, but it’s not too bad at all because there are so many that end up getting crammed in!

I also saw the famous Ken Fox Wall of Death again this year. Twice. It’s still possibly the best show on earth and for £2 entry, you can’t argue!

Photos of Haddenham Steam Rally

And here’s a video of Haddenham Steam Rally too…

Bedfordshire Steam Rally & Country Fayre

This is the biggest and best steam rally/country fayre that we go to each year (there are bigger ones, but they’re too far away from us!) and this year was possibly the best yet!

Photos of Bedfordshire Steam Rally

And here’s a video of Bedfordshire Steam Rally…

Kettering Vintage Rally & Steam Fayre

The last weekend event of the season, but another excellent one! Despite the rain for most of the weekend, the number of exhibits was amazing and the number of paying public who came along was also very impressive indeed! This is possibly the most varied of the rallies that we go to, in terms of strange and rare exhibits. Lots of vehicles and vehicle types that I’ve not seen before, plus lots of non vehicle based exhibits too!

Photos of Kettering Steam Rally

And here’s a video of Kettering Vintage Rally & Steam Fayre…

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Steam rallies, bike shows, iPhone 4, wedding, punctured air bed, caravan and “Ada”!

fishsponge — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 22:40:35 +0000

As the title implies, there’s rather a lot to talk about this time around, so I’ll try to keep each subject relatively short!

In summary, Sarah and I have been to several more steam rallies, I have been to a bike show, I queued up at 5:30am for an iPhone 4 on launch day, I was official photographer at a wedding(!), I’ve spent 2 nights sleeping on a punctured air bed, we’ve bought a caravan and “done it up” and I’m now involved with “Ada”!

First of all, Meldreth Manor Bike Show

Held at Meldreth Manor School, this is a charity event organised by the Royston and District Motorcycle Club. It’s actually the “Royston and District Motorcycle Club Annual Show”, but is known as the “Meldreth Manor Bike Show” to most people.

I wasn’t planning on going to this, mainly because it’s held on a Wednesday evening, but decided to at the last minute. I have to say, I’m very glad I did! Over 3,200 bikes turned up for those 4 hours and it was spectacular!

Photos of Meldreth Manor Bike Show 2010

Here’s a video of Meldreth Manor Bike Show too…

Somersham Carnival

Sarah and I travelled to Somersham Carnival again this year on the back of the Matchless. The carnival was as enjoyable as ever, with a Mardi Gras theme, and guess what? I won “Best Motorcycle” again!

Photos of Somersham Carnival

iPhone 4

Some of you are going to think I’m crazy, some of you may not, but I queued up outside Lion Yard Shopping Centre (now called the Grand Arcade, I believe!) in Cambridge at 5:30am on iPhone 4 Launch Day to attempt to swap my perfectly good 32GB iPhone 3GS for a brand new 32GB iPhone 4! I was 8th in line.

Did I get my iPhone 4? Yes!

Was it worth paying out my contract with 1 year remaining? Was it worth getting up at 4:30am? Was it worth spending that day with no mobile phone because I had to activate the new one in iTunes before I could use it?

Yes! Well, I think so anyway.

Many people have spoken of reception issues, dropped calls etc… but although I can successfully make the reception indicator bars drop off by holding the phone in the wrong place, I have never suffered a single reception-based issue with the iPhone 4 whatsoever. I do have a case now because I keep dropping it, but I never had an issue for the 2 months before I got the case!

The “Retina” display is amazing, the LED camera flash is excellent as a torch, the speed increase is gratefully received, the camera is of much better quality and the 720p video recording is very good indeed! In summary, I can definitely recommend the iPhone 4 above all other iPhones! There is *no* reason not to upgrade in my opinion!

Classic & Vintage Bike Day, Cambridge Museum of Technology

Once again, at the Cambridge Museum of Technology, there was a classic and vintage bike day. It unfortunately clashed with the “World Cup” (something to do with a game called “football” apparently), but there was a very good turnout considering!

There were a few people out the back working on the main steam engine too (unrelated to the bike show, of course), trying to find which one of the boiler tubes was leaking. I must admit, I spent most of my time with the steam engine people discussing the best way to find the leaky tube! Every idea I came up with, though, had either already been attempted or was actually useless! I guess we live and learn!

Photos of Classic & Vintage Bike Day, Cambridge Museum of Technology

Here’s a video of the Classic & Vintage Bike Day…

Hollowell Steam Rally & Heavy Horse Show

The Hollowell rally is always one of the best rallies of the year in my opinion, with a great variety of exhibits, ranging from giant insects, through Titan the Robot, to the “Dancing Digger” (a JCB with a very skilled driver!). Needless to say, we took the motorbike again and had a thoroughly great time for the entire 3 days! If I remember correctly, the temperature outside was very warm indeed (high 20s, anyway) and helped make the weekend great!

Photos of Hollowell Steam Rally & Heavy Horse Show

Here’s a video of Hollowell Steam Rally & Heavy Horse Show

Photographing a wedding!

Another thing I’ve done since the last blog post is be official photographer at some good friends’ wedding! Now, there’s a rather large learning curve to go from photographing stationary steam engines to photographing a wedding, but now that I’ve edited all 1,840 or so photos down to the final set (after a number of weeks!) I think I pulled it off! The photos are far from “professional”, but I’ve learned a lot from the experience and, of course, thoroughly enjoyed the day, as did everyone!

And the main thing? The bride and groom like the photos, so in a way, nothing else matters! The lack of professionalism, the overexposed whites, the underexposed blacks and the bad composition mean nothing now because the people that matter like the photos!

Cambridgeshire Steam Rally

A week or two after Hollowell, the Cambridgeshire Steam Rally at Swavesey happened. This was only the second year for this rally, but with double the number of exhibits from the first year, the event was the best yet! The weather was roasting hot too, which helped bring the crowds in.

Photos of Cambridgeshire Steam Rally, Swavesey

Here’s a video of Cambridgeshire Steam Rally…

Thurlow Steam Rally

The latest rally was the Thurlow rally. This year it clashed with the AJS & Matchless Owners Club Jampot Rally (due to the Jampot rally having been moved forward a few weeks) and although the decision of which one to attend was a difficult one, I’m very glad we decided to go to Thurlow this year! More on that later.

One thing I’d like to say about the Thurlow rally is about the atmosphere. This rally is one of the most relaxing rallies of the entire year and for that reason it is one of my favourites. The larger rallies have to be very organised, with scouts running the car park, army cadets acting as wardens to ensure safe passage of vehicles in and out of the arena, people in yellow jackets everywhere keeping the rally running smoothly, etc… but somehow Thurlow manages to operate pretty much on time, perfectly safely and everything just happens on-site with seemingly no stress whatsoever!

Don’t get me wrong though – i’m sure lots of stress goes into the organisation of the rally each year, but the impression of a lack of stress and panic during the weekend certainly makes for one of my favourite rallies of the year, so thank you for a great rally again Michael!

Photos of Thurlow Steam Rally

Here’s a video of Thurlow Steam Rally…

Caravan

While at the Cambridgeshire Steam Rally, there was a problem. Our air bed developed a slow puncture. On my side. During the first night. On a very rough field.

This wasn’t the end of the world, as I can somehow survive on very little sleep if I have to(!), but I could not find the puncture anywhere! If I pumped up the mattress in the morning, by 10pm it would still be up, but 3 hours after I started laying on it, it’d be out of air completely.

At this same rally we were informed by a couple of fellow rally-goers who we know quite well now, that there was a caravan for sale near them for £200. So, the day after we got back from the rally, we headed up there to pop in for a cup of tea and to take a look at the caravan down the road. Needless to say, we drove home with the caravan in tow!

Since we bought it, we’ve actually spent more money on it than it’s worth, but in doing so we’ve made it our own, and in the 1.5 weeks that followed the initial purchase we have completely re-foamed and re-covered the seats, washed the curtains, cleaned and sterilised the inside, washed the outside, re-carpeted it and put all the hinges and door-stops on that weren’t quite screwed in properly! Our aim was to have it read for the Thurlow rally, and that we did!

I have to say, having spent a year going to rallies in a tent, upgrading to a caravan is an infinitely large step up (not literally). For a start, there’s no risk the air bed will go down leaving you sleeping on the grass! When it’s raining, you can still have a cup of tea. You don’t have to sit on a chair leaning forward cooking or boiling the kettle on a stove on the grass. You don’t have to sit in awkward folding camping chairs. The list goes on and on! In summary, upgrading to a caravan was one of the most sensible things we’ve done in relation to rallies and other multi-day events! The only disadvantage is having to do one trip to take the caravan and another to take the motorbike, but I’ll buy a van one day to solve that problem!

Finally, I’ll mention “Ada” (seen below).

As far as I know (at this early stage) Ada is a 105 year old (built in 1905) 10-ton 7 nominal horse power Fowler general purpose steam traction engine. It is owned by David and family, who were after some help with the engine. David currently looks after the maintenance and running of the engine mostly on his own and while I know very little about the mechanical side of steam engines at this stage, I’ve been wanting to get involved with a full-size steam engine for many, many years. This year, at the Thurlow rally, that opportunity came up and I took it!

My involvement with the engine will begin this winter when I’ll start meeting David at the workshop to begin the winter maintenance cycle and will then hopefully continue on through next year’s rally season and beyond! To be honest, it’s a bit of a dream come true, so thank you David for the opportunity and thank you Hugh for introducing me to David and finding me the opportunity!

Photos of “Ada” on Steam Scenes

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Another steam rally & a bit of modelling!

fishsponge — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 13:57:19 +0000

It’s been a while since my last blog post. This is mainly because not a lot has happened!

Before I get on to our latest steam rally, I’ll briefly mention the modelling I’ve been doing…

I have been learning various techniques for use on the Warspite model and mainly practising my airbrushing technique. Airbrushing in itself isn’t too difficult, but finding the correct paint/thinner mix is the tricky part; get that right and the rest just happens!

Above you can see the tail end of a 1:72 scale Lockheed Martin F 16C Fighting Falcon by PM Models. This model was kindly donated to me by a work colleague for practising on. The paint finish isn’t perfect, but it’s significantly better than it would be with a brush, and once it’s had a coat of clear varnish, I’m sure it’ll look good enough for me!

The other thing I’ve started is sanding the base of the hull! A while ago I glued the two halves of the hull together and now I’m sanding them down with 1500 and 2000 grit wet-and-dry paper ready for their first coat of primer.

Above you can see the nearly finished bow and below you can see the not-yet-started stern.

The next thing to do is to fill the gap down the middle to make it perfectly smooth. I’ll do this just before the primer goes on, and hopefully it’ll then be ready for it’s first coat of paint!

The other thing that’s happened since the last blog post is Strumpshaw Steam Rally!

We didn’t take the Matchless to Strumpshaw because we were a bit late booking in, so Sarah and I paid our entry fee and stayed from Friday evening until Monday evening without the bike. We had a great time too; the weather was great and there was lots going on!

While I think of it, something I don’t think I’ve done before is explain that a Steam Rally isn’t actually just about steam engines. Above you can see some of the many Land Rovers that were on display amongst the military vehicles.

There were also tractors…

Motorcycles…

Goats…

Ostriches…

Scratch-built model boats…

An entire steam museum…

Cars…

A beer tent…

Live music…

An entire fairground…

Wood sawing…

Train rides…

And a sheep dog demonstration!

The other thing that happened at Strumpshaw was a road run on Saturday and Sunday evening to a local pub. Sarah and I went along on Sunday having hitched a lift from a very generous Mr. Garrod in the back of his Foden steam wagon.

Above is S. Garrod’s steam wagon and below is the view over the roof as we were travelling down the road!

You can see our trip to the pub, plus almost every other aspect of the rally in the high quality 720p HD video below…

If the video above doesn’t work, you can also watch it in slightly lower quality here.

Photos of Strumpshaw Steam Rally 2010

Video of Strumpshaw Steam Rally 2010 (Also available on Youtube in HD!)

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The motorcycle and steam rally season has begun!

fishsponge — Sun, 16 May 2010 21:17:22 +0000

The 2010 motorcycle ride and steam rally season has officially begun, and Sarah and I have been going to as much as we can!

AMOC Intersection Meet

The first event was the AJS & Matchless Owners Club East Anglian Intersection Meet on 18 April at the White Horse, Sible Hedingham. The weather was wondeful if I remember correctly, and I rode a total of 113 miles including getting to and from the start and end points.

There was a great turnout of perhaps 60-70 bikes, and it was great to meet so many fellow AJS & Matchless riders all in the same place!

Photos of Intersection Meet at White Horse, Sible Hedingham

Cottenham Yesteryear Road Run

The following weekend was the Cottenham Yesteryear Road Run on 25 April. The day started out wet, but had completely dried out by lunchtime and ended up being quite a nice day! This event is a procession of 400 or so classic and vintage vehicles that travel from Cottenham to various neighbouring villages one-by-one before ending up back at Cottenham in order to raise money for MAGPAS.

Photos of Cottenham Yesteryear Road Run 2010

Video of Cottenham Yesteryear Road Run 2010

Rushden Cavalcade

This was our first steam rally of the year, and being from 1-3 May, it wasn’t particularly warm! There had been some warm days by this point in the year, but none of them chose to show up at Rushden! We mostly had rain, wind and rather cold temperatures for most of the weekend, and even though the rally is for 3 days, Sarah and I got there 2 days early, so suffered the weather for 5 whole days!

Having said that though, it was still a very enjoyable rally overall. Sarah, unfortunately, had a dreadful cold and sore throat for most of it, but still enjoyed the weekend. On two of the three rally days, it was so cold that while I was in the middle of the arena with the other motorcyclists waiting to chat with the commentator/announcer I had to warm my hands up by holding the engine!

Anyway, weather aside, it was a great rally and even if you don’t like motorcycles or steam engines, I strongly suggest you have a look through the photos and watch the video because, like a lot of other rallies, they also had cars, military vehicles, trucks, a beer tent, live bands, model boats, model military scenes, model circuses, tractors, and lots more!

Photos of Rushden Cavalcade 2010

Video of Rushden Cavalcade 2010

AMOC Bike Run to The Chequers Inn, Wrestlingworth

The most recent event was another AJS & Matchless Owners Club bike run, this time to The Chequers Inn at Wrestlingworth. We were going to meet at the pub at 10:30 and along with many other motorcyclists on all sorts of bikes, have a ride around the countryside for an hour or so before ending up back at the pub for a barbeque. The weather was wonderful and the bike ride was enjoyable! The barbeque was also fantastic, so overall another enjoyable day!

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The Events of 2010!

fishsponge — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:50:59 +0000

April

Easter Opening, Cambridge Museum of Technology (Sun 4 & Mon 5 April 2010)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for videos of Cambridge Museum of Technology.

Cottenham Yesteryear Road Run (Sun 25 April 2010)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for videos of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

May

Rushden Cavalcade of Transport & Country Show (Sat 1 – Mon 3 May 2010)

Jampot Spares Limited (JSL) Open Day (Sat 29 May 2010)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for videos of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

Classic Bike Club Show, Stanford Hall (Sun 30 May 2010)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

May Steaming, Cambridge Museum of Technology (Sun 30 & Mon 31 May 2010)
Click here for videos of Cambridge Museum of Technology.

June

Classic Bike Show, Knebworth (Sun 6 June 2010)

Meldreth Manor Bike Show (Wed 16 June 2010)

VMCC Banbury Run (Sun 20 June 2010)

Classic & Vintage Motorbikes Day, Cambridge Museum of Technology (27 June 2010)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for videos of Cambridge Museum of Technology.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

July

Hollowell Steam & Heavy Horse Show (Sat 3 – Sun 4 July 2010)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for videos of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

AJS Anniversary Run, Wolverhampton to Woolwich (Sat 3 July 2010)

Founders Day, Stanford Hall (Sun 18 July 2010)

Cambridgeshire Steam Rally, Swavesey (Sat 24 – Sun 25 July 2010)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for videos of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

August

Thurlow and Haverhill Steam and Country Show (Sat 7 – Sun 8 August 2010)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for videos of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

AJS & Matchless Owners Club Jampot Rally (Fri 6 – Sun 8 August 2010)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for videos of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

August Bank Holiday Steaming, Cambridge Museum of Technology (Sun 29 & Mon 30 August 2010)
Click here for videos of Cambridge Museum of Technology.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

Little Gransden Air & Classic Vehicle Show (Sun 29 August 2010)

Wimbotsham Classic Bike Show (Mon 30 August 2010)

September

Haddenham Steam Rally (Sat 11 – Sun 12 September 2010)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for videos of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

Bedfordshire Steam and Country Show (Sat 18 – Sun 19 September 2010)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for videos of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

Kettering Vintage Rally and Steam Fair (Sat 25 – Sun 26 September 2010)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for videos of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

October

Great Chesterford Steam-Up (Sat 2 October 2010)
Click here for photos of last year’s event.
Click here for videos of last year’s event.
Click here for blog post of last year’s event.

Copdock Bike Show, Suffolk (Sun 3 October 2010)

October Steaming, Cambridge Museum of Technology (Sat 30 & Sun 31 October 2010)
Click here for videos of Cambridge Museum of Technology.

November

Classic Bike & Car Show, NEC, Birmingham (Fri 12 – Sun 14 November 2010)
Click here for photos of 2008′s event.

Needless to say, as Summer progresses, I’ll do my best to get photos, videos and blog posts online covering as many events as I can!

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Strawberry Fair 2010 Cancelled – Good luck to the organisers though!

fishsponge — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:55:03 +0000

UPDATE: Strawberry Fair 2011 is ON!!! See http://www.strawberry-fair.org.uk/ for more info.

So, it turns out that for the first time since 1974 (I think), the Strawberry Fair in Cambridge has been cancelled. This is not good, but there is hope.

Some of my facts may be wrong in the following text, but I will attempt to paint as accurate a picture as I can. Please leave a comment if you’d like to correct or comment on anything you read here!

Anyway… for those of you who don’t know, the so called “Strawberry Fair” is held on Midsummer Common in Cambridge, UK every June. It is a one day festival of music, entertainments, arts and crafts which is organised and run by volunteers and free of charge for all who wish to attend. It has become a something which I, and many others, look forward to each and every year.

I like the fact that Sarah and I can turn up at lunchtime, bump into lots of my old school friends who I wouldn’t otherwise see and spend the entire day sitting on the grass listening to great music!

However, every year, the police campaign to stop the Strawberry Fair going ahead. I believe their reason for doing so is primarily the cost and effort involved in policing the event. The Strawberry Fair does have a reputation for various drugs being taken although I’m sure it’s almost exclusively marijuana, and even that isn’t being smoked visibly (not often, anyway). And we all know marijuana is far less anti-social than alcohol, don’t we?

There are a lot of drunk people too, but the worst I’ve ever seen any of them doing is wanting random hugs from people! I’ve never seen any violence, and never heard of any really bad stuff going on at all. Having said that, I’ve always left by 7 or 8pm due to either the onset of heat stroke of sheer tiredness from being in the sun for 8 hours! Who knows what goes on later in the evening. Probably more of the same though, in my opinion!

Overall, the Strawberry Fair is a friendly, family environment suitable for everyone (and I mean everyone – all ages, all types, everyone!).

Anyway – this year (and previous years too) the police attempted to get the event called off once again. The Strawberry Fair committee appealed, and the fair was granted a license! We hear this same story every year. What makes this year different, though, is that the police have appealed against the decision to give the fair a license, and the resulting procedings mean that by the time the Fair committee find out whether they have a license or not, it’ll be too late to organise this year’s fair.

The decision to cancel this years fair has been taken by the organisers to allow them to concentrate on appealing against the appeal in order to secure the fair’s license for the years to come, and while the fact that the fair has been cancelled is very disappointing, I fully support the organiser’s decision to do so. I’d much rather see the fair go ahead for the foreseeable future and miss one year, than to have a fair this year, but never again.

So… other than raising awareness of this issue, the other reason for this blog post is to suggest to you, my readers, to have a browse around the Strawberry Fair web site and if you feel you might be able to help out (either with the procedings or by volunteering at future events [hopefully!]) feel free to get in touch with the organisers! Failing that, why not join the Strawberry Fair facebook group and post a comment to show your support!

For any organisers reading this post, great decision on cancelling this year’s show to concentrate on the appeal, and I wish you the best of luck securing a license for future years! This fair has become a major part of many people’s lives and it would be terrible to see it disappear after 36 years as I’m sure you agree!

Long live the Strawberry Fair!

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