The Society was once again invited to have a marquee at South Cerney rally over the weekend of 4th – 6th August so many thanks to Peter Brown and the Stroud club for making this possible.
Our theme this year was very much McLaren with the launch of the new book “The Story of The Midland Engine Works”. Authors John Wakeham and Henry Roskilly were on hand all weekend to sign books. Michael Lanes daughter Karen Dickson attended the launch on Friday and was delighted with the book. John and Henry are to be congratulated on their hard work in recording the long awaited history of J&H McLaren. John and Henry have worked almost full time for over two years to deliver the book as part of our 80th anniversary celebrations and is a must for all serious enthusiasts.
Our marquee engine this year was Bill Kiddell’s 6” scale McLaren showman’s engine “Goliath” which complimented our display perfectly, a last minute arrangement so many thanks to Bill and Janet for bringing it along. John Wakeham had arranged a fine selection of McLaren engines to line up outside the marquee covering 5,6,7,8 and 10HP engines as well as the McLaren diesel powered ploughing engine. Many thanks to the owners and crews who supported the display and book launch.
Trevor Smallbone had done another fantastic job of refreshing the photo display and added a “McLaren wall” using information from the Societies archives. Henry Roskilly provided display boards of Mclaren artefacts, catalogues and photos. John Wakeham provided the McLaren banner copied from a photo we discovered of a McLaren show stand. Trevor always puts in a tremendous amount of hard work creating the display and without his efforts it just would not happen.
The book was launched at 12 noon on the Friday and sales were immediately very strong and at times we struggled to keep up with demand. We ended the weekend with our best ever sales results, very much due to the new book.
Finally a huge thank you to those members who came along and helped set up the display on Thursday as well as manning the marquee throughout the weekend, the weather was reasonably kind despite some heavy showers and we all had a very enjoyable weekend. The display proved popular with members, engine owners, crew and the general public alike.
Special thanks to Malcolm Ranieri for recording the occasion with some great photographs.
by Andrew Smith