Rushden Transport Cavalcade 2001

Rushden 2000: Wet, muddy with the odd bit of sunshine.

Rushden 2001: Wet, muddy with the odd bit of sunshine.

Is it me, or is there a bit of a pattern taking place here?

The 2000 season opening event was, thanks to Foot & Mouth, the 2001 season closing event. Nothing had changed during the intervening eighteen months - the mud, the ruts and the funfair. But never mind all that - EMLRA had something different to do this time.

Avid readers may recall that the Club had won a charitable cheque for the princely sum of one thousand squidlies (payable in sterling) for the Club stand at LRO Stoneleigh. We still can't work out why - it must have been the way George was playing with his Defensive Position. As a result, EMLRA were awarded a thousand pound cheque (453.6Kg for those who prefer metrics) from Sureterm. Momentarily stunned by the gesture, the first suggested charitable recipient - the George Jackson Another Big Gun Trust - was rejected. The second suggestion, Mark Buddle came up with the British Limbless Ex-Service Mens Association, was accepted.

As a result, Mark made numerous phone calls during the following three weeks, concluding with a presentation during Saturday morning of the cheque by Sureterm to members of the Kettering, Wellingborough and Districts Branch of BLESMA.

Mike Allmey, Sue Cummings, Mark Buddle, The Man from Sureterm,
BLESMA and, of course, that £1,000 cheque... all getting wet.

During the course of the morning a steady stream of arrivals resulted in an impressive lineup for the Club stand. By lunch time the line had reached such a length there was an appreciable change in season between one end and the other - wet and even wetter. Undeterred, the Club made their one-thirty appointment with the parade ring and were greeted by the heaviest downpour outside the bottom of Niagara Falls and an avid crowd consisting of not one person. Well, I may be exaggerating - but I couldn't make anyone out through the torrent of water streaming down the windscreen and making its way in through the door seals (look, it's a Land Rover, they're meant to do that, even the new ones do that...). After that, the arena was used no more due to the deepening tide of mud that was slowly but surely engulfing the event.


By Saturday evening things had improved. Wayne Davies turned up. Sorry, you need to modify the first sentence in this paragraph. It should now read: "By Saturday evening Wayne Davies turned up". Yes, that's more like it. Anyway, wishing to finish the season in fine style, Wayne managed to turn up again without a Land Rover but, shock! has his own food, shock!! his own cooking gear and shock!!! his own tent. Although he still used one of my stretchers to sleep on. There is evidence of these remarkable occurrences:

Kevin McGeough sits in stunned disbelief as Wayne cooks his own food
on his own stove while sitting on his own chair located in front of his own
tent. Elvis is on the left in front of the 109 and Mother Teresa is in the
back of the 9x9 darning Wayne's left sock with gold thread.
Photo: Lord Lucan

Sunday was the same as Saturday, only worse. The persisting down was becoming so persistent the only sensible thing to do was hide from it. Some took shelter in their 9x9s, others became more cunning and took to looking down upon the bedraggled public masses below them...

Jan Clark in jubilant mood - she's warm, dry and
comfortable and I'm standing outside and wet...
and it's my 101!

Photos: Mike Allmey