Report by Richard Shepherd
Monday evening (8th, February) was a Bring & Buy and Engineering quiz at the clubhouse and what a great evening it was. There were five tables of ‘Stuff’ for sale and not one item of tat in sight but several bargains were there to be had. How about a stationary steam engine with boiler £20 ticket price; a set of castings and drawing for a V twin that I was very tempted by at £20 or offer; milling cutters at 10p each never mind a range of machine tooling and measurement equipment and lots of other useful ‘needs’. Uncle Wainwrights stall manned by George of course was the biggest and had an interesting selection of items arranged for sale.
Much milling around the tables ensued with pointing, poking and prodding and cash changing hands even I came away with nine pounds to spend. There were some tough souls with hands firmly stuffed into pockets and a steely resolve not to buy any more stuff. However I was witness to at least two of the hard boiled non spenders succumbing to the temptations on the tables.
But this wasn’t the end of the fun to be had; Sir John of Parmenter had written a quiz based around engineering, railway and automobiles ranged across thirty questions with PRIZES no less to the top three places. Not sure about the precedence being set here but enjoyable it was with much banter and barracking and Sir John holding his own and guiding us to the finish. With the papers exchanged and answers marked the totting up revealed a winner and joint second places taking home the three excellent prizes. The winner on 19 points was John Lawson with joint second place on 17 points being shared by John Dodd and David Combes.
Fourteen years have passed since I was in a suitable position to partake in the club fun and it was really good to be back in the throng with faces old and new and all of them welcoming. Thank you; I am looking forward to more entertainment at the BMES site. Perhaps it is time to arrange another auction evening we all enjoyed so much in the old barn with funds going to the replacement riding wagons perhaps?
On that subject if anyone has any material they can donate or skills they can offer I know our Chairman Martin is keen to get things moving [no pun intended] on this project. I am going to get a quote for the bearings and see if we have any steel left of the correct sizes from the old Toylander stuff.
Best wishes
Richard