The early May Bank holiday proved a challenge for many show organisers up and down the land last weekend with events at Battlesbridge, Woburn, Catton Hall, Stanford Hall, Himley Hall and Gawsworth Hall all falling victim to unsuitable ground conditions following the wettest April since records began. So what happened to the event we had planned on bank holiday Monday at Thoresby Park near Ollerton, Notts, a venue at which we have been forced to cancel events due to ground conditions in the past? Everyone knew that a band of heavy rain was moving northwards and eastwards up the country from the south west and was due to reach us in North Notts at 1pm. As a result we were about 50% down from our normal Thoresby turnout of stallholders and motorcycles, however Paul Davies who photographs the classics on the way in reliably informed us that around 700 classic cars turned out on the day including a particularly strong representation from the Mini fraternity. If you were one off these enthusiasts we are particularly grateful that you made the effort to attend given the forecast.
So what actually happened to the weather on the day? The two rain drops with the heavy rain caption featuring on the graphic for north Notts on the BBC website turned out to be a few light spots around 1.30pm, not even worth turning your windscreen wipers on for. Yes it was cold, a bit breezy and not a day for lingering about too long, which explained why we zipped through the judging finishing earlier than normal, but over 3,500 visitors turned out to support the event, look at some of the stunning classics on display and buy items from the 30 or so stalls that did come along. During the drive back to Yorkshire, again not a drop of rain and at 10.30pm the heavens opened just in time for our local TV weatherman to inform us that there is an area of high pressure out in the Atlantic with our name on it for next weekend. Just as well as it is our first visit of the year to Cholmondeley Castle on Sunday 13th May and it would be good to have some decent weather at the spring Cholmondeley event for a change. We have around 30 clubs booked in along with 500 + private entries, a total of just over 1,000 classic cars & bikes expected on the field if we can manage to shoehorn them all in. This event really is worth making the effort to travel some distance to attend with around 60 stalls all the way around the outside of the field and the display classics in the centre.
