What does an occasional table do the rest of the time?

This page features classic transport shows in the town.
The most recent event will appear at the top of the page.

Warrington Market Classic Transport Show 2011 (Sat 9 July)

If you have visited the transport show in recent years you will remember that a Formula 1 car should have visited in 2009, but due to unforeseen circumstances, it didn't show. Well, this year it did put in an appearance, to the delight of many. The one on display is a 2002 Jaguar R3 Formula One racing car and is owned by Jaguar Heritage, the trading name of Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, a registered educational charity established in 1983, and based in Coventry. The car was gifted to them by Jaguar Racing Limited. It is not currently fitted with an engine, but the car is worth around £1 million.

The town's council-owned bus company, Warrington Borough Transport, operates under the banner of Network Warrington and has over 100 vehicles in its fleet. Their heritage bus seen here is vehicle No 148 (BED 729 C), a Leyland 'Titan PD2/40 Special'. It was purchased in 1965, and built to a narrow width to cope with Sankey Street in the days before pedestrianization. Read more about the bus company's history in On The Buses.

Another bus on display was this AEC Regent V, which was owned by St Helens Corporation and now belongs to North West Museum of Road Transport in St Helens town centre (close to the bus station). Also housed there is another of the Warrington Corporation Leyland 'Titan PD2/40 Specials (BED 731 C), a couple more Leylands (Titan PD1 and Atlantean), two Dennis Dominators and a Bristol RE.

So here are the first ten photos of the cars on display.

Members of Warrington Scooter Club were also showing their bikes.

Also on display were a Triumph motorbike and a Harley Davidson trike, featuring motifs of Laurel and Hardy on the mudguards.

The emergency services were represented by two fire engines, a Newfoundland rescue dog and a fire car (if that's how you describe it). The first engine below (photos 1-4 and in photo 5, right of scene) is a 1954 Dennis F2 appliance, once owned by Crosfields soap works at Bank Quay. It was retired from service in 1977 and given to Warrington Borough Council, who put it in storage, where it remained in an un-restored condition. It was then donated to Cheshire Fire Service in 1988 and an enthusiast from the Winsford headquarters spotted it and it was then moved out of Warrington. Restoration started in May 2003 and the original Dennis engine was scrapped and replaced with a Perkins diesel engine.

The second appliance on show is a Dennis S7 Pump Escape engine (LFM 200) and named after a Councillor Charles Cullimore. I didn't ask the name of the Newfoundland rescue dog - he was busy thinking about rescuing a van full of Baker's Meaty Meals at the time. If you don't get that joke, click here to see the Meaty Meals Job TV advert.

The self-titled "Fourth Emergency Service", the AA, were promoting their services, as were the RAC. The AA caused a lot of controversy some years ago when they used the advertising slogan "to our members, were are the fourth emergency service". Enraged members of the public complained that there were more deserving groups who should have the title "fourth emergency service", such as the Coastguard, RNLI and other rescue services. If I remember correctly, the argument put forward by the AA was that they had added "to our members" at the beginning of the slogan to emphasise the service they provided for their members, and it was not meant to discredit the police, fire, ambulance or other emergency services. I think the jury is still out on that one.

Visiting the event this year were members of the St Helens Classic Car Association. 

The next selection of cars were all exhibited near the Ten Guardians and Well of Light (Skittles to locals) at Market Gate. I think I'll start a new trend and call them the ten green bottles, so that somebody, hopefully, will make them accidentally fall - just like the Bay Horse pub and the old grammar school... I know the owner of the first car below, left, but I 'm not telling.

The transport event is not just about classic vehicles, it is also about the community and having fun. Visitors had a chance to ride a small steam engine (first photo below). If you ever fancied driving a tank, you got the chance courtesy of www.tinytanks.co.uk. The tanks are two metres long by 1 metre wide with a Honda GX 390 petrol engine and electric start. Anybody aged eight upwards could have a go and there were trained instructors onsite to supervise the riders. The company is based at Ashton-in-Makerfield near Wigan.

The RNLI lifeboat and motorbike and sidecar were on display. Did you know that Warrington has it's own RNLI group? You might wonder why an inland town would need the RNLI, but the smaller boat is used on rivers and canals when a full size version is unsuitable. Also appearing was a simulator ride (fourth photo, below, right).

Thelwall Morris Men entertained the crowds. Morris dance is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers. Implements such as sticks, swords, handkerchiefs and bells may also be wielded by the dancers. The term is derived from moorish dance, attested as Morisk and moreys daunce, morisse daunce in the mid-15th century. The spelling Morris-dance appears in the 17th century. Comparable terms in other languages are German Moriskentanz (also from the 15th century), French morisques, Croatian moreška, and moresco, moresca or morisca in Italy and Spain. Read more in Wikipedia.

English "morris" dancing is the earliest known example of biological warfare. Mediaeval documents recently discovered by historians indicate that villagers who showed the early symptoms of bubonic plague were dressed in colourful outlandish costumes with bells tied to their legs and sent to neighbouring hamlets to perform their macabre ritual. Read more here.

Thelwall Morris Men were formed in October 1973, the nucleus of the side being a group of regulars from the Thelwall Folk Club at the Pickering Arms, which was run by Maggie and Rod Goodall. The first public performance took place, without baldricks and badges, at the Pickering Arms in August 1974 before a sceptical audience of wives and girlfriends and members of the folk club.

By 1975 the side had acquired it’s kit. Black breeches and shoes, white shirt and socks, with baldricks of pale blue and claret surmounted by a distinctive badge representing the wall of “Thells” or stakes from which Thelwall, England’s smallest city, derived its name in Anglo-Saxon times. In 1977, the side visited Ireland for the Cobh festival, quickly followed, in 1979, by an invitation to Mallow, Ireland.

Over the years the group has met at different bases. The first being the Pickering Arms, where they started, for just over three years before moving to the Bull’s Head in Warrington, where they stayed for about 15 years, and later at the British Legion in Thelwall. They have also practised at Thelwall Parish Hall. At one time they held practiced sessions at Toucher's Bowling Club, Lovely Lane, Warrington. This has long gone and a housing development now stands on the site of the bowling club and Greenings wire factory, who originally owned the club.

Many thanks to the Thelwall Morris Men for permission to use extracts about their history here on mywarrington. Link to their website for the complete story.

And finally, time for a bit of fun in the presence of Laurel & Hardy. The duo performed a bit of close-up magic with what looked like a standard fork in front of Janet, who had signed her name on it prior to them performing the trick. They played around with the fork in a similar way to the famous Uri Geller, but they didn't just bend it, they made it twist out of shape too. I videoed the trick from beginning to end and still can't work out how they did it. After they finished they handed it to Janet and said she might as well keep it because it is no use to them anymore - it was...well, I won't tell you exactly what they said next, but it reminds me of the famous incident when Stan Boardman turned the air blue on a live edition of the Des O' Connor Show as he was discussing a certain make of aeroplane from the war...

For photos of the recent National Play Day event featuring a replica Spitfire plane outside Warrington Market, see the Events page.

Emergency Services Day (Sat 31 July 2010)

On 31 July 2010 the town centre hosted Emergency Services Day. The purpose of the event was to inform the public about the vital services provided by our emergency services.

We'll start with the police. The first vehicle, made by Iveco, is a mobile police station - inside there are individual cubicles for offenders, and I'm glad I haven't been convicted of any crime as it is quite intimidating to be shut inside one, even for a few seconds. The police car in the third image is a Vauxhall, and it looks like the little boy can't wait to get into the driving seat. Just think, in years to come it might be him coming to your rescue. The fourth photo shows one of the police vans, with seating for a few officers.

The first image, above, left, is the type of van used by a dog-handling team. The next three photos show two of the publicity vehicles. In the large grey truck the police were offering free ultraviolet marking of mobile phones, amongst other services. The yellow car was parked next to a tent where police were offering advice on personal safety, anti-theft and general information.

A range of fire engines and support vehicles graced Bridge Street. It feels quite appropriate for them to parked along here as they were called out for real in 1993 after the IRA bombing of the town in which Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball lost their lives.

The next six photos show a Dennis F8 fire engine from 1953. It was purchased by Cheshire County Fire Brigade and served at Nantwich and Audlem fire stations. The appliance is powered by a Rolls-Royce B60 6-cylinder petrol engine and the water tank holds 400 gallons (1,818 litres), which is pumped via a 500gpm pump. The tender carries a 35ft (10.67 metre) Ajax ladder plus a two-section extension ladder. It was handed over for preservation in the mid-1970s.

The next seven photos show a Shand Mason C single cylinder steam fire appliance from 1876. Shand Mason and Company were based in Blackfriars. London. The beautiful engine on display was originally used by London Fire Brigade until 1915 when, after refurbishment back at Shand Mason, was purchased by Highfield Tannery in Runcorn in 1916. It was donated to Runcorn Urban District Council and was used at Runcorn fire station until 1939. The engine was restored by Mr Bill Davies of Wrexham at Chester fire station in 1955/6. It is believed to be the oldest original Shand Mason in the world to be in full working order. The twin cylinder version was more common in the UK.

The Shand Mason here was easy to pull by horse (I'm sure you know that the phrase 'horsepower' was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses - one horsepower is how much one horse could pull). Any fire was costly to fight whilst men had to be paid to ply the pump handles, and as the steam engine was easy to maintain and very powerful in operation, it became very popular with small 'volunteer' brigades, proving itself to be far superior and more economical to run than the old hand-operated 'manuals'. 50kg (110lb) of coal, found on almost any premises at the time, could keep a steamer running for an hour or more, and the cost incurred in firefighting went down dramatically. Remember, there was no local authority funding in the early days of firefighting and it was common for residents to be turned down if they didn't have adequate insurance cover to put the fire out. Thankfully, that is a thing of the past in this country.

The first three photos below show NED 146, a 1954/5 Dennis F2 appliance, originally owned by Joseph Crosfield & Sons Limited at Bank Quay. It was retired in 1977, restored in 2003, and is now stored at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Headquarters in Winsford. It is always popular at Warrington shows, especially as it's 'one of our own'. The fourth photo shows a Newfoundland rescue dog - a favourite with the children. For whatever reason, there were no ambulances or other medical vehicles on show today, but I have included a photo of one entering Warrington hospital on Lovely Lane, Whitecross, to remind us all of their important work.

My thanks go to the emergency services for assistance with the historical and technical information used in these notes.

I'll finish with these two stories of events involving the fire and rescue service. The first involved a lady who accidentally fell back onto a glass coffee table, broke the glass and got wedged inside the metal frame. We couldn't get her out and decided the only thing to do was to call the fire brigade. Imagine the banter back at the station when they got the message, which simply said "lady stuck in a coffee table". My second story is about the time when I was cleaning a bedroom in a retirement home and sprayed air freshener into the room. Next thing, all the fire alarms went off, and when that room number came up on the fire alarm panel, I knew it must be a false alarm. But the fire brigade had to attend because the system was linked directly to the fire station. They were quite disappointed to have been called out for an incident which, to be honest, nobody had experienced before. So the lesson is, don't spray air freshener near a smoke alarm. Well, it makes a change from the cat stuck up a tree incident...

Warrington Market Classic Transport Show 2010 (Sat 19 June)

Warrington Market Classic Transport Show 2009 (Sat 27 June)

We'll start with a series of Ford vehicles.

More vehicles.

Motorbikes and bicycles were on display inside the market.

Community events wouldn't be complete without stalls or other forms of entertainment.

Here are four cars you might have seen before on your TV screens.

If you would like to see more TV and film vehicles, take the kids on a day out to the Cars of the Stars museum in Keswick, Cumbria.

And finally...

4th Annual Fiddler's Ferry Classic Vehicle Show (Sun 15 July, 2007)

The 4th Annual Fiddler's Ferry Classic Vehicle Show took place on Sunday 15 July 2007. Over 40 vehicles graced Fiddler's Ferry Yacht Haven to bring back the nostalgia of the open road. The heavy rain didn't dampen anybody's sprits and a good time was had by all. The event was run by North West Casual Classics (see their website at www.northwestcasualclassics.com). The club was formed in 1995 and meets at the Penketh and Sankey Sports and Social Club on Warrington Road in Penketh at 8.00 pm on the second Tuesday of each month. New members are always welcome to join. I am grateful to the various owners for allowing me to feature their vehicles on this page. Long may your cars and enthusiasm remain on the road.

My thanks to Steve for filling me in some vehicle names. Much appreciated.