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All Ireland Vintage Rally, Hollybrook 6/7/08
02/06/2008
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The Western Vintage Tractor & Engine Club will be holding their 17th annual vintage rally on Sunday 6th July 2008 on the grounds of The Country Club, Hollybrook, Hollymount, Co. Mayo.This show always attracts a huge turnout of exhibitors and spectators and this year will be no exception since the club have the honour of hosting the All- Ireland vintage rally on behalf of the Irish Vintage Society (I.V.S.).
As usual there will be the large display of vintage cars , vintage tractors, vintage commercials, vintage motorbikes and stationary engines. Everyone is welcome but exhibitors are advised that vehicles entering the show must be 30 years old. There will also be a working area where there will be old style threshing and vintage tractors doing different work such as ploughing,rotavating,making drills, planting potatoes and spinning them out again and lots more. Also in the working horse area there will be horse hay turning and spraying along with other horse work.
There will also be a huge turnout of craft exhibits such as buttermaking, boxtymaking, tinsmith, blacksmith,spinning,and weaving, rope craft, straw craft, thatching, pottery, handmade jewellery, glass craft, decoupage, handmade cards, woodcraft and lots more too numerous to mention.
The Ferguson Club will have a special display and it is intended to have a couple of Ferguson Browns, Ford Fergusons, Ferguson Continentals, Ferguson 20 diesels and Ferguson TVOs and Ferguson 35 grey with gold engine at this stand along with some Ferguson implements. This will be one for to look out for on the day.
There will also be a display of old army vehicles and exhibits to add something different to this show.
The official opening will be performed by John Taylor who is the President of the I.V.S. and should take place between 1 and 2 o clock.
As usual the large turnout of autojumble is expected and also trade stands. Please note that no hawkers are allowed and autojumblers should contact 087 9260318 or 087 8109453. Any entries or enquiries may contact any of the above numbers or can write to , The Western Vintage Tractor & Engine Club, Box No 21, Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo.
For the children there will be bouncing castles, inflatable slides activity centres and quads. The club is going to have Shrek there again this year which is a show that goes on all day for children and includes characters such as Barney, Chicken Licken and more. This is free for children to keep them amused during the day and incidentally admission to the field is free for children as this club always like to give value for money.
There will be live music from 2 to 4 o clock and is provided by ‘Cois Tine’. After this will come the strawboys dancing on stage with more lively entertainment and anyone who wishes to join in the dancing will be welcome. There will also be some Sean Nos dancing.
Plenty of food and ice cream, pancakes, candy floss and pop corn along with the tea and sandwiches or burgers and chips should satisfy everyones taste that day and if the thirst gets to you then no better place for a pint than the Country Club where you will be met by friendly staff in this old style country pub.
Whats it all about I ask myself. Why do a group of hard working dedicated people meet every week for months before hand to put such an effort into this show. Why will they be in the field every evening for two weeks before the show preparing it and another week after taking it all down again. I will tell you why. Because these people love vintage and the reward at the end of the day is the money raised for the charities at the gate. The proceeds of the day go to three charities and they are, The Mayo Mental Health Association, The Mayo Branch of the National Council for the Blind and Mayo Autism Action. Last year such was the success of the show that the club were in a position to donate €20,000 among the three charities. The club also did a couple of tractor road runs during 2007 and in total raised in excess of €31,000. Our sponsors cannot go unmentioned because without them the charities would not get so much money. The money collected from sponsors is used to run the costs of the rally which means that we do not have to eat into the gate money for expenses and therefore leaves more money for the charities. So to our many sponsors a big thank you.
Last but not least to say thanks to Helen and Malachy Forde for the use of their grounds for the rally and we will be looking forward to meeting everyone on the 6th July.
Michael Mooney P.R.O.
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