After last year’s cancellation due to the weather, and a pretty poor late summer with more than a few wet days during the lead up to this year’s show, it was a great relief to the organising committee that the weather turned fine and dry for the weekend for the Shackerstone Family Festival.
OK, the sun didn’t shine all the time, and there was a cool wind on Saturday, but Sunday had a fair sprinkling of blue sky moments, nobody got wet, and the field was dry underfoot. And the public poured in.
The organisers put on a cracker of a show this year - Shackerstone may not have sizzled in the sun, but it certainly was a stunner of an event. All thanks to the Festival committee, plus their band of volunteer helpers and “friends of the festival”. We have also been asked to thank the many other ACA members, and visiting boaters, who helped out.
Over 90 pleasure craft were booked in to the event, plus around 40 historic working boats. This event must surely be developing into one of the most impressive annual gatherings of historic boats in the country.
The highlight of the show was the stunning aerobatic display by the RAF Red Arrows team on Sunday. What a breathtaking performance! The huge crowd burst into spontaneous applause at the end of their fantastic display, and their ground crew member (Red 10) was kept busy signing autographs and answering questions long after the aircraft had flown back.
There were plenty of other attractions to keep the visitors entertained - in particular, a colourful and amusing event with Joseph’s racing camels, and a thrilling motorcycle and quad-bike stunt man, Jason Smyth, whose dare-devil jumps had the crowds cheering.
The absence of the ACA’s pontoon bridge this year was lamented by some, but its absence encouraged visitors to walk further up the canal towpath and enjoy the excellent displays put on by some of the historic boats. Some of the crews were in “traditional” dress. One of the boat crews did a display of clothes-washing on the towpath on Sunday - dolly tub, mangle and all! Also there were several interesting trading boats selling items as diverse as books, cheese, fudge, chandlery, etc., and apparently doing a good trade.
At the Battlefield Line railway, the majority of the train services over the weekend were handled by the immaculate LNER B1 locomotive, “Mayflower”, which looked absolutely superb with polished apple green paintwork and gleaming copper pipes. Also running was an interesting Aveling-Porter well-tank locomotive based on a traction engine design. Steam enthusiasts were also catered for at the far end of the show field by a gathering of traction engines and stream rollers - both full size ones and smaller models. For the first time ever at a Shackerstone event, the traction engines did a parade in the arena each day.
Also noted with enthusiasm were the two beautiful mechanical organs - a Decap, and a Gavioli - both famous makes - which played to delight the visitors. Other musical treats included the Polesworth Pioneers marching band, Morris dancers, and live musical entertainment which also extended to the Rising Sun. For children the Shackiesaurus Club was running as usual. Finally, we must mention the wonderful array of vintage vehicles on display - there were lots of beautifully kept and lovingly restored cars, motorcycles, buses, lorries, motor-bikes for enthusiasts to drool over.
All-in-all, something for everyone! This was certainly a triumphal return of the Shackerstone Family Festival. Once again - thanks to everyone who helped make it happen.
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