Rally organiser Flo Grainger tells something of past Masham rallies and the people who ran them – events that put the attractive North Yorkshire township and its breweries fairly and squarely on the traction engine map.
Laurie Brooksbank’s Foden tractor No 12782 of 1927 Angelina at Masham Steam Traction & Fair Organ Rally in 1966. BRIAN SHAW
In the early 1960s, the large and impressive 1913-built town hall in Masham was showing signs of disrepair. What had been a fine and impressive building was well used and was, by that time, very tired after being used as a military hospital and billet during WWII.
The prospects for it looked bleak as its extremely generous size also meant that it was a maintenance liability. Although hired out from time to time, this was mainly for community use and it therefore didn’t have an adequate income stream for renovation. As with so many buildings during that era, churches included, its unthinkable fate of becoming a chicken factory or garage was looming closer until a group of locals decided to take action and raise funds for the future. Numerous things were considered but someone had been to a traction engine rally at Pickering and they wondered if it might be possible to run one in Masham.
A visit there was arranged and the signs were good. Thus, with the invaluable help of the Pickering group, the first brave steps were taken and the dates of 4-5 September 1965 were earmarked for the first Masham Traction Engine Rally. The venue was to be a small field just on the western edge of town.
At the 2005 event on 16-17 July was Andrew Craske’s 1920 Fowler roller No 15589, the only one now remaining from the David Wood firm at Yeadon, Leeds. Andrew and son Jeremy have spent many hours searching for and renovating the Fowler Wood’s tar-spraying gear, with which the roller was originally fitted. Most of this has now been reinstated in its rightful place on the roller. DEREK RAYNER
The weather was less than enthusiastic and it poured for the duration of the event, leaving the committee with a profit of approximately £5, but such was the enthusiasm and community feeling generated that the brave group were not downhearted and decided to try again the following year. The rest, as they say, is history!
We are deeply indebted to the generous engine and organ owners of those now far-off days who gave the rally invaluable help and advice and were generous enough to waive any expenses after the washout of that very first event. They were, to name but a few, Dick Preston, Arthur and Walter Fearnley, Ted Meadowcroft, Duke Brewer, Harry Parkin, Philip Ogden, the Stafford family, Chris Rockcliff, the Harrison family, Norman Dean, Len and Wilf Cole, Derek Rayner and partners, and others to whom we shall always be grateful.
At that time, rally dances were held on the Saturday evening in the town hall and many enginemen were welcomed into local homes for a bath before attending. After a change of field, the event took shape and expanded so much that yet another new site was needed.
It was thus, in 1969, that the current attractive site at Low Burton, with its ‘grandstand’ hill opposite the site of the old railway terminus, was first used. The bumps in the field that formed the trackbed into the present rally site have been a pain ever since. These are the remains of the transhipment yard to the narrow gauge railway line used for reservoir construction farther up the dale.
The first rally organiser was Arthur Nunn, a well-respected member of the Masham community. He immediately forged links with the NTEC, as it was then. This is a relationship we are proud to continue as strongly today and without whose invaluable help and guidance, the running of the event would be unthinkable in these days of increasing litigation and legislation.
An entry in a 1966 issue of Steaming magazine read: “A very successful rally, in spite of almost continuous rainfall, was held for the first time at Masham, among the Pennine hills, and has resulted in a whole new area being opened up to engine enthusiasts. A club has been formed, which has met once a month for the purpose of a lecture or film show to keep interest going in winter, and it is intended to make the rally an annual event.”
