Nice bowler, mate. Great event for hat spotting.

Yesterday (Saturday 1st June 2019) I took the annual pilgrimage up the A515 to the annual Steam Party event at Klondyke Mill in Draycott in the Clay, home of the North Staffordshire and Cheshire Traction Engine Club – It’s an event I try to attend every year, either in the summer or the October.

(This article should have been up this morning, apologies: I’ve had an issue with the blog hosts which has now been resolved but has rendered me unable to post for most of the day – Bob).

It’s quintessentially British, it’s a feast for mechanical geeks, people watchers and vintage buffs of all stripes. I always have a whale of a time geeking out over the machines.

This year was made a little tricky to document as I set out completely accidentally without a camera at all. All of these images were from my phone – and it shows just how far camera tech in mobile phones has come on that these photos are actually pretty much OK. Sorry for the lack of fine detail…

I sooooo wanted a go on this…

There were traction engines in full steam driving around the yard, stationary engines, classic cars, tractors, land rovers and much more – it’s well worth a visit and the people are very friendly.

The twice yearly ‘Steam Party’ is regular, and the next one is on the 12th and 13th October 2019. It’s well worth a visit, but the entrance fee can be a shock if there’s a few of you; but the fuel alone isn’t cheap and the North Staffs and Cheshire Traction Engine Club need all the funds they can raise.