A very pleasant Easter visit to Ebury Hill and its surrounding area. This site must be in the top 5 of the Camping and Caravanning Club sites!!! Certainly our favourite.

David Littleboy's Motorcycle Speedway Ark has recently emerged following a full restoration.

These photographs were taken of the Ark and its transport at its recent appearance at the Ross on Wye Steam Engine Society's annual rally at Welland, Worcestershire in July 2008.

The restoration has been completed to an extremely high standard and work is continuing to improve the ride and restore more of the lost features.

The ride is currently the only travelling example of an Orton and Spooner speedway with full extension front travelling. The decor has been restored in the Orton and Spooner style of the 1930s and looks a treat, and is a complete contrast to the later Orton designs of Fred Fowle, which are perhaps more familiar to a lot of people. The paintwork style is similar to the ark of John Carter and Sons, which has also been restored to as near as possible the Orton factory paintwork. The paintwork on both machines has been done by Joby Carter's team

Welland Steam Rally was held on its proper dates this year, after the dreadful floods that had large tracts of Worcestershire underwater, this time last year. The event was excellent and attracted a wide range of exhibits. Notable amongst the fairground was David Littleboy's Motorcycle Speedway, which I have created a separate gallery for. A good collection of steam engines and other exhibits is always gathered here, a sample of which is included. Very nice to see David Downs's Gallopers and 89-key Gavioli Organ appearing so far up country too :)

Tabley House is home to the Cheshire Steam Fair, where an excellent colleciton of exhibits was gathered together.

A very nice surprise was the reappearance on a showground after about 10 years of Frank Lythogoe's 89-key Marenghi.

A first time event on the steam calendar this year was a lovely little event held at Shugborough Hall.

A reasonable collection of engines was gathered together, and the show was full of atmosphere, very informal and a very pleasant day.

Hopefully this will be on the Calendar for 2009!

Bishop's Castle is a rather pretty small town nestled against the side of the South Shropshire Hills. England's oldest borough, these pictures give something of the flavour of this delightful place.

An exploration of the area once occupied by Broom station and Broom Junction, Junction of the East and West line which went from Fenny Compton to Broom Junction, and the Barnt Green -Evesham line, which only now exists between Barnt Green and Redditch. Broom was a north facing junction with the Barnt Green line, and during WW2 a south to East Curve was installed, making it a triangular junction. The signal box, on the Evesham side of the triangle, is still standingl

A visit to the Foxfield Railway, Blythe Bridge. Restored from colliery operations, the railway is unusual amongst preserved lines in focusing on industrial railways. A very friendly line, we had a very enjoyable afternoon

Gaviloli Gathering, North Newington, Oxfordshire

A Friday afternoon on the Severn Valley Railway, between Christmas and New Year. The railway is currently only operable between Bewdley and Kidderminster Town owing to flood damage. On the day of our visit Stanier Class 5 45110 was in use, together with the LNER Gresley teak coaches and a BR Mk 1 half brake van

Some canalside observations from the towpath.

Bourton on the Water is the classic cotswold picture postcard summer village. These pictures were taken on a grey November afternoon. The village was getting ready for Christmas and looked stunning, even in the mist and drizzle. I hope you like this little selection

The Trent and Mersey canal runs through part of South East Cheshire on its way from Stoke on Trent to the Anderton lift and the Weaver Navigation. This series of photographs were taken near Hassall Green, where the canal runs from the Alsager direction, heading across towards Wheelock. Some interesting sights on this stretch of the canal, including the ability to be at eye level with the M6 Motorway!

Some photographs of our last visit to Ebury Hill, in October 2007. This lovely little caravan site is a former Iron Age fort, and at another time has been a quarry. The extensively wooded site is a wildlife haven too. Nearby to the site is Haughmond Abbey, an English Heritage property, and reached via a field and woodland path from the site. I hope you enjoy this little selection of photographs

Taking photographs without colour has long been a fascination of mine. This gallery contains a few recent examples, taken in Birmingham city centre and near Peckforton on the Cheshire Plain.

Welland show is normally held in July, however problems with flooding of the River Severn in summer 2007 forced a reschedule of the show to September 2007. The result was a show which although was much later than usual was an event with all the usual elements and buzz. The weather was good too, and was a distinct improvement on the weather of the original dates this year! What follows is a small selection of photographs taken at this year's event.

A few photographs taken at this year's Great Dorset steam fair. I will add to these as time permits. I hope you like what you see.

This gallery will contain some of my many pictures of British Fairground organs. In order to qualify for inclusion here, the organ has to have worked, or been built in a style that was intended to work on the British fairground. The majority of the organs in this section, by their very nature, will be of the English standard scales as used by Chiappa Ltd, and the London Verbeeck variants as used by Jimmy Verbeeck of Islington.

28 Chiappa, 37 key London Verbeeck, 46 Gavioli/48 Chiappa, 61-key London Verbeeck, 65-key Gavioli, 87 key Gavioli, 89 key Gavioli No4, 89/98 Marenghi VB

A separate gallery will be created later for Dutch Street Organs and Dance/Cafe organs.

This gallery will be updated from time to time with additional photographs, so keep having a peek and see whats in here.

Ever looked at a fairground ride in close-up? In amongst those whirling lights and dazzling mirrors is a plethora of detail from scrolling and lining to gag cards with slogans and instructions, to full pictures. Although not considered by many art critics and experts to be of particular note, I would suggest they go and take a look! You also have to remember that much of the decoration is done by the Showmen themselves, often in far from ideal conditions, in the winter months, often outside. The initial batch of photographs are taken from rides present at the 2007 Great Dorset Steam Fair, although as time permits, I will be adding to the gallery from my library of photographs.