I would just like to say what a great job everyone made in the organising and running of this years widnes rally, again this is only due to all the hard work, time and effort put in by all those involved in organising this event and commend George Houghton, Dave Stubbs, Halton Borough Council, and all the north west group members and volunteers without whom this event would not be possible.

Thank You
Albert Lewis.

Hi Albert.

Thanks for your report on the Widnes Rally.

We managed to avoid the bad weather again and despite a quiet start on Saturday, it was packed on Sunday...after all it is a free event and if you can't persuade the Great British Public to attend a free event...you must be doing something wrong!

There were some terrific sights for everyone to see, including a free entry circus, 150+ classic cars, motor cycles and some of the best organs and Hand-Turned in the country, including a surprise visit from Graham Atkinson with the Irvins Marenghi!

There are a host of people involved in the event, but I would also add thanks to Ned Kaye, who helped with the marking out last Wednesday and Thursday and to Frank Dawson and Richard Wilson for 'traffic control' on Friday.

There are also the Section Stewards who volunteer their services to manage the exhibitors in each category, which takes a huge amount of work from George; Ned Kaye on Hand-Turned, Malcolm Mulcrowe (Stuarts Dad!) on Stationary Engines, Elsey and Gordon Finch on Classic Cars, Philip and Francis(?) Lowe on Motor Cycles, Peter Hampson acted as Organ Steward and distributed the exhibitor plaques to the organ owners.

The exhibitors travel great distances for no fee and Victoria Park would look very sparse without their support!

Halton Council do a terrific job and I still hear people saying that they "wished their council would sponsor something like this", which is praise indeed.

Halton are still very enthusiastic about the event, so all being well the rally will be on again in 2012. If so, I will see you down there

Thanks Albert and Dave for the kind words re the FOPS North West Group Rally.
Glad to hear that you enjoyed it once again. This year was our 21st Rally and our 12th at Victoria Park Widnes.
Time has certainly flown by since our very first effort at the Astley Colliery site near Manchester when a small Committee was formed to organise a Rally and we had about 5 organs a few cars and 1 trade stall.
The late George Howard who had the trade stall gave us £50 and Stuart Marti our Chairman at the time and myself promised to stand any financial loss that we may incur.
We grew from those modest beginings and were forced to move to Abbotsfield Park in Urmston because the Astley site could no longer accomodate us.
The Format at that time was a 1 Day event which was successful until the disaster of 1999 when the Park was flooded after a spell of torrential rain and the Event had to be cancelled resulting in a drastic reduction in Group Funds due to us having to pay the rent on the park, insurance,toilets etc.
It was in 2000 that I hit on the idea of a move to Victoria Park Widnes because it had a Tarmac road all round the grassed area of the Park which meant that the Rally could go on even if we got wet weather.(Since the move we have had good weather every year)
I put the idea to Halton Council who had a policy of not having Parks as monuments of the past but making use of them to attract the public,and so the Widnes Rally was born and has grown to what we have today.
Its success is due mainly to the work put in by the small band of workers most of them have been already mentioned and the Organ owners and Exhibitors who have supported the Event over the years without any payment travelling long distances at great cost to themselves especially now with the price of fuel (True Enthusiasts). Halton Council deserve a huge thank you for continuing to support the Rally even though they have suffered financial restraints which have cut a lot of funding, they still think that the event provides great entertainment for the Public and is value for money. The Council staff all give 100% effort in making the show successful and are most enthusiastic.
Sadly for me age has caught up and I will be relinquishing the post as Organiser, but the good news is Halton Council have agreed to carry on with a similar format and the Show will go on in 2012.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped in any way to make it a great Show without you it would not have been possible.
My most sincere and grateful thanks.

Panoramic view of the rally, taken from the top of the Lighthouse Slip.

Yes, ok, I came down the quick way...who says we have to grow up!

The picture is wider than the 625 pixel limit, so you will have to scroll across the last part of it.

How right "they" were (whoever "they" are) when they said, "Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional". Go for it every time!

Hi organeer, lets all stay young...sounds good to me!

On the subject of 'sound' (how about that for a link!), BBC Radio Merseyside were broadcasting the Billy Butler show live from the Widnes Rally on Saturday and you can listen to the show on BBC iPlayer until next Saturday, 1st October.

There are interviews with George, Michael Houlden and other characters from the show!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0 ... 4_09_2011/

Great panaoramic pic Dave, would love a high resolution copy of it if possible?

Hi Albert.

I have emailed it to you!

For those people who unfortunately can't access BBC iPlayer programmes in their part of the world, here's an alternative way of being able to listen to this radio programme (look for and then click on "Low Speed Download")...

Billy Butler 24 09 2011 24-09-11.mp3 - 85.8 MB

Hi David.

Thanks for the information, very useful, especially for those who are unable to access the iPlayer program from outside the UK.

Some key timings during the program are:

Michael Houlden 0:40:20
NWG FOPS member Arnold Bennett (with an electric car) 1:12:20
George Houghton 1:39:45

I don't know if the timings apply to the download file in David's link.