Vintage show to attract thousands of vehicle enthusiasts to Shrewsbury this weekend

The show, organised by the Mid Shropshire Vintage Club, is a two-day extravaganza on June 6 and 7, showcasing some of the best vintage vehicles the country has to offer.

The show has long been a top draw for exhibitors from all over the UK to show their vehicles, including classic cars, motorbikes, Land Rovers, buses, military vehicles, steam engines, tractors and more.

There are also Shire horses (Sunday only), The Pony Club, craft and trade stands, fairground rides, food, a beer tent and bar and this year - more activities to entertain families including a children’s quad bike circuit, the Stiperstones Brass and the Wirral Pipe Bands and a very rare Ashley’s Gallopers Victorian steam-powered carousel.

Every year the event also stages an auction of vintage machinery and tools by H J Pugh & Sons and this will take place on Saturday, 6 June at 11am.

A special tractor is also featured annually, and for 2015 David Brown tractor was chosen. Sir David Brown was an English entrepreneur who managed his family firm and also owned the shipbuilding firm Vosper Thorneycroft as well as later manufacturing Aston Martins.

Vintage Show chairman, Richard Haynes, said: “The legendary 'DB' series of Aston Martin cars, including the Atom, all the DB versions from 2 to 9 and including the DB5 famously driven by fictional character James Bond in many of the films including Goldfinger – were all named after David Brown.

“We are very pleased and excited to be featuring the David Brown tractors this year which have a wonderful British production heritage.”

For the first time the exciting spectator sport ‘Tractor Pulling’ from the Whitchurch-based Challenger Tractor Pulling Club, will be at the show. This spectacle will see a tractor pulling a progressively weighted sledge over the distance and the military vehicles, tanks and lorries will be doing a manoeuvres display in the mounds of soil unearthed by the tractor competition.

Mr Hairy the life-like talking doll will be entertaining the crowds and playing the piano, Mike Salt from Wem will be bringing his steam-engine ‘Pepperpot’ and Welsh Blacksmith Gary Saunders will be bringing his mobile smithy and doing demonstrations and Bill Pywell will be providing greenwood wood-working demonstrations.

This year’s event will also include the maiden voyage of the oldest right-hand-drive Morris Minor Van in the world, owned by Mike Sargeant, from Wem.

Mr Sargeant, has carefully preserved the vehicle he found in a barn in Suffolk which was full of straw with ivy growing out of it – as it had been since 1967.

The van was the 184th Morris Minor off the production line in June 1953 and when he got it back to Shropshire, Mr Sargeant invited a Morris Minor Van historian who confirmed that he had indeed bought the oldest right-hand drive in existence – second only to one left hand drive Morris Minor van.

Mr Haynes, added: “Last year the weather rather let us down a bit but fortunately this weekend looks set to be lovely and we are looking forward to welcoming visitors. We know we attract a lot of vehicle enthusiasts and we have literally hundreds of vehicles from all over the country, which are interesting for everyone to look at.

“Children especially love them, so this year we have really concentrated on getting a lot more for families and we know this will be our biggest event yet. Tickets are available in advance via the West Mid website or on the gate and children under 16 are free.”

One of the aims of the event is to raise funds for local medical charities and since its formation the Mid Shropshire Vintage Club has raised more than £150,000 for charities including the Severn Hospice and Hope House.

Tickets can be purchased on the gate and are priced at £8 for adults and FREE for under 16s.