"Keep Cranking" Committee Member's Letter Nov 2026

Dear member,

As the nights draw in, and the engines are resting, it's a good time to reflect on the year’s activities, and what a year it's been. Whilst the lack of rain may not have suited everyone, the rally fraternity certainly enjoyed some excellent attendances. Sadly, our spring gathering was held on a day of strong gales and heavy rain, leading to low numbers and an early finish, but just about every other event during the year enabled members to enjoy glorious sunshine, with many reporting excellent attendances.

Goings on at the club remain positive and the bank balance remains healthy. Unfortunately  a few members didn’t renew their membership for 2026 but with Roy looking after membership and his strong marketing skills ,or others would say persistence, the numbers have shown an increase and we ended the year with more members than we started with.

Your club currently has over 150 active members on the books, ranging from the relatively young to some nonagenarians, if you are wondering what that is, they are over 90 and still actively rallying their engines.

We are aware that the hobby is heavily biased towards the top of the age profile but we are continually looking at ways to broaden the hobby to the younger generation. The aims of the club is to promote and encourage the restoration and preservation of all types of engines and machinery, to organise gatherings and rallies and in general give advice and assistance in activities of this nature. Perhaps you have ideas on how we could progress this aim, especially in relation to attracting the hobby towards the younger generation. Please let us know.

Due to prudent spending, we are pleased to advise for the second year running, there will be no increase in membership fees, and  a new "joint membership" has been introduced for couples at the same address, the cost being £18. Also bear in mind that our insured liability is £10 million per claim, unlike many other clubs who have a lower limit.

Good news on insurance for 2027, we are returning to an old friend, NFU Mutual, after searching the market to give members the best price & cover. The policy covers UK residents to exhibit in the UK and Northern Ireland who follow the NVTEC Code of Practice. Remember if the code is not followed, insurance cover is invalidated.

In a rapidly changing world and bearing in mind that many of us are beyond the first flush of youth, your committee are acutely aware that to continue to thrive we must be prepared to adapt. Our Facebook page has been a success, and provided a useful platform for sharing news, views and technical information including many comments being received from none NWSEA members. Perhaps they will be looking to join our fraternity soon?

Our new webpage, created by Bryan at the beginning of the year, has been an invaluable addition, and given your club much needed visibility nationwide. Our thanks go to Bryan for his efforts in building and running the site, which at the time of writing has had over 4000 visits in the 10 months since going live. Linked to this, the ability to pay memberships online via the webpage has provided a saving to both the club and members and was used by some 40% of members for renewal. You will also be able to register for the August Vintage Rally on line and received your gate pass by email.

Do you know if you process your membership using the website online form and pay by bank transfer, you save yourself the cost of a stamp and envelope. As in the past, we are not asking for a SAE, the membership card return postage is part of your membership perks.

The introduction of Martyn's law in spring 2027 will probably dictate that changes to how we operate our rallies must be adopted.  No doubt its introduction will be publicised on TV and the media and probably lead to ill advised "experts" spreading doom and gloom with misinformation. We are confident that Keith, our safety officer, will guide us in the right direction.

  
No report on our club’s year would be complete without mention of our summer event. The move to the Farmer Parrs’ Fleetwood site, and our association with the Fylde Country Life group in 2023, saw our spring meet lead into an extra summer gathering. The summer event has progressed from a one day crank up to becoming a two-day Vintage Rally It was free to enter for the public and saw a large public presence, welcomed by the trading stalls. This year over £1600 was generated for nominated charities.

John Wood was actively involved in making sure everything went to plan and several times on both days the Irish Brogue could be heard across the field shouting “only 6 for £5, get your raffle tickets here”. Thanks to everybody who donated raffle prizes.

We appreciate that a lot of you sadly were unable to attend the rally due to distance.

Building on previous success, what started as a group of engines, a couple of cars and a few tractors, this year the field hosted some 50 plus engines, 25 tractors, steam engines, over 60 cars, stalls, funfair, fairground organ, a tractor balance beam, and dog show. At the request of our members, we also Introduced an auction, administered by Shaun and Elaine, which attracted some 58 entries and proved popular. The income from seller’s and buyer’s tickets boosted the charitable donations. A big thank you must go to the help of local Fylde Rotary Clubs who during the weeks before assisted in promoting the event.

Thanks go to Shaun and Mick for their organisational skills which helped make the rally such a success, and to Farmer Parrs for the use of the site, together with the "working party" made up of club members for their invaluable assistance on and before the day. It shouldn’t go unmentioned that Jim worked tirelessly all-day checking insurances and winding the ropes etc.

It will be interesting, if in the future that our humble little engine club could play a leading role in running an annual event in the National rally calendar? If you haven’t already seen the video of the rally, it is available on YouTube searching NWSEA Farmer Parrs Vintage Rally 2026

Again, we hope everybody has had an enjoyable year of rallying and are looking forward, as we are, to 2027. As mentioned last year, the committee recognises that several members live many miles away from our monthly meeting venue but urge them to keep in touch via the Facebook page or the webpage.

In conclusion, thank you all for your support. It would be great to see more pictures and stories from your part of the country (and the world), please keep them coming.

Enclosed with this letter is a leaflet showing events that are open to all, whether a NWSEA member or not, but please spread the word.

As a reminder, the two main events in 2027 organised by the club are at Fleetwood (FY7 8SL) are :

Spring Crank Up – March 21st

August Vintage Rally – August 21st & 22nd

So “Keep Cranking” !!!!!!!       

We do really look forward to meeting you one day.

From Your Committee