Popular annual event Horham Bygones Country Rally is being resurrected just a few miles from its village home thanks to the organisers of Palgrave’s Journey Through The Ages – Vintage Rally & Country Fair.
The bygones rally used to attract thousands of visitors to the little village of Horham but it had to finish due to loss of car parking and insurance problems.
However, Bygones organiser Gary Woodrow did not want to call it a day so he was pleased when a visit to 2013’s first Journey Through The Ages in Palgrave offered a solution. He was introduced to Journey Through The Ages’ organiser Gareth Mutimer who offered to keep the spirit of the rally alive in the 55 acres of historic parkland at Goodrich Park in Palgrave.
Gary Woodrow said: “People kept asking us if we were going to have another Horham Bygones Country Rally. But we have decided to pass the torch on. It’s an ideal event with a village feel and no parking worries. Many of our Bygones regulars will be at this year’s event.”
Fellow Bygones organiser Don Moyes added: “It’s great to think that the Bygones Rally will live on in some way.”
Gareth Mutimer said: “All exhibitors from Horham have now been invited to Palgrave with a fantastic response so far. To date we have double the number of exhibitors that we had last year.
“Despite the poor weather and some difficulties last year we got so much positive feedback from visitors and exhibitors that we are very optimistic about this year.
“Although we were a little disappointed in attendance figures last year, our first event at Goodrich Park went well and due to such a positive response, we felt we had to do it again as it has so much potential.”
Gary said that he is pleased to be joining Gareth and Journey Through The Ages event manager Lucinda Arnold and looks forward to greeting old and new faces on the day.
Lucinda said: “We did not want to organise just another vintage rally or country show so we combined the two.”
Journey Through The Ages – Vintage Rally & Country Fair will be returning to Goodrich Park in Palgrave on Saturday (10am-6pm) and Sunday (10am-5pm) June 21st and 22nd. Admission is £6 for adults and £4 for children aged four to 16. There will be free parking and dogs are welcome.
This year’s event will offer Viking re-enactment groups, full- size and model steam engines, vintage vehicles, countryside crafts, donkey rides, an auto-jumble, a vintage fairground, a dog show with agility ring and a flyball course, trade stands, fairground organs, vintage and modern commercial vehicles, car clubs and a licensed bar.
Originally started in 2002 as a one-off event to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee the Horham rally went from strength to strength to become an annual feature. In 2011 more than 3,000 visitors flocked into the small village between Eye and Stradbroke for the event. In 2012 Horham Bygones Country Rally fell foul of our awful summer of rain and in 2013 problems finding sufficient parking lead organisers to bring its 10-year run to an end.
Anyone interested in either exhibiting a vintage vehicle or trading at Journey Through The Ages can contact the organisers at vintage.rally@gmail.com or thunderburst@hotmail.co.uk.
Further information can also be found on the Facebook Page or website www.throughtheages.co.uk