Well, we spent a busy week at work, slowly following one steam engine after another on their way to the Saffron Walden Crank up, wondering whether we were ever going to arrive at the next job and how late we were going to be. But to be honest it didn’t trouble us too much; it was just fantastic to see all those steam beasts back on the road again.

We had a fantastic day at the Crank Up on the Sunday, which was our one day off last week, and we met many of our customers there. Notably we met David Gowlett the blacksmith from Ugley, who was there with his steam tractor Ada. David told us that he had been left Ada in his grandfathers will when he was just 7 years of age. Ada had spent all her working life doing agricultural tasks on the Stetchworth Estate near Newmarket and had worked there prior to the First World War. She eventually ended up in a scrap yard in Saffron Walden where she was rescued for preservation.

As you can see from the photographs there were two Sentinel Steam Lorries at the show. I took these photos to send to my Uncle Ern up in Liverpool, as he had been evacuated to Shrewsbury to live with three maiden aunts during the Second World War and he can remember clearly the steam lorries trundling out of the Sentinel Works.

As a day out I can highly recommend the Crank Up, along with all the steam vehicles, there were classic cars, lorries and tractors as well as steam organs, steam fairground rides, a beer tent and lots of food outlets. There was one doing particularly good fresh doughnuts. It was only a shame that the weather was so poor, wet and the wind was really whistling across the old Debden Airfield where the show was held.