Teesside Show Report July 2023
1st July - 2nd July 2023
Report and pictures by David Parry
The Journey
Setting off from home, the car packed to the roof with camping gear, I was looking forward to this event, because up to this point, we seemed to be battling to keep it afloat, (pardon the pun) our original date in June had to be cancelled due to the heavy rainfall in the weeks leading up to the event, turning the field into a lake and to top it off, the weekend it was supposed to be happening, was glorious sunshine and baking temperatures (would you adam and eve it) anyways moving forward.
From where I live in Merseyside, I decided to head north on the M6, then across to Scotch corner, and down to Teesside, what lovely views I had along the way, it was a far more pleasant route then the dreaded M62, checking the weather forecast it was saying strong gusts all weekend, ‘typical’ but little did we know what was really in store for us.
Picture curtesy of Geography.co.uk
Set Up Day
The day started with a good old full English, strong coffee (to many sherbets the night before I think) and the usual morning pleasantries, but it quickly turned into a buzz of activity, with plans being assembled and checked, fencing being erected, grass being cut, marquees being put up and so on.
Amidst all the hustle and bustle overhead there was a EasyJet airbus flying over the site quite low doing landings and take-offs at Teesside airport, which was quite entertaining as they came across the site from different directions lowing the wheels just above us, of course I had to get a shot.
Show Day
The pilots put all the models on display, the breeze was fresh but not too bad at this time, people started to arrive and the carpark was beginning to fill up nicely, the forecast said it would be gusting up to 30 plus MPH at times, so we were all a bit worried how long we could put the show on for. The day started off with Jim Orr, flying his Decathlon followed by Gary Armstrong with his Extra 300, its worth noting the wind gust was around 25 plus at this stage. More and more pilots braved what mother nature was throwing at them as the day when on, Adam Johnson put on a superb display with his Grumman F-9 Cougar, David Williams braved the weather with his Wellington as did Phil Robertshaw, Austin Dale flew a number of his planes, but what stuck out for me was his P51 mustang, Dave Johnson flew is trusty old Vickers 22 Bleriot, and the list goes on, sadly though at around 3pm it became to gusty to continue safely, but as a good will gesture we announced that anyone wanting to return tomorrow would gain access free of charge. This was appreciated by the public and a few of them did return the following day.
Sunday
Well nothing really to say as it was a repeat of Saturday, the wind didn’t let up and once again the show was cut short. However I did forget to mention our two commentators Keven Watson and Dave Walker who keep the public well informed about what was flying along with some full-size knowledge to accompany the model, while they where getting battered by the wind.
Summing Up
Despite the weather, it was a good show and all the doubts about it dwindled away as the weekend unfolded, it looked like the Teesside club’s swapmeet was a great success and the few traders that managed to make it did okay as well, to say the event was unluck with the weather would be an understatement, the winds where relentless as well as horrendous at time, so, its only fair to say a massive thank you to all the pilots that flew all weekend,
Andy Johnson, Adam Johnson, Phil Robertshaw, David Williams, Brian Rawcliffe, Phil Cross, Neil hide, Austin Dale, Dave Johnson, Jim Orr, Gary Armstrong, Keith Michael to name but a few, sorry if I have missed you out, as they are the only names I could remember.
And finally, the set up, and behind the scenes crews, always forgotten but so necessary to make these show work. Will we be back for 2024, let’s hope so.
