Beautiful Boconnoc

The good weather that we had for the Boconnoc Steam Fair in July is now nothing but a distant memory. Everyone I spoke to said what a great event it was. In previous years, some have said that the atmosphere was a bit "clicky" and that previously the organisers were only interested in the steam engines but this year there was a good overall balance and no complaints about unfriendliness. There was a fine range of exhibits, too, although decent autojumbles seem to be things of the past.

Everybody seemed to be there. If you hadn't caught up with old friends for a while, here they were, polishing their cars or riding on their tractors.

The surroundings in the great park are magnificent with the big trees and rolling landscape down to the house and the lake.

Some of my neighbours from up the line called Boconnoc Bock O'Nock when they moved down here and those of us who should know better have started saying it, too. It should be said like B'con'c with the accent on the second syllable.

There even two examples of Hillman Imp at the show. I'm Cornish Centre Area Organiser for the Imp Club, but I've found that not many club members like to get involved with the club locally. It was nice therefore to see this very nice Husky as well as the Sunbeam Stilleto of local stalwarts John and Sarah Doughty. It belongs to Kevin Richards (I think that was his name) of Saltash and is a car that belonged to a very active lady club member for a while. It's in very good condition despite one or two paint bubbles and is a rare variant of the Imp. I was very pleased to see it again in such sympathetic hands.

The only problem with Boconnoc now seems to be its popularity. It took me half an hour to get into the car park. Leaving the site was more difficult since an ambulance had been called for someone. Cars waiting in the queues suffered fuel vaporisation in the heat as their engines idled. Some had to park up and wait to cool down. People complained at the time but if they knew what weather was around the corner they wouldn't have said a word and just enjoyed the rays.