Birkenhead Park Festival of Transport
18th and 19th September 2010
Traction engines, vintage cars, buses and military vehicles, steam engines, steam boats, radio controlled model
boats, sailing boats, steam powered carousel and vintage fairground - do they sound good to you?
The Birkenhead Festival of Transport offers you these, and many more sights, sounds and experiences for you
to enjoy. Read on through these pages to see what's on offer next September!
Message from the Chairman
Welcome to all, including those who have attended our previous 2 Festivals, in 2008 and 2009. My name is Ken Fretwell and I am the Chairman of the Festival Committee, as well as being a Past President of Birkenhead Lions Club.
As I write this, in January 2010, we are enduring freezing conditions, with snow and hard packed ice lying on unsalted roads and footpaths. Yet already, my Committee is well into the task of organising the 2010 Birkenhead Park Festival of Transport. This year’s show is due to be held on the weekend of 18th / 19th September, by which time we hope that the weather will be much better!
The Festival of Transport has been an extremely popular addition to the attractions on the Wirral, over the past 2 years. There is simply nothing similar in the area and now that the Wirral Show has ended, it can claim to be the biggest, free to enter, public event on the Wirral.
We are very grateful for the support given by the Lions Clubs on the Wirral, Birkenhead Rotary Club, Wirral Borough Council and Park Staff, Showtime Ice Cream, Mersey Travel, Wirral Transport Museum, Wirral Classic Car Club and the Howard Brothers Victorian Funfair. Without the kind assistance of these organisations, the show could not go ahead.
We have already begun negotiations with even more attractions for 2010. The ever-popular steam boats have been asked to attend, as well as the Howard Brothers’ steam powered funfair. We hope to have a 1913 Foden steam bus, which is fully licensed for 16 passengers! Several more wonderful steam traction engines are expected. After the great success of last year’s Parade of Steam, when 6 vehicles travelled on the main roads of
The older ones amongst us may look with nostalgia at the wide range of historic transport we will have on display. It is fascinating for us to think that many of today’s younger generation have never even heard of such vehicles. Believe it or not, but many of our young visitors have never even seen coal before! Think about it… Gas and electric fires, so how would they ever see coal?
We hope to have another excellent programme booklet for this year’s event for a nominal donation. Please remember that we need to raise the funds to pay the bills for the show, so please purchase one and get the news on all the latest attractions, while helping to assure the future of this wonderful Festival.
Ken Fretwell
Chairman