Parham 2025

By Steve Rowland

For me, one of the highlights of the year was the ‘Parham’ weekend on the 12th and 13th of July. Phil Sampson and I took time off work to travel to the site on Thursday to secure our pitch and set up. As usual, Phil returned on Friday to greet any members arriving that day. We were blessed with warm weather, and we had a fantastic line-up of engines. The event was open to non-SEAMS members, and we had some excellent displays, including those by Andy, Dominic and James.

One non-member delivered a ‘D’ type engine to our pen on the back of a tractor, but we didn’t see him again all day, and the engine wasn’t run. He came back at the end of Saturday, presumably to either cover the engine or take it away. I asked him not to return on Sunday, as the engine wasn’t in running condition.

There was plenty to see, including full-size steam engines and a huge number of miniatures. I also spotted a very early Fire Engine, though I didn’t manage to get its details on camera (but I’ve included it in the pictures).

One of the most memorable moments was watching an early Fowler ploughing engine. Ollie Goldsmith and I were chatting nearby when Ollie pointed out that the driver had to turn left to go right and turn right to go left! I suppose once you get used to it, its second nature, but I’d probably need to remind myself of that on the drive home.

From the Skinner Family

It was a fantastic event, and I’m already looking forward to next year. Two people who were missed at Parham this year were John Peters and Guy Taylor.