ZENA Hawley reports on the 37th annual Elvaston Steam Rally, which took place at Elvaston Castle this weekend.
Enthusiasm for steam engines must be in the blood if two-year-old Flynn Hutton and is family are anything to go by.
He was at the steam rally, complete with mini boiler suit, spanner and very dirty hands, with his father and mother James and Charlotte Hutton and grandfather, Dave Crampton.
Mr Crampton, of Mickleover, is also vice-chairman of the rally's organising committee and remembers the early days of the event when a handful of engines and people came along.
He said: "Originally, we would get five or so engines turning up in one small corner of the field. But over the years the event has just grown and grown."
The three-generation family was at the rally with a 1935 Wallis and Steevens Chichester advance road roller, which cost £765 when it was new and ordered by Chichester Corporation.
The engine first came to Derby in 1989 and Mr Crampton, who owns it, started an 11-year programme of restoration when he bought it a year later.
In 2010, the boiler tubes were replaced in one weekend in order to attend his daughter Charlotte's wedding and last winter it had rubber tyres fitted to enable it to run on roads better.
With a top speed of seven miles an hour, the Chichester does not go anyway very fast but actually covers about 200 miles a year, visiting shows around the country.
On this occasion, it had only travelled about 300 yards from where it is kept in Elvaston.
Mr Hutton, Mr Crampton's son-in-law, is also in the process of restoring an engine.
He said: "I bought it from the Isle of Wight in 1994 so it has been a long restoration project so far but so many of them often are. But I am hoping that it will be able to go to shows in the near future.
"Many steam engines were scrapped by councils years ago but in the 1960s and 1970s people suddenly wanted to preserve them and organisations like Elvaston Steam Rally were born.
"Fred Dibnah, the famous demolition and steam engine celebrity, also made the engines popular among enthusiasts and the general public."
More than 30 steam engines were at the rally and a raise viewing platform had been constructed to allow people to walk around the engines individually throughout the weekend.
But the engines were not the only things for people to admire and to get involved with on the Elvaston Castle showground, which was initially muddy from overnight rain but soon dried out throughout Saturday.
Also at the event was a gun dog display, dancing diggers from construction company Balls, veteran cars, tractors and motorcycles, ex-military vehicles, steel bands, craft marquee and an array of stalls.
Also taking part was Falconry Experience, based at Rosliston Forestry Centre.
Staff from the company, which can only keep and display birds of prey kept in captivity, had brought along owls, hawks and a golden eagle called Cuddles.
Senior falconer Darren Hollis said that people enjoyed looking at the birds and also watching them fly.
He said: "We usually do two shows each day to demonstrate them flying in the arena.
"Cuddles is seven-years-old and usually very well-behaved wherever we go. All of the birds love being in the sunshine and you can see them spread their wings while soaking up the sun."
In the region of 10,000 to 12,000 people usually attend the rally and proceeds go to charity and last year in the region of £12,500 was raised which went charities such as Rainbows Hospice, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland Air ambulance, Derby and District MS Society and the PDSA.
Final charity money and visitor numbers will not be known for a few days.
Arena events organiser Jane Furniss said setting up the event had gone very well.
She said: "Everyone began to arrive from Tuesday and many of the steam engines arrived by road, rather than on a low-loader.
"With the good weather that we have had, we would expect to do very well once again this year."
Sophie Johnson, 34, of Blagreaves Lane, Littleover said her family had been coming to the event for as long as she could remember.
She said: "It started with my granddad who loved these events and since he died we have carried on coming. We love the noise and smell of the place with all the engines running.
Mrs Johnson was with her daughter Emily, 10, and son Jack, eight. Emily said: "I think I would love to have a ride on an engine one day."
Cliff Rodgers, rally chairman, said a huge amount of "time-consuming effort" was put in each year by a group of volunteers to run the event.
He said: "The weather is a major factor in our event being a success and in 2012 we had to cancel because the ground was water-logged.
"We believe when everything goes well, this is one of the best events of it skins in this area."
