Looking back over the last few years of the Thurlow rally since its enforced move from Haverhill to Horseheath, it strikes me that this event has become a “representative” event. To explain, “that which presents the full character of the type of a group”, be it a typical East Anglian rally, or having one of each type of exhibit in attendance, “serving to represent others of a group”. Looking around this years show, there were plenty of different things to see and not much repetition.

The commercial vehicle section, for instance, gave us the Ford Thames 400E & Austin-Morris A60 vans, Bedford J-type & Commer Superpoise light trucks, the Ford K-Series medium weight rigid, the Leyland Beaver and ERF A-Series artic units, right up to the heavy-weight Atkinson & AEC recovery units. Steam road haulage gave us an example each of Sentinel & Foden wagons plus another Foden timber tractor.

Steamrollers were represented by the likes of Aveling & Porter, Aveling Barford and Fowler, steam tractors by Burrell, Garrett, Foster, Foden and Wallis & Steevens. Traction engines proper included Burrell, Clayton & Shuttleworth, Fowler, Ransomes Simms & Jefferies and Ruston Proctor. Sole representatives of their type were the Burrell showman’s engine & Fowler road locomotive.

Looking down the tractor lines, it’s inevitable here that there will be some repetition, but again most British and American marques were present, including Allis Chalmers, Bean, Bristol, Crawley, David Brown, Doe, Farmall, Fendt, Ferguson, Field Marshall, Ford & Fordson, Garner, Gunsmith, International, Lanz, Leyland, Massey Ferguson, Massey Harris, Minneapolis Moline, Nuffield, Oppermann, Ransomes, Trantor, Unihorse and Wheelhorse, almost a complete A-Z.

There always seemed to be a glut of grey Wolseleys on the stationary engine lines in times past, but exhibits are now much more diverse, with Lister, Petter, Bull Pup, Onan, Stuart Turner, Ruston Hornsby, Amanco, Judson, Nelson Jumbo, Waterloo Boy, Arco, Crossley & Bamford joining the Wolseleys, including an early pre-WD type. Two new names for me there, Judson & Arco.

Looking through the cars, here they seemed to have come out of the ark in pairs. Twin Ford Zodiacs, Jaguar Mk IIs, Vauxhall Velox, Ford Populars and Austin Princess limos fell into this category, but others such as the mighty Ward L France, customised Austin A40 Devon, wartime Ford staff-car, Renault and Bond were more singular.

However, whichever way you look, if you want to visit a steam and vintage country show which is as good as any I’ve been to this year for the mix of exhibits, then give Thurlow a try. Elsewhere in Suffolk, Woolpit in early June is better because of the age of its exhibits, but Thurlow is truly representative of the East Anglian rally scene.