Shuttleworth and Rugby (23/8)

For those of you with a more mechanical frame of mind, a trip to the Shuttleworth collection would be well worth while.

A copy of the Wright plane which still flies!

This is a private collection of old planes, cars, bikes, etc. Its origins arose from a tragic accident. Richard Shuttleworth was born in 1909 and from an early age was interested in all things mechanical. He inherited the Old Warden Park estate which allowed him to pursue his interests in agriculture and forestry. He was the first to use a combine harvester in England, and was able to spend his leisure time buying and restoring old cars, and then aircraft to working order. These became the nucleus of the collection. He joined the RAF at the outbreak of the war, but was killed in a flying accident in 1940. His mother, grief-stricken at his death, decided to turn the estate into a charitable trust in his memory, and that it should be used for education in the sciences and practices of aviation and agriculture.

A Spitfire undergoing restoration

We visited the aeronautical part of the exhibition which consists of about 7 hangars each with between 10 and 20 aircraft. These range from replicas of machines such as that flown by the Wright brothers through to a spitfire (currently being restored). Most of the aircraft are airworthy and appear in airshows held both at the site and elsewhere during the year. The day we were there four of them flew at various times. Some of the original aircraft are the only examples left so they are very valuable. There are about 3000 members of the group which restores, maintains, and flies these craft, and of course they have been called on from time to time to play a part in period films such as Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines. It is a fascinating collection. We saw a number of the old motor-bikes and cars, as well as a traction engine which had spent most of its life in Australia, but our schedule limited us to a quick look. Obviously a place to go back to next time.

The reason for the tight schedule is that Terry and Wendy are avid rugby fans, and they wanted to go to the friendly game between their team, “the Bedford Blues” and Ealing. Neither of us have ever been to a rugby game, so it was a new experience. By the time the match had finished we were starting to get the hang of how the game worked. The weather was superb, and so it was a great afternoon to watch the game and with only a hundred or so supporters we were reasonably close to the action. All this didn't help the Bedford team though unfortunately, and not even Terry's booming voice.

We went to pick up their son's car from Luton airport (they found out at the last minute that trains weren't running and prices for parking at Luton were similar to Tullamarine or even worse – you even have to pay to pick up passengers).