Report: Paul Connolly

Scarisbrick's Heatons Bridge Inn has become established -courtesy of proprietors Steve and Jacqui Winrow- as the host to half-yearly events at which a range of military vehicles and equipment are gathered together and displayed by the enthusiasts who restore and maintain them.

And the military vehicle group there is now recognised as a formal ‘Mid-Lancs’ Area of the national Military Vehicle Trust (MVT) organisation in this, its 50th anniversary year.

It's assembling for the first of the half yearly events for 2018 (the crank-up’) on the weekend of 5th-6th May and this is its first event in its form as a new MVT Area (‘Mid-Lancs (Heatons Bridge) MVT Area 53’). The event was originally planned for 7th-8th April but the constant rain rendered the field unusable and the event has had to be postponed to 5th – 6th May - we are now hoping for some better weather over the next few weeks so that the field can dry out a bit!

The group comprises a number of like-minded enthusiasts from regions such as Merseyside, Cheshire, and South Cumbria/North Lancs, all with interests in preserving and renovating military vehicles & equipment of different ages. It takes the opportunity to display these along with associated militaria at various shows and events across the Area including the half yearly gatherings at Heatons Bridge.

The April event this year was also expecting to include a small re-enactors camp display of the American 82nd Airborne Division but with its postponement due to weather there will just be a short representative visit by one of the re-enactors as the group is committed elsewhere for the May dates.

Anyone with a military/military-related vehicle or camp display is more than welcome to join us and camp over for the weekend. (Participants are reminded that it will be their own responsibility to provide first aid kits and fire extinguishers as appropriate with their vehicles/displays as there are no central provisions for this).

It is a family friendly event and members of the public are more than welcome to come and see the displays and chat with the participants and there are no entry fees (just remember to bring some wellies as the weather leading up to this event has been wet and the field may possibly still be somewhat muddy depending on the extent to which the weather improves and allows the field to dry out!).
Contact details are on the ‘flyer’ for the event if you have any questions.

The Heatons Bridge Inn is a friendly country pub with open fires, a great range of real ales, and hearty good food. The menu descriptions and ale names are usually ‘adjusted’ for the event to reflect the military theme and ‘spam fritters’ have been known to be specially added to the menu!!

The vehicles which typically attend include numerous World War 2 vehicles such as the iconic Willys, Ford, and Austin Champ Jeeps, military Dodge, Morris, and Austin staff cars and the ‘Whistling Reo’ 2 1/2 ton truck which is pictured at the top of the event ‘Flyer’. The vehicles are not however confined to WW2 exhibits. They include vehicles of all eras including post-WW2 Hotchkiss jeeps, Land-rovers in various configurations, Bedford RL 4 ton trucks, armoured personnel carriers (including a Saracen which has served in Northern Ireland and Korea), military motorbikes, and military staff cars. Previous years have also seen the predecessor to the Reo - the ‘Jimmy’ (GMC CCKW) 2 1/2ton truck, Daimler Ferret scout cars, and Green Goddess fire engines.

Fulwood local Jonny Newbould is the group’s mechanical maestro who has a vast knowledge of these vehicles and is often called upon to help with field repairs when things go unexpectedly wrong with some of these temperamental vehicles. Last year, he also finished a superb complete rebuild of a period Morris saloon car (soft top) for his wife Susie. He has another commitment on the new May dates for the event but it might be able to put in another appearance at the crank-down event in September if circumstances and weather permit.

Merseyside local Kevin Reilly is a member of the group and owns an extensive personal collection of military exhibits which includes a ‘mighty Howitzer’ field gun with associated crew-bus, an Abbot self propelled gun with its Mighty Antar tank transporter, a couple of Diamond T’s, a Swiss Saurer 4ton truck and a range of other trucks and smaller vehicles. One of these is the Landrover fire tender pictured on the event ‘flyer’. Because of the logistics of transporting such a range of vehicles, we never know exactly what he will be able to bring along but as he regularly seems to add yet another vehicle to his collection we are always prepared for the occasional surprise! He normally attends another event on the new May dates for the crank-up so it is not yet certain whether he will be able to bring his vehicles along this time round.

Members’ displays include a range of militaria including various firearms, bayonets and other weapons, uniforms, radio equipment and field equipment. A regular part of the display is also a 25 pounder field gun rig belonging to Frank and Angela Brown (our Area Secretary) who run Pegasus WW2 Displays – a company which specialises in British Army uniforms, equipment and memorabilia, and undertakes educational displays for schools and businesses. They also carry out display firings of their 25 pounder at various venues across the region. Their field display comprises a Morris Commercial C8 Quad tractor unit, which tows an ammunition limber behind, and the field gun itself behind that! Frank and Angela provide demonstrations of the team operation of the field gun at the Heatons Bridge events (but without the black-powder in deference to the horses in the adjacent field). At one event they took their entire 3 part rig across the off-road hill course at Burscough airfield. This was quite something to see with the three linked units twisting to various different angles independently as they travelled over the hill!!
Blundellsands locals Dale and Dean Sawyer bring their really well restored Hotchkiss jeep to the event and organise a ‘road run’ for any vehicles that wish to join in around the Saturday lunchtime period. This is a convoy of military vehicles out onto the public roads along a route set up by and led by Dale and Dean with a halfway stop at a suitable establishment for refreshments or ice-cream before returning to the Heatons Bridge campsite. The run typically extends for around 2 hours and attracts friendly waves and cheers from unsuspecting bystanders at the roadsides when they see the line of vehicles passing by.

The Inn itself is located on the canal at Heatons Bridge and Steve and Jacqui Winrow have retained the World War 2 freestanding brick pillbox which formed part of the home-guard defence provisions on the grounds. It is planned to set up a small home guard display inside the pillbox again to give some feel for what it might have been like for a soldier to have had to ‘hole up’ there.

The group sets up the site on the Friday and the event then runs through the whole of the Saturday (when participants usually join in with a quiz and some Karaoke in the pub in the evening), and runs through to lunchtime on the Sunday. There is no charge, so why not come along and share the atmosphere of a Military Display for free with the enthusiasts who would be pleased to answer any questions you may have?”