Ryhope Pumping Station - August 26th

It was fantastic weather for the North East Military Vehicle Club show at Ryhope pumping station, unusual for a Bank Holiday! I took "Jessie", still in the Ordnance Depot markings for a different look to usual. It was a nice drive over through the country lanes, but not too far, only about 12 miles away from home.
Despite the good weather, numbers were down again on last year, with around twenty vehicles there. On the previous day, which I was unable to attend, there was only one Jeep. A three day 1940's weekend at Whitby is the most likely cause of the lack of WW2 vehicles, but there seemed to be a lack of support from the club's own members.
There were still some interesting vehicles on show, some of which had travelled some distance to attend. I parked up on the far side of the pump house in the same spot as last year, partly under the shade of the trees. Along with my Jeep were Land Rovers and Champs.
On the other side of the pump house, there were mainly post war vehicles with some armour. A number of these vehicles were significantly covered in camo-nets. It puzzled me a little, bringing your vehicle to a show and then hiding it under a camo-net! It wasn't until later in the day when people were packing up, that I was able to get some photos and actually see the vehicles.
On a few weekends a year, the steam powered Victorian beam engine water pumps are operated, and this was one of those weekends. I took some video of the engines running last year which can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-b91qF60nU A few more vehicles were also parked up under the trees on the entrance road. By late afternoon, everyone was packing up and as the Champs and Land Rovers next to "Jessie" queued up to get out, I tagged on the back of the convoy.
I only have a couple of days free and then on Thursday, we're off to Beamish open air museum to set up the tents for the four days of "Dig for Victory".

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