About Enfield Pageant Of Motoring
Motoring Pageant raising fund to supporting the upkeep of Whitewebbs Museum of Transport.
Enfield Pageant Of Motoring Description
History of The Enfield Pageant of Motoring
The first Enfield Pageant of Motoring came about in 1978 due to Beer and Rain! For many years the Enfield and District Veteran Vehicle Society held small events in and around the Enfield area. The Society was formed in 1961 by a group of like-minded people interested in saving and preserving old vehicles. In the early 1960s three vehicles were saved from the scrapyard. So many early commercials were being scrapped it was a tribute to the early members that these were saved. The cost of owning and preserving the vehicles was high and to meet the expense small events were staged. Through donations at fetes and public entry fees at rallies a small fund was built up to help restore the club vehicles. Fund raising was always a problem, there was never enough in the bank!
The club decided to hold a rally on a farm in Buckhurst Hill, Essex. RainAmerican fell and fell and fell! The takings were small and the farmer who owned the field decided to sue the club for severe ground damage. The solicitors involved advised the club that the members and officers were liable. Settlement was reached and the club formed a Society, constituted under the Friendly Societies Act, to protect its officers. The Society took over the running of the events but with a major disadvantage. The members and officers could no longer be held liable, but the taxman wanted 45% of the profit! Every year a cheque was raised to pay the tax, but members felt they paid enough tax at work and did not want to pay more tax on the back of their hobby. In the mid 1970s the Society had reached an all time low. Every year rain fell on every event it organised and funds to keep the vehicles going were not sufficient. A figure of £100 was difficult to raise for tyres, repairs, etc. For the Society to continue more funding for the vehicles was paramount. Dry, safe storage was also vital as the vehicles were stored under tarpaulins. A new committee emerged at the Society's AGM in November 1976. The need to increase funding and provide adequate vehicle storage was at the top of the agenda. But, the taxman was still demanding 45% and the rain was still falling at every event. A proposal to create a museum by funding a bigger new event was adopted. The status of the Society was enhanced by the formation of a Charitable Trust to operate alongside. The tax problem was solved charities do not pay tax! !
London Buses A bigger event needed more funds to stage it. No funds were available in the Trust. It was decided to appeal for funds through a Grand Draw (a raffle). A recently discovered Armstrong Siddeley 20hp Limousine was put on a trailer and taken to Alexander Palace. A beer festival was in progress and CAMRA, the organisers, were kind enough to allow the vehicle (with its door hanging off) into the hall where tickets were sold in a draw. Huge support was given by the public and a profit of £685 was made after the prizes were paid. With £685 in the bank, the Enfield Pageant of Motoring and Collectors Bazaar was launched. The London Borough of Enfield were very supportive and granted permission for the Enfield Playing Fields to be used for the Pageant. The only condition imposed was that the event must be held in May and have the word "Enfield" in the title. Advertisements were placed in all of the national magazines and local press.
Around 500 vehicles and 50 stalls were expected to attend the first two-day event. Stalls were £7 for one day and £10 for two days. Over 100 stallholders booking in and more turned up on the day. 600 exhibitors turned up, with vehicles ranging from a steam engine to a Rolls Royce. The weather was very hot and the public attended in huge number. At the end of the weekend the first Enfield Pageant had taken more money and made more profit than the previous twenty years of the old Society. No rain, no tax and a good event, now established that the prospect of a future museum was now more than just a dream.
Reviews
Morris Minors at the Lone star toys - Dinky toys exhibition at the Museum today,
Coming up at the museum 30th September.
toy exhibition
Lovely day out!
A nostalgic enjoyable time for all ages!
Had an excellent day , plenty to see , great live music & the cars what can i say some of the best on display for years. Well done 👍 well worth the £10 entrance fee .
Great day out, well organised, clean toilets. Lovely stalls and good size funfair. Can’t wait to go back next year 👍
Brilliant weekend. Shame loads of the stalls and cars went home saterday.i was showing my military vechile and was tbere for the 3 days ok i went home every night but came back the next day even had a breakdpwn but got the old girl going again to take het on monday. If people do that every year reduce the entry price on a monday tp £5.00 as theres only half the stalls and vechiles there. But a good weekend in all.
Awesome event, lovely cars. Can't wait to work the event again with Viking Security Ltd.
A fab day out with lots for all the family!
£5 to get in. Was told on door a lot of stalls gone. Didn't matter sat watched a band had a beer brilliant weather. Every one in good spirits. A great day
Lovely day out, more toilets required though!!
I enjoyed the vintage cars and the vintage dresses x
Fun day out could do with a bit more better organising and more toilet facilities
Need bigger areas that are enclosed to cater for visitors that may be caught in the rain
Exhibitors are very friendly and if you have interest in classics they are very good information —— predominantly British cars and American not enough German cars and parts
Been going to the Enfield Pageant about 10 years now a lot less. Cars than past on display but still a good day out Saturday is the best day Monday don’t bother cars leave early plenty of stalls. To look at .
We've been going for a few years and have always enjoyed it. Our daughter is always super excited when we tell her it's coming up. This year we went on the Monday - with some trepidation having read reviews from previous years that cars on show seem to be a lot fewer on the Monday. This is definitely the case. Plenty of stalls and the motorbike display was good but many of the car sections were half empty. Sort it out folks - either drop the price on Monday or encourage more owners to exhibit. The funfair rides were very high priced as well. Will be back next year - but on Sunday !!
I went along last year on the Sunday with my family and we all had a great time even though the weather wasn't brilliant so I went out of my way this year to go along. I went along on Monday morning arriving around 10.30 and the place was half empty. Cars were trickling in but even though we had to leave at 1 there wasn't anywhere near as many as normal. We paid the full £10 to get in and I felt that that was too much given the poor turnout of exhibitors - last year it was worth every penny. There needs to be some thought given to what people are paying for, £10 to see a two thirds empty show was unacceptable. The lady on the ticket desk was less than helpful and didn't even acknowledge that it wasn't what it should be. Please fix for next year as this was a great show last year which seems to have taken a turn for the worse.
Enjoyed the cars etc but the children's slide had no health and safety at all my son fell off hurting his leg and head and the woman running it didn't even look or ask if he was ok spoiled a good day out as he couldn't walk round anymore
What a load of shit.
Got to be the worst £10 ever spent. Used to be such a good event, now it's just full of rubbish and is just a glorified car boot.
Went today as i have every year,im starting to wonder if they are charging the sellers too much for their pitches,as everything they are selling is top money and above.i appreciate some things are rare,and that is understandably priced,but that only covers 10% of the items on offer.the sellers wont even budge on prices.look forward to this every year,but i think it will eventually dwindle away due to price increases
Really disappointed with the show today - a lot of pitches for stalls were empty and there was no where near as many cars there as last year either.
I got there around mid day and thought the £10 entry fee was overpriced and think a reduced rate should have been introduced.
I spoke with one of the so called organisers and she was quite rude and said that even though "38 stalls" had left on Sunday they still felt it warranted the £10 per person entry fee!
I therefore won't be attending this show again.
£10 to look at the rusty contents of somebody old shed. 👎🏼
On the plus side, some very cool cars to look at, if you can leap of limbo the hundreds of fences.
I went to enfield pagent today was charged full price to get in yet there were hardly any stalls the ones that were there were packing up and a lot of the cars had gone. I have been going there for 19 years and I'm really disappointed in how bad it's got. When it's like that they should charge less on a Monday as it is a rip off.