Author: Paul Gallagher

THE NORTHERN VINTAGE TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION

Monthly Newsletter June 2020

Founded 1977

President & Club Chairman
Ernie Hutchinson, 60 Brompton Court, Brompton on Swale, North Yorkshire, DL10 7SB Tel:01748 810362
Club Secretary
Mavis Bailey, 86 Geneva Crescent, Darlington, Co Durham, DL1 4LA
Membership Secretary
Mavis Bailey, 86 Geneva Crescent, Darlington Co Durham, DL1 4LA Tel:01325 359114
Club Treasurer
Maureen Briggs
20 Salters Lane, South Darlington, DL1 2AD
Newsletter
Elaine Storey, 15 Cleveland View, Coundon, Bishop Auckland, Co Durham, DL14 8NE Tel:01388 609666

Meetings are held at Middleton St George Cricket Club, Water View, Darlington DL2 1JQ
At 19.30 the third Wednesday each month
When we are able .

Hello everyone I hope you are all staying well. Summer is here but the shows are not. We have just missed Newby Hall and Corbridge this weekend. The only show I know that is still planning to go ahead is Hunton Steam Gathering. They are asking you to send in your entry form by 1st Aug. If show goes ahead you will need to be booked in.
As far as I know pubs and clubs might reopen on the 4th July . If this is the case I hope to have a club night in July. I will let you know in next months newsletter.
In the meantime if any of you have any items for newsletter or just a way of keeping in touch please ring or email Elaine or Mavis. Stay safe. All the best
Ernie.
Ernie.
Ernie.

THE NORTHERN VINTAGE TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION
NEWSLETTER FOR JUNE
WE HAVE NO CLUB NIGHT FOR THE FORESEABLE FUTURE
You can now find us on Face book search for
The Northern Vintage Transport Association.
Don’t forget we also have a website where you will find pictures of events we have been to and events we have held at the club nights.
www.tnvta.co.uk
Hello and welcome to your monthly newsletter. Not a lot of news this month with lots of shows cancelled. Hope we are winning this fight against the Covid 19 virus and every one is doing their bit to keep those fatality figures down.
Stay safe.
We are publishing this ghost story sent to us by Keith Kitching. Thank you for taking the time to send us your story.
Keith had intended this to be a two part story and may have to be to fit newsletter. Don’t be disappointed we will print remainder next month.
This was held on 15th January and was the AGM. Whilst it wasn’t vey well attended the members present all appeared happy with the way the club is being run.
.
.
.

. Ghostly Going-ons in the Scarborough Fair Collections & Vintage Transport Museum
Are you sitting comfortably, then I will begin with a bit of history background to my story. It was in the summer of 2015 when I first made several visits to a local museum which was at that time called the Scarborough Fair Collection. I needed to take a few photos to go alongside an article I was writing about the museum which was going to be published in a well-known vintage transport magazine. I’ve always had a passion for old vehicles whether they have two wheels or four and after only a few visits to the museum I caught the ‘nostalgia bug’ good and proper. This infliction has only got worse over the last four years or so and I don’t think there is a cure for it.
As the months went by different members of the volunteer staff at the museum had told me of strange things going on in various parts of the building which there was no explanation for. I listened but like most folk I passed these comments off as just a bit of fun. That was until one day when I saw something for myself which I could not say exactly what it was
Now the SFC&VTM is a huge museum complex which is home to lots of vintage vehicles and has a large collection of working vintage fairground rides and side shows. When it is closed and you are on your own it can feel a bit spooky in there at the best times. On that February day it was very cold, with a lot of wind noise and not much in the way of daylight.

The museum complex consists of four huge steel structured buildings which are linked together and the walls of each one tell their own different story while ‘blowing in the wind’. The museum’s ’shed four’ was no exception, in fact it is the closest one to the cliff top and that day the steel sheeting on the walls of the building were banging about quite a lot.
Anyway at the back of ‘shed four’ there is a single entrance door which, before the shed was built had been an external fire door out of ‘shed two’.
Where was I, oh yes, I had been given access to the museum and went into it on my own. I made my way from the fitting shop, into ‘shed two’, past the ‘Golden Gallopers’ roundabout, the vintage motorcycles and cars, then to the door from ‘shed two’ and into the back of ‘shed four’. From that door I could see past the line of commercial vehicles to where my little coach was parked and as soon as I opened the door I saw a dark shadow go from right to left across the shed. The only way I can describe what I saw is that it was like a ‘Pillar of Darkness’ (I just thought that one up, not bad eh). Whatever it was, it went behind the museum’s First World War 1916 Albion Troop Carrier lorry. There was no sound apart from the wind noise of the building itself, which everybody working in the museum is used to anyway. I remember thinking to myself, ‘oh dear, I wonder what that was’ or was it, ‘what the ‘f---lipping heck’ was that. I went to the coach, picked up what I had gone for and ‘legged it’ rapidly (remembering to close the emergency door behind me).

Staying with last year and two of the museum’s volunteers are a retired married couple. The Café and reception areas have paid staff, however the museum itself is operated by volunteers like me who are all about the same age. It’s a bit like working in the ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ at times. Which one is Compo? I’m not saying. One day during last summer, the male half of the aforementioned married couple was walking down ‘shed three’ and because they were going for their lunch break his wife was waiting for him. He was very surprised (to say the least) when his wife asked him if he knew there had been a dark shadow (could it have been the Pillar of Darkness?) following him down the shed. After following him for a while the shadow simply disappeared. He wasn’t bothered and neither was his wife, because as they said, ‘whatever it was, it couldn’t hurt them’. However like me, the aforementioned lady now says hello to Tommy as well whenever she enters ‘shed four’
Once again after that day all was as normal until Friday (11th of October), when I had another encounter with the ‘Pillar of Darkness’ (I do like that).
To be continued.!!!!
And finally
What has eight wheels and flys.?.........
A Bin Wagon.

DATES FOR YOU DIARY
2020
12th/13th Sept Hunton Steam Gathering
Sun 20th Sept NVTA Gathering
Friday 18th Dec Christmas Party.
EXPRESS DELIVERIES,ANYWHERE,ANYTIME
Car and Motorcycle Transport
GEOFF BAYLES TRANSPORT
Phone 01388 720362 or 0796340447
EXPRESS DELIVERIES,ANYWHERE,ANYTIME
Car and Motorcycle Transport
GEOFF BAYLES TRANSPORT
Phone 01388 720362 or 0796340447
.
Dates for you Diary.
June 8th /9th Tractorfest Newby Hall
June 15th Srutton Village Fete.
29th /30th June Preston Park Fire Engine Rally
July 6th/7th Duncombe Park

WWW.TNVTA.CO.UK

WWW.TNVTA.CO.UK