The next event is steaming in!

Hello again. Thought I’d update you on what I’ve been up to since my last blog, sorry it’s been a little while – busy, busy, busy :o)

I’ve worked my socks off and managed to co-ordinate the logistics of getting the world’s smallest passenger carrying paddle steamer the Medina Monarch over from the Isle of Wight.

With the help of Wightlink providing free ferry crossings and Serco Denholm providing free boat lifting into the harbour via Portsmouth Naval Base we are good to go!

It took some doing but I think having the Medina Monarch at Celebration of Steam offering free trips into the harbour; basically doing the Gosport Ferry loop (without stopping) every half and hour, (subject to the weather) for 12 passengers at a time will show how beautifully she is engineered and will add a great deal to the event.

Another treat for you that is now confirmed to attend is Robert Coles, Sons & Daughter of Shaftesbury, Dorset’s Showman’s engine Quo Vadis (‘Whither Goest Thou’). This was the first and only Showman’s Engine to ever travel to the Southern Hemisphere and back again!

Find out more about Quo Vadis’s history at Celebration of Steam and see her powering our traditional chair-o-plane ride.

Also Ralf Cook’s 1947 portable saw mill is back this year along with Les and Dee Searle’s 1901 Fowler 8nhp Road Locomotive and Crane engine "The Great North". They will be doing live demonstrations of how logs would have been craned onto the saw mill and cut into planks within the dockyard.
For the sausage part of the event we have the world famous O’Hagan’s Sausages of Sussex joining us. They are planning to delight us with a variety of different sausages, one of which will be the Trafalgar 200 sausage which is 90% pork with a hint of Pusser’s Rum for the sailors and a touch of garlic to remind the French who won the battle!

So don’t miss our O’Hagan’s Sausage BBQ, Real Ale and Cider area in Port Arena of HMS Victory.

Still lots to do and things are definitely moving quickly, so expect more frequent blogs as Celebration of Steam draws nearer and nearer!