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Edenbridge & Oxted
Agricultural Show - Blindley Heath
- August 2023
Report
by Bozi Mohacek
Edenbidge and
Oxted Show takes place at the Ardenrun Showground, just off the A22 at
Blindley Heath, over two days of the August Bank Holiday. It is generally
attended by some 40,000 people over the Sunday and Monday, and is primarily
a Country Show dedicated to country pursuits. It has a large section devoted
to farm animals and to the showing and judging thereof. It also has a very
large section devoted to farm machinery and all things farming. The photo
above was taken in the year 2000, since which time the size of the Show has
grown.
Association between the Show and Surrey Vintage Vehicle Society started
when the Show moved from Edenbridge to the present site at Blindley Heath.
The Historic Vehicle section of the Show was very poorly attended and was
about to be removed. The Show Chairman asked a local resident Bozi Mohacek,
who he knew was a member of the SVVS, if he could take the section over and
revitalise it. Bozi, family, and neighbours, subsequently ran the Historic
Vehicle Display for about fifteen years, assisted by local resident
Tony Oakes. In those days all keeping of all the paperwork and records of
attendants, sending out all the invitations, selecting cars and
subsequently sending out the entry packages, as well as on the day
marshalling organisation and lunchtime get-together, was done by Bozi and
family.
Members of the Surrey Vintage Vehicle Society were initially the main
providers of vehicles to the show when the car enclosure was at the back of
the ground near the furriers. The enclosure was limited by size to about 40
cars on each of the two days. The Historic Vehicle Display was an Invitation
Only event so it had a guaranteed number of exhibitors. One day was reserved
strictly for Classic Cars and the other day strictly for Vintage Cars, and
there was no room for duplications of models. Running on this format the Historic
Vehicle Section became a great success and show car spaces were considerably
oversubscribed. It was eventually decided to move the Historic Vehicle
Section to its current location beside the main entrances. This coincided
with Bozi leaving and going on to become the Chairman and later President of the Surrey
Vintage Vehicle Society. Tony Oakes, who is also the SVVS Hon Tres, has
remained as one of the principal organisers of Historic Vehicle
Displayassisting Davids Booker, also SVVS..
Change of location moved the cars near the tractors and allowed much more
space for expansion. There are now basically no limitations to number of
cars. At that time both tractor and car sections did a drive-past in the
main show ring but logistics of moving a vast number of automobiles though
crowded public walkways was considered a potential hazard, so the car parade
was cancelled. The Farm Machinery parade continues.
The quantities of automobiles attending has subsequently grown to almost
twice the number, with cars assembled in a number of smaller separate rings.
The vehicle attendance at the show is by pre-registration only and requires the
vehicles to be on-site before the general public arrives, and to leave when
the public has left. |
