Wayland Men's Shed

The February Outing: Shuttleworth Collection – Biggleswade – 25th February
We had two cars, Al Middleton and Malcolm Trayhorn kindly drove. The weather was foggy when we left Watton but turned into a glorious spring day. We left Watton around 09:15 and agreed to meet onsite. NB: I would suggest taking care when trusting a car Satnav, as if the maps are old there is a good chance that you might go the wrong way and be later than your friends
Onsite there was a nice café, and as the weather was glorious, we chose to sit outside. As the journey times were somewhat different for the two cars, some of the group enjoyed more than one coffee.”
Upon arrival I made myself known to Luke White, the Group Liaison Manager. The Shuttleworth Collection Established by Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth and now maintained and cared for by the Shuttleworth Trust, the Shuttleworth Collection is a treasure trove of airworthy vintage aircraft from 1909-1950, as well as historical agricultural and steam exhibits, veteran cars, classic motorcycles, bicycles, vintage buses and carriages. Museums have curators, Shuttleworth has engineers. Unlike a static museum, almost all of our Collection aircraft fly (including Edwardian aircraft, like the 1909  Blériot) and our vehicles, motorbikes, buses and steam exhibits run. Visitors can see the team at work in our Engineering Workshop, as well as experiencing these machines on the ground and in the air at many Shuttleworth events.
Adjacent to the Collection, there was a Swiss Garden. The Swiss Garden is a unique example of a Regency garden in the ‘Swiss Picturesque’ or ‘Alpine’ style forming part of the Grade II* registered Old Warden Park. An RHS Partner Garden, this stunning space is home to a range of overflowing ponds, bridges, quirky structures, resident peacocks and Champion trees.
After this informative meet & greet, and with refreshments over, we agreed to meet back at the Café at 14:00 and made our way to reception. Where we scanned our group digi ticket and separated into smaller groups to view both the Collection and the Swiss Garden. Note: We could freely use our tripods, but to be aware of other visitors. An excellent Collection to visit, the hangers all had that proper oily smell of working engines, and the Gardens were a hidden gem on a day full of beautiful sunshine. A grand day out – and we passed our thanks to Luke and his Team. We will all recommend this to family and friends for a future visit.
By 14:30 we had regrouped and made our way to a pub recommended by David. The Kings Reach on the Potton Road, Biggleswade, where we found both the service and food were excellent. Highly recommended.
Upon returning home, I opened the ‘Best Photograph of the day competition’ to all Shutterists that made this trip. An invitation was sent out to the group to submit their images to me which would subsequently be forwarded to a suitable judge. I invited John Pepper, who unfortunately could not make the trip, to be our judge. The group submitted a total of 7x images, so I requested a judgement by John for his top 3, awarding Gold, Silver & Bronze. The result of his deliberations follow below.
A big congratulations to the winners and are shown below with their images. All other images will be shown in the Shutterists Album for February – and will accompany the Journal.