RW Thomson 56th Memorial Rally - 29th June

Unfortunately this year this very popular event clashed with a new event - The North East Motor Show which took place at Aden Country Park.  Since some of our members live closer to there than Stonehaven, a few people decided to visit the new show instead of the RW Thomson Rally.

Nonetheless, 13 members brought their cars along to Mineralwell Park in Stonehaven for the 56th R W Thomson Memorial Rally, celebrating Robert William Thomson who was born in Stonehaven on 29th June 1822 and was the true inventor of the pneumatic tyre. Contrary to popular belief, Dunlop was not the inventor and while he did produce and patent a bicycle tyre in 1888, it was eventually confirmed by the patent office that RW Thomson had produced and patented a pneumatic tyre some time before on December 10th 1845.   

Those of you who are old enough to remember the long hot summer of 1976 may well recall the headline in the Sun "Phew what a Scorcher!" - this would equally have applied today as well with sweltering temperatures! There was always a very long queue at the ice cream stand.....

The event attracted many car clubs, individuals, lorries, buses, tractors and commercials and given that the weather on the day was fantastic, a huge crowd was also in attendance.  There was the traditional short road run around lunchtime which enabled the public to see the vehicles underway, although many of the entrants decided to just sit in the sunshine and watch the World go by! 

Another brilliant event which was well attended and attracted so many entries that this year it was spread over 2 fields rather than the one main field used in previous years.