THE Launceston Steam and Vintage Engine Rally, held over the spring bank holiday weekend, has seen large crowds and good weather.

The rally is traditionally held over the spring bank holiday and attracts numerous steam engine lovers and visitors each year.

There are a number of attractions and the rally’s aim is to ‘produce a show that celebrates the quality and magnificence of steam and vintage engines.’

This year’s event was no exception and there were large crowds who came out to enjoy the steam rally in the sunshine.

Chairman Matthew Garrett said: “It has gone very, very well, the weather has been fantastic. On Saturday the sun was shining and I think we must have had around 4,000 visitors, if not more, come and visit and at a rough guess we have probably had a few thousand more since then.

“This year’s Steam and Vintage Rally has been good, with more attractions and larger crowds, even though we were having to compete with other events.

“It has all gone really well this year and it is great to see that it has all just worked thanks to the effort put in by everyone involved.”

The event was raising money for local charities, and this year the main benefactor will be the Launceston Voluntary First Aid group. They are solely made up of volunteers and rely on donations to continue providing the service.

Matthew said: “We are a large event and as a result are able to give a larger donation. This money will help the first aiders, who do the job completely voluntarily, to purchase new equipment and be used to continue providing the service.

“They are a relatively newly formed group, but they provided the first aid requirements at our event this year. An event the size of the steam rally needs to have trained first aiders in case of emergency.

“Because we are a large event, that draws in a large crowd, and makes a decent amount of money, we are able to give a lot back to charity groups, like the first aid team, as a way of thanking them for all the hard work they do, not only for us but for the town.”

Plans are already underway for next year’s show, with hopes they are able to recreate, and top, the success of 2016’s Launceston Steam and Vintage Engine Rally.

Matthew added: “A lot of people put a lot of effort in to putting on this event and it is nice when it works out.

“It is always a shame when the weather puts pay to all the hard work put in by the team, but this year we were very lucky indeed to have wonderful weather, which certainly attracted large crowds and it was good to see people happy, smiling and enjoying themselves. We hope next year’s event is just as successful.”