Raynham Day

Vintage vehicles and old farming methods displayed at the first Raynham Country Fayre.

The film opens with a shot of the Raynham Day 1962 souvenir programme with history of exhibits. A close-up of the black and white photograph of Raynham Hall is followed by the same scene with the colourful Raynham Day activities in the foreground. A succession of vintage cars parade around the grounds led by a vehicle disguised as a large dinosaur and a Stone Age car inspired by The Flintstones, a US series popular at the time. Other vehicles include a steam car, a miniature steam engine pulling carriages of passengers, and a vintage lorry and fire engine. The vintage vehicles drive around the park where marquees are set up and groups picnic on the grass. Heavy horses pull a wagon. People ride on the roundabout gallopers and a boy rides a mini steam engine. Various large steam traction engines are shown moving slowly around the grounds. Crowds watch demonstrations of steam and horse ploughing and threshing of harvest unloaded from a horse-drawn wagon. Grain is poured into sacks and the straw is forked into stacks. The horses are well turned out with plaited manes and tails and brasses on their harnesses. The sound track is fairground organ music which drops out in places and is probably not as originally intended by the film maker.

Featured Buildings

Raynham Hall, Norfolk

Featured Events

Raynham Day 1962

Keywords

Country fairs; steam fairs; vintage cars; steam engines; traction engines; steam power; farming; heavy horses

Background Information

This event was held in September 1962 and was the first of what became the annual Raynham Day Country Fayre (as noted in souvenir programme 1963). The event became associated with Dick Joice. The Flintstones US animated sitcom 1960 - 1966 was shown on UK television then broadcasting in black and white. In the US, Dino the pet dinosaur was known to be a pink/purple colour, but at this event the dinosaur is green.