We are now on Facebook! Look for our group Wicksteed Park Model Boat Club
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WICKSTEED PARK MBC WELCOMES YOU BACK!
Wicksteed Park Model Boat Club are back and actively sailing. Our current group sailing days are Thursday and Sunday 10am to 1pm Next Event: Evening Sail Friday 23rd August 2024 6:30pm Come and see the model boats lit up for an evening of sailing with bacon/sausage baps and coffee & cake Parking is on the tarmac area at the Arena but after 6:30pm |
WICKSTEED PARK MBC EVENING MEETINGS ARE BACK!
The fortnightly meetings enjoyed by all are being restarted by popular demand and we are welcomed back to: The Stirrup Cup Public House, Barton Seagrave, NN15 6QR Next Meeting: Monday 19th August 2024 7pm |
Welcome to Wicksteed Park MBC
Wicksteed Park Model Boat Club restarted as a club in February 2005, however there has been a model boat club based at Wicksteed Park since the early 1920s. Originally called ‘Wicksteed Model Yacht & Power Boat Club the boats have changed from vane yachts and pole racing I/C powered boats to scale boats with Marblehead style yachts. The original hard standings for the yachts and the pole support are still visible in the lake after 90 years. The club has over 60 members each with their own taste in model boats varying from the Victoria yachts to 8ft long scale warships.
For the club members and regular visitors who know the site we have placed some quick links below to pages that are used most relating to outside events that the club attends. They will be left here for a short while after the event and then transferred to the recent events section of the site.
WICKSTEED 100
Since 1921
May 31st 2021 celebrates the 100th anniversary of the opening of the park by Charles Wicksteed. Whilst Covid has prevented the grand celebration that the park wished to organise, we have, and will, take part in smaller scale events throughout the year.
Watch this space for the special centenary events planned.
As part of this magnificent achievement Wicksteed Park Model Boat Club also celebrates its 100th anniversary of the first model boat meeting/sail on the then newly completed lake at Wicksteed Park. The model boat lake we use is a result of the popularity of model boat sailing within the park from 1921.
Since 1921
May 31st 2021 celebrates the 100th anniversary of the opening of the park by Charles Wicksteed. Whilst Covid has prevented the grand celebration that the park wished to organise, we have, and will, take part in smaller scale events throughout the year.
Watch this space for the special centenary events planned.
As part of this magnificent achievement Wicksteed Park Model Boat Club also celebrates its 100th anniversary of the first model boat meeting/sail on the then newly completed lake at Wicksteed Park. The model boat lake we use is a result of the popularity of model boat sailing within the park from 1921.
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Blackpool Model Show 2023
With the International Model Boat Show no longer in existence we decided that we would apply to display at the Blackpool Model Show held in the Norbreck Castle Hotel. Five members travelled to the West coast on Friday 13th October to set up for the weekend with seven of our best models to show to the modelling community. The weekend revealed some truly spectacular models, and not just model boats, the show included tanks, railways, trucks, and aircraft -there were fifteen traders in attendance with 34 clubs (including us!) and 9 individual exhibitors. The club chairman (Steve) was even awarded the 'Best Scratch Built Model' in show for his Train Ferry model which was a nice surprise. The show has been confirmed for 2024 so watch this space!
Keith Carey Memorial Shield 2022
2022 proved to be our best year yet for boats entered in the Keith Carey Memorial Shield event. 16 individual models were registered with about half the club placing their votes for their favourite model on display.
Winners were announced at the Club Christmas Dinner as follows:
1st Place John Crisp Ulysses Tug
2nd Place Sean Keown Ramone Di Larinada Liberty Ship
3rd Place John Mileson Laura Steam Launch
Winners were announced at the Club Christmas Dinner as follows:
1st Place John Crisp Ulysses Tug
2nd Place Sean Keown Ramone Di Larinada Liberty Ship
3rd Place John Mileson Laura Steam Launch
Keith Carey Memorial Shield 2021
Missing a year for obvious reasons, 13 boats were entered into the Keith Carey Memorial Shield event. The models are voted upon by the members of the club in a secret ballot and the three most voted for boats are revealed at the Christmas Dinner with the lucky winner being presented the shield. This year the quality of the models was supreme and was perhaps the most difficult to vote for. Many thanks to Roger Kirbyshire for organising the event and to Janet, Jan and Nicki for their excellent cakes.
Submarine Association Dive-In Day
Christmas Dinner 2019
It only seems like a few months since the 2018 Club Christmas Dinner and awards evening, but wow, how 12 months goes like these days!
An excellent evening of festive cheer with two invited guests to award the trophies this year, once again Maureen Carey and Pam Baker joined us to remember their beloved late husbands, and of course Paul Millers representing our late secretary and his dear wife Maureen. The food was provided by our excellent hosts at The Stirrup Cup and was enjoyed by all, I certainly enjoyed my Christmas Dinner!
As always the awards were kept secret until this particular evening to keep suspense to the last minute and there were some very happy faces to match.
The Keith Carey Memorial Shield was awarded to Clive Beard, with Andrew Belling in second and Nick Brown in third places. The Bob Baker Victoria Cup was awarded to Russ Tonkin for his E-boat scratch-build, and The Maureen Millers Cup (aka Chairman's Choice) was awarded to Eddie Lancaster for his tug and barge set at Warwick. A brilliant evening that many will remember for years to come, a big thank you to Jan Beard and her excellent team of ladies for organising the dinner.
An excellent evening of festive cheer with two invited guests to award the trophies this year, once again Maureen Carey and Pam Baker joined us to remember their beloved late husbands, and of course Paul Millers representing our late secretary and his dear wife Maureen. The food was provided by our excellent hosts at The Stirrup Cup and was enjoyed by all, I certainly enjoyed my Christmas Dinner!
As always the awards were kept secret until this particular evening to keep suspense to the last minute and there were some very happy faces to match.
The Keith Carey Memorial Shield was awarded to Clive Beard, with Andrew Belling in second and Nick Brown in third places. The Bob Baker Victoria Cup was awarded to Russ Tonkin for his E-boat scratch-build, and The Maureen Millers Cup (aka Chairman's Choice) was awarded to Eddie Lancaster for his tug and barge set at Warwick. A brilliant evening that many will remember for years to come, a big thank you to Jan Beard and her excellent team of ladies for organising the dinner.
International Model Boat Show 2019
It didn't seem like a year had passed since the IBMS 2018 and I'm sure that the 2020 show will soon be on us before we realise it!
This year we had a few changes to the club stand, the most notable which caused some serious interest from the visitors was Alan Burgess' underwater ROV/drone and footage from Wicksteed Park model boat lake. Some new models were on display from Richard Scrutton showing his fishing drifter based upon his families business from the last centruy, Eddie Lancaster had his beautiful tug and barges, and Richard Bridgeman added to his fantastic Tamar lifeboat his SLEC Sportsman. Once again Roger Clements showed the yesteryear of classic model boat building with his vintage collection, and the combined efforts of Ron & Sheila Kingdon and Steve & Nick Brown made up the 1/96 scale battlefleet of battleships and battlecruisers. Bill Traynor-Kean bought his latest models- a 1/48 scale pre-war torpedo boat (HMS Velox) and his armed drifter from WW2, whilst Nigel Marriott showed off his nicely finished HMS Goliath built from a Glynn Guest free-plan.
We were most surprised to place second in the best club stand this year and thank everyone for helping with the weekend. See you next year!
Many thanks to Alan Burgess for the pictures below:
This year we had a few changes to the club stand, the most notable which caused some serious interest from the visitors was Alan Burgess' underwater ROV/drone and footage from Wicksteed Park model boat lake. Some new models were on display from Richard Scrutton showing his fishing drifter based upon his families business from the last centruy, Eddie Lancaster had his beautiful tug and barges, and Richard Bridgeman added to his fantastic Tamar lifeboat his SLEC Sportsman. Once again Roger Clements showed the yesteryear of classic model boat building with his vintage collection, and the combined efforts of Ron & Sheila Kingdon and Steve & Nick Brown made up the 1/96 scale battlefleet of battleships and battlecruisers. Bill Traynor-Kean bought his latest models- a 1/48 scale pre-war torpedo boat (HMS Velox) and his armed drifter from WW2, whilst Nigel Marriott showed off his nicely finished HMS Goliath built from a Glynn Guest free-plan.
We were most surprised to place second in the best club stand this year and thank everyone for helping with the weekend. See you next year!
Many thanks to Alan Burgess for the pictures below:
Evening/Night Sails 2019
Our evening/night sails are usually held on the last Friday of each month between June and October to get the best from our boats. With the lights being fitted to some of the models we can get some spectacular displays. Janet and her team of ladies support the evening operations with bacon sandwiches, coffee, and some marvellous homemade cakes. Here is a selection of pictures from our last evening/night sail:
Keith Carey Memorial Shield Sailing Day 2019
Sunday 15th September was a beautiful day for a club sail to commemorate our sadly departed Chairman, Keith Carey. An excellent turn out of members and boats added to this serenity. A mix of scale and sail were entered in the competition, a record number of 18 registered club models could be voted for, which is brilliant to see. Everything from Victoria yachts to springer tugs shared the water together including a tiny Star Yacht SY3 which was free sailing around the lake for most of the day! Voting is a simple affair of choosing your three favoured models and this year was even more difficult to choose due to the excellent quality models on display. The lucky winner and runner-ups will be announced at the Club Christmas Dinner later this year.
Model Boat Mayhem at Wicksteed 2019
The Second May Bank Holiday weekend once again was the time of the Mayhem at Wicksteed model boat show jointly hosted by WPMBC and the Model Boat Mayhem Forum. The Saturday was a blaze of sunshine and light breezes allowing a fleet of 38 models to be on the water together! Five large scale battleships/battlecruisers from the war eras sailed to form the Wicksteed Squadron, whilst a welcome return of the I/C powered boats from Stevenage MBC put on an excellent demonstration on the water. Regular 'Mayhemer', Phil 'Steamboat-Phil' Abbott of Blackheath MBC with his friend Keith from Victoria MBC displayed the original model boat competition- straight running- using classic flash-steam powered runners. A flurry of 'Faireys' by Model Boat's contributors Colin Bishop and Dave Milbourn showed the beautiful lines of these well-known boats. Two traders were present, our ever enthusiastic modellers, Ron Dean of Dean's marine, and Carl & Flo Tunnicliffe of Linkspan Models. New models were shown by both traders which will become available very soon.
Pete 'Klunk' Carmen of Luton MBC, apart from being one of the behind the scenes organisers, hosted the Bring and Buy Stand. A big thank you to Martin Davies and his family for Chief Hosts, to the Wicksteed Ladies for their outstanding Tombola, and to all visitors, exhibitors, and modellers who came to the event. Watch the Model Boat Mayhem Forum for upcoming announcements for Mayhem at Wicksteed 2020!
Many thanks to Alan Burgess for the photos and video below:
Pete 'Klunk' Carmen of Luton MBC, apart from being one of the behind the scenes organisers, hosted the Bring and Buy Stand. A big thank you to Martin Davies and his family for Chief Hosts, to the Wicksteed Ladies for their outstanding Tombola, and to all visitors, exhibitors, and modellers who came to the event. Watch the Model Boat Mayhem Forum for upcoming announcements for Mayhem at Wicksteed 2020!
Many thanks to Alan Burgess for the photos and video below:
Christmas Dinner 2018
The club Christmas Dinner was brilliantly organised by Janet Beard on the 17th December and was attended by almost half of the current club membership and family. The evening was full of fun and festive spirit with many new members joining in with the meal for the first time. The club dinner has always been the time and place to award the club trophies (in fact after some recent research I find this is a club tradition since 1928!) and we had our former chairman's wife awarding her husband's memorial shield to Gordon Gaze for his beautifully finished Tamar class Lifeboat which was voted club favourite. Nick Brown was awarded second place with his Train Ferry, and Andrew Belling in third with another lifeboat. The Maureen Millers Cup is given to the club member whose model is displayed at the Warwick Show is the 'Chairman's Favourite'. This was promptly awarded to Bill Traynor-Keanes for his fully working model of a Type VII U-boat by Janet Beard. And finally Pam Baker presented the Victoria Cup to Nick Brown, who collected it on behalf of Tony Newstead who couldn't be present on the evening.
International Model Boat Show 2018
We displayed at the International Model Boat Show at the Warwickshire Events Centre near Leamington Spa. Once again we had an excellent position close the display pool which allowed some us to show the models on the water. The club stand showed our wide interest in different types of model boating: there was a huge display of WW1 era warships surrounding Ron Kingdon's monstrous sized HMS Invincible G3 Battlecruiser (a what-if project from 1921), a new collection of vintage model boats from our childhoods presented by Roger Clements, and Bill Trayner-Keanes and Alan Burgess took the corner of the stand with the most amount of submarines- all working and submerging! Nigel Marriott bought his tug and Glynn Guest aircraft carrier with scratch-built Sea-Fury fighter aircraft on deck. New members also displayed beautifully built lifeboats and yachts which finished off the stand fantastically.
The Keith Carey Memorial Shield 2018
Keith Carey was a Wicksteed Park MBC Chairman but unfortunately passed away just two years into his tenure as Club Chairman. We remember him every year by hosting the Keith Carey Memorial Shield which is awarded to the club member whose model boat is voted favourite by the club. The Shield is presented to the lucky recipient by Maureen Carey at the club's Christmas Dinner. The Sunday morning in September had fantastic weather with good sunshine and the predicted rain staying away. Over sixteen individuals entered their models into the competition with several new members displaying some excellent quality models. Many thanks to Roger Kirbyshire for organising the day and counting up the results to find out who our lucky winners are.
Edit: Winners announced at the Club Christmas Dinner are as follows- 1 Gordon Gaze Lifeboat
2 Nick Brown Train Ferry
3 Andrew Belling Lifeboat
Congratulations to our winners!
Edit: Winners announced at the Club Christmas Dinner are as follows- 1 Gordon Gaze Lifeboat
2 Nick Brown Train Ferry
3 Andrew Belling Lifeboat
Congratulations to our winners!
The Victoria Cup
In August 2017 the club not only lost a member but a very good friend to us all, Bob Baker sadly passed away. We will remember him for his humour, his honesty, and his brilliant work as a model boat builder. A proud member of the RAF Regiment, he was always available to help/assist/man the club at any event, his skills on the club's bring & buy stand was amazing bringing in far more than what was expected. His first modelling love was yachts and in 2012 Bob rescued two vintage 10R yachts from a scrap heap- it was discovered that the two models, Undine and Sagitta were of historical importance to the club as they were former registered models at Wicksteed Park in 1936! They were restored to their former glory and sailed at the lake.
After his passing, Pam Baker asked the club committee to meet with her and it was decided that the 'Bob Baker Memorial Cup' would be created. Called 'The Victoria Cup' after his favourite model yacht, the cup would be awarded for an excellent standard of modelling work and be presented by Pam at the Christmas Dinner. An excellent way of remembering this remarkable modeller.
The 2017 recipient of the Victoria Cup was John Pates with his lovely model of Earnshaw, a small coastal steamer that is still in use today. Based on plans in the Model Boats Magazine, John finished off his model with almost 50 figures and is well deserving in this endeavour. The Cup was awarded to John at the Christmas Dinner by Pam Baker.
The 2018 winner of the Victoria Cup was Tony Newstead with his 100% scratch-built model of HMS Welland. The model is a pre-WW1 destroyer named after one of the many rivers in Britain hence the class designation 'River class'. Tony was unable to collect the cup from Pam at the Christmas Dinner so was accepted on his behalf by Nick Brown.
After his passing, Pam Baker asked the club committee to meet with her and it was decided that the 'Bob Baker Memorial Cup' would be created. Called 'The Victoria Cup' after his favourite model yacht, the cup would be awarded for an excellent standard of modelling work and be presented by Pam at the Christmas Dinner. An excellent way of remembering this remarkable modeller.
The 2017 recipient of the Victoria Cup was John Pates with his lovely model of Earnshaw, a small coastal steamer that is still in use today. Based on plans in the Model Boats Magazine, John finished off his model with almost 50 figures and is well deserving in this endeavour. The Cup was awarded to John at the Christmas Dinner by Pam Baker.
The 2018 winner of the Victoria Cup was Tony Newstead with his 100% scratch-built model of HMS Welland. The model is a pre-WW1 destroyer named after one of the many rivers in Britain hence the class designation 'River class'. Tony was unable to collect the cup from Pam at the Christmas Dinner so was accepted on his behalf by Nick Brown.
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Wicksteed at War 2018- Celebrating 100 years of the Royal Air Force |
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This year we moved the club gazebo into a more prominent position and a new club sign at the gate and, wow, what a difference!
With an unprecedented number of park visitors coming down to the model boat lake we gained three new club members and most certainly impressed the children with the big battleships. With big gun monitors, WW1 and WW2 battleships down to the little support craft that get forgotten about we had a wide variety of warships on show. To support the organisers we had some RAF boats on show from Pinnaces to Armoured Target Boats showing the truly different marine craft operated to the Royal Navy.
With an unprecedented number of park visitors coming down to the model boat lake we gained three new club members and most certainly impressed the children with the big battleships. With big gun monitors, WW1 and WW2 battleships down to the little support craft that get forgotten about we had a wide variety of warships on show. To support the organisers we had some RAF boats on show from Pinnaces to Armoured Target Boats showing the truly different marine craft operated to the Royal Navy.
Mayhem at Wicksteed 2018
After a weekend of predicted turbulent weather warnings around Kettering the mood was understandably worrying but the sun gods must have smiled on us as the thunderstorms and rain never materialised giving us the best weather the event has ever had!!!
A fantastic weekend of sun and light winds gave us the perfect sailing weather to allow warships and yachts to sail together with ease.
Some new clubs made a welcome appearance to the show, Cambridge MBC, Welwyn Garden City MBC, and the newly created Hemel Hempstead MBC. All together there were ten clubs exhibiting and Mr Ron Dean of Dean's Marine showing his latest models and actually getting his boats wet this year! Carl and Flo of Linkspan Models were on their way to Kettering as their RV decided not have an EGR valve anymore- you were missed- but look forward to seeing you both next year. We had visitors from Belgium and South Africa this year hearing about the event over the Mayhem forum proving it is truly a global show.
For anyone who follows the Mayhem forum you may have heard of the 'Secret 10' which are a group of Mayhem enthusiasts with a hidden project for this year. On the Saturday afternoon the project was revealed as a Springer Tug war which looked more like something from Robot Wars! For anyone who hasn't seen the video it is highly amusing: www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,54588.400.html
From the Wicksteed Park club stand we would like to thank Jan Beard for setting up and running the Tombola this year with the most successful takings in club history. On behalf of Jan we would like to thank Nicki Horrell and Barbara Crisp in helping and supporting Jan over the weekend. Well done Ladies.
A fantastic weekend of sun and light winds gave us the perfect sailing weather to allow warships and yachts to sail together with ease.
Some new clubs made a welcome appearance to the show, Cambridge MBC, Welwyn Garden City MBC, and the newly created Hemel Hempstead MBC. All together there were ten clubs exhibiting and Mr Ron Dean of Dean's Marine showing his latest models and actually getting his boats wet this year! Carl and Flo of Linkspan Models were on their way to Kettering as their RV decided not have an EGR valve anymore- you were missed- but look forward to seeing you both next year. We had visitors from Belgium and South Africa this year hearing about the event over the Mayhem forum proving it is truly a global show.
For anyone who follows the Mayhem forum you may have heard of the 'Secret 10' which are a group of Mayhem enthusiasts with a hidden project for this year. On the Saturday afternoon the project was revealed as a Springer Tug war which looked more like something from Robot Wars! For anyone who hasn't seen the video it is highly amusing: www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,54588.400.html
From the Wicksteed Park club stand we would like to thank Jan Beard for setting up and running the Tombola this year with the most successful takings in club history. On behalf of Jan we would like to thank Nicki Horrell and Barbara Crisp in helping and supporting Jan over the weekend. Well done Ladies.
The Evening Sails of the Year
The last Friday of June became our first evening night sail for the year, unfortunately the weather had other plans! The night started at 6pm and a good number of models took to the water of so many varying types. Yachts made the most of the light winds whilst the launches made waves of their own. A couple of warships made the evening complete but the rain interrupted play at 8:30pm so it was decided to return to home ports for the remaining part of the night.
Many thanks to Jan, Nicki, and Maureen for all the bacon sandwiches and coffee, and some beautifully made cakes. Many thanks to Alan for supplying the photographs for this report. The slide show below has the combined photos from three evening/night sails so far.
The last Friday of June became our first evening night sail for the year, unfortunately the weather had other plans! The night started at 6pm and a good number of models took to the water of so many varying types. Yachts made the most of the light winds whilst the launches made waves of their own. A couple of warships made the evening complete but the rain interrupted play at 8:30pm so it was decided to return to home ports for the remaining part of the night.
Many thanks to Jan, Nicki, and Maureen for all the bacon sandwiches and coffee, and some beautifully made cakes. Many thanks to Alan for supplying the photographs for this report. The slide show below has the combined photos from three evening/night sails so far.
The Maureen Millers Memorial Cup
In July 2015 the club lost a very much loved secretary who helped turn the club in to the vibrant and exciting membership we have today.
Maureen become the club secretary in 2012/3 and became known as the 'Black Widow' as she could persuade anyone to become interested in model boats and join the club, expanding the membership to 86 at its peak! With Joan and Jan they came to be known as the 'witches coven' and were often creating exotic cakes and biscuits for the club members to try on the Sunday club mornings. Her piste de resistance was the Mayhem tombola stand where she managed to create competition between the Mayhemer's for the top prizes, each year the money raised was exceeded.
Well loved and gave so much to club, we miss you Maureen.
Paul Millers donated a cup for her recognition as a outstanding club member and wife, and asked the club chairman to organise a competition for the club membership to allow the cup to be awarded. The cup is awarded for the Chairman's Choice of his favourite boat on the club stand at Warwick.
The cup is presented by Paul to the winner at the Club's Christmas Dinner.
In July 2015 the club lost a very much loved secretary who helped turn the club in to the vibrant and exciting membership we have today.
Maureen become the club secretary in 2012/3 and became known as the 'Black Widow' as she could persuade anyone to become interested in model boats and join the club, expanding the membership to 86 at its peak! With Joan and Jan they came to be known as the 'witches coven' and were often creating exotic cakes and biscuits for the club members to try on the Sunday club mornings. Her piste de resistance was the Mayhem tombola stand where she managed to create competition between the Mayhemer's for the top prizes, each year the money raised was exceeded.
Well loved and gave so much to club, we miss you Maureen.
Paul Millers donated a cup for her recognition as a outstanding club member and wife, and asked the club chairman to organise a competition for the club membership to allow the cup to be awarded. The cup is awarded for the Chairman's Choice of his favourite boat on the club stand at Warwick.
The cup is presented by Paul to the winner at the Club's Christmas Dinner.
What the Wicksteed Park lake's all about, the picture was taken mid August 2014, a member of the public sailing an RC yacht with his two grand children sailing their pond yachts and three club members also under sail and no incidents, a few near misses but no incidents! If the Grandad would get in touch through the 'contact page' I have more pictures that I could send to him.