Join the Essex and Suffolk Borders Region for a relaxed and friendly celebration of classic vehicles in one of Suffolk’s most picturesque village settings.
The Rickinghall Classic Car Show takes place on Sunday 17th May 2026 at Rickinghall Village Green, IP22 1HD, bringing together a wonderful display of classic cars in the heart of the countryside, near Diss.
Set against the backdrop of the village hall and green, this is a show that’s as much about atmosphere as it is about the cars. Expect a varied and interesting mix of vehicles, plenty of time to chat with fellow enthusiasts, and an enjoyable day out for visitors of all ages.
Whether you’re bringing a car, coming to admire the displays, or simply looking for a pleasant Sunday among great machinery and good company, you’ll be very welcome.
For further information, please contact Geoff Short: geoffshort186@gmail.com
What you missed in 2025:
There had been a May car show in my village for many years, but it had gradually fizzled out over time, replaced by an annual model railway show. After a few years, this had also run its course, and the village hall committee asked me in 2018 if I could organise a car show once again – knowing I was a member of a car club. As you all know, turning up at a show and making sure you are lined up nicely with your wheels straight is totally different from organising a show from scratch.
We decided to give it a go – what did we have to lose? Rickinghall is a village on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, with houses and cottages dating back several centuries. We have a thriving village hall, with a few acres of playing fields attached, decent toilet facilities, and a pleasant setting – so the venue was sorted. We would need the hall for the entire weekend, as Saturday would be for measuring out the field and setting up the hall with tables for an associated Craft Fair to provide the exhibitors and public with something else to look at. Sunday would be Show day, and we hoped to finish clearing up by 5pm.
Car clubs were contacted, notices were put up, and gradually, the number of cars booked in grew to a respectable figure. Similarly, we needed stalls both in the hall and on the field to add interest. A monthly craft fair at the hall and a Christmas Market provided various sources to tap into for obtaining stallholders. We decided that exhibitors would not have to pay to bring their cars – contrary to the increasing trend – so income would come from the stalls and the visiting public. Our outgoings include the hall hire, a commentator and music provider, and first aid. We held the show under the JEC banner to take advantage of the Club’s Public Liability insurance, but this did necessitate first aid attendance, given the likely number of people on the field at any one time – and they don’t come for free anymore.
The contacting and planning commenced in December, and it became clear that the catering stalls require booking several months in advance. We discovered a general caterer who provided burgers, coffees, and cakes in the afternoon, but they also began the morning with bacon and cooked breakfasts on the go – ideal! In addition, we had a separate specialist coffee stall in an Airstream caravan, an ice cream van, and a gazebo offering rolls and pastries.
Gradually, all the stalls, car clubs, and private entries came together, and rotas were arranged for marshalling, manning the entrances, public car parking, and overseeing our gazebo. The Saturday marking out the rows was carried out in pouring rain, but Sunday was bright and sunny, promising to be a great day – we just hoped people would come. I had placed adverts in the village magazine, which is delivered free to householders in three villages, and a friendly local estate agent had put up signs advertising the show weeks in advance. These were positioned on two main roads, at the roundabouts and grass verges, and in addition, we had flyers printed that members had posted on notice boards in their local area.
We need not have worried. All went well; the public came, the catering stalls sold food and drink, and the exhibitors and car clubs reported a good atmosphere, great weather, and said they would come again. That was 2019, and at that point we had no idea that COVID was to bring a halt to the show the following year.
When we got going again after the enforced break, the support was still there from exhibitors, caterers, stalls and the public, so we continued to hold the annual event. There are always tweaks to improve things, such as the layout and barriers for exiting the field, better signage – both on the field and the surrounding roads – and additional facilities, such as a licensed bar doing beers and Pimms! We now employ a local radio station to come along and do a commentary and broadcast from the show. A few weeks before the event, I visit the studio and do an interview on air about the event, which obviously helps the publicity.
Things do go wrong from time to time on the day, requiring intervention, although mostly it all runs according to plan. As well as high viz jackets, our marshalling members now have bright red Rickinghall Car Show hats to make them more visible. I tried to get a local band of Air Cadets involved this year, to give us extra bodies. All was going well, with suitable enthusiasm, until I mentioned “car parking” and I was then told that the Cadets are not allowed to get involved with car parking due to Health and Safety. This ruled out both public car parking and directing the classic cars into rows, exactly what we wanted them for, so that was the end of that. They are probably not allowed to handle money, either.
Last year, an additional facet to the show was a local young man, who had unfortunately suffered from cancer and was now in remission, undertaking LEJOG with a view to finishing at the show. He drove from Lands End to John O’Groats in a Citroën Picasso, painted bright pink and fitted with a snout, ears and a tail. Now called the Pigasso, he arrived at the show late morning and was able to top up his sponsorship to over £10,000 for cancer charities.
This year all went well again, and the weather stayed dry. In fact, every show has been held in good weather so far, so much so that last year the ice cream seller judged attendance to be lower because people headed for the beach. So, the 2025 show was deemed a success, with lovely feedback from exhibitors. We still keep it free for exhibiting vehicles and their occupants, and the public now pays £5 for adults, with children under 12 free. We still have some work to do on tweaking the access arrangements – it takes too long to get onto the field with the queuing, not aided by a few residents’ cars parked on the road. On one occasion, I offered free access to somebody if he parked elsewhere on the Sunday, and he duly got the wrong end of the stick and drove into the showground in his very iffy Reliant three-wheeler! At least it was off the road.
We have a ‘Best in Show’ presentation at the end, and this year there were some really great cars. Our judge – our former chairman Bob Welton, with roughly 70 years of experience – had about 25 cars written down, that we had to get down to four. In the end, he chose an Austin Metropolitan as first place, a member’s white XK150 in second and a green Rover Mini in third. They all received a glass trophy, with the winner also getting a valeting kit. A new addition this year was a Jaguar leaper trophy for the best Jaguar, and this was awarded to a visitor with a lovely blue Jaguar 420G. In brilliant condition – it also bore a registration with 420G on the end.
A previous system involved distributing a leaflet to both classic car owners and the public upon arrival, asking them to write down their favourite car they would like to take home. These were placed in a voting box and counted. The first time, a mint Fiat 500 won, and it went well for a while. Then we decided we could speed up entry to the field by dropping the form. That decision was solidified when a misguided owner with a Rolls Royce Corniche convertible began taking the form from anyone who said “I like your car” completing the form for them and putting it in the box. They may have liked several cars, but when we found over 50 forms in the box all in the same handwriting, he was disqualified. So now we go around doing the judging ourselves.
It is quite amazing what cars come out of the woodwork to join us on the day. Nobody knows what lies behind garage doors or in farm barns, and then we get entries booked in such as a 1915 Model T Ford, a 1930 Renault, a 1966 Gordon Keeble, a Mini that took part in the Monte Carlo rally, police cars used in Heartbeat, and a Bond Bug, to name a few. We had around 250 cars on the field, which is about as much as we can do, allowing space for all the stalls, roadways and public parking. We do have the occasional motorbike, but while half a dozen is fine, we no longer invite motorbike clubs after one year when they overtook and pushed past cars waiting to come in and used very inappropriate language to our lady marshal. This year, a local man on a very inoffensive restored moped turned out to be an ex-BBC motoring correspondent, with Jaguar connections, and will be delighted to give us a talk at a future club night. Result.
Being a rural area, we also had a few tractors, and one exhibitor brought a trailer along with some scale working models he had constructed – you won’t see that at the NEC!
On the finances front, we hope that income from the craft fair, stalls on the field and sponsors meets the outgoings, leaving the entrance money to provide the profit. This enables us to provide a decent sum to our annual charity. Prior to the show starting, we supported different charities with proceeds from raffles at monthly club nights, but we are now in a position to make a more substantial contribution. Past beneficiaries, all with local connections, have included Help for Heroes, the RNLI at Clacton, Central Suffolk RSPCA and a charity in Clacton providing a hot meal and medical assistance for the homeless. This year, it is Sarcoma UK, which is particularly relevant to us this year due to a member’s granddaughter having a battle with cancer aged ten.
So will we do it all again next year? It takes a bit of debriefing to see what happened this year, but invariably the answer is ‘yes’. Our demographic is perhaps against the physical work involved, and this year the field was particularly solid to get stakes into, resulting in a builder member resorting to his drill to get any sort of hole! There was an unfortunate dog fight (nothing to do with us!), we had temporary problems with electric hook-ups at the catering stands on Sunday morning, and one member complained about the choice of music the radio station was playing. It was nice that people had come from other JEC Regions, thank you, Kent and Cambridgeshire, and following emails I had exchanged with enquirers, four new members were signed up to the Region.
I can do no better to sum up than quote from the email received from Chris Hallworth, Milton, Cambridge, who said, “I was very impressed with how organised your Region was all day and how smoothly everything appeared to run – very well done.
It was certainly packed with entertainment, especially the roving radio chap with his microphone! You had an impressive turnout of vehicles of many makes, so walking up and down the well-marked rows prompted many memories. We do belong to an excellent car club (JEC), as where else would you expect to see cars of one marque spanning roughly 70 years? Once again, congratulations on running an excellent event“
