Over the past few years our Christmas gift for all our friends and supporters has been a humorous adventure and song often featuring the engines and staff from Steam Traction World. Our very own character (we’ve called Dave) has been the performer for the previous two Christmases with a star-studded singing parody last year. This year, due to the sad and devastating news we all received, Dave doesn’t feel like singing anymore and, perhaps like all of us at the moment, heads off to find some answers. It’s a film none of us wanted to make.
With the commemorations of the centenary of the end of the Great War, there is a gravestone for Private James Amos Hughes (No. 46669) of the Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry in our local cemetery. James was killed on 11th November, 1918. Armistice Day, he was 22. There is no good day to die but perhaps if James had survived one more day, he could have lived for many more years.
Steve Baldock died one day before his 63rd Birthday. That wasn’t a good day. Perhaps if he could have lived for a couple more days, or to Christmas or the new year, or…
Steve recently said to me “Growing old isn’t very nice.” Steve wasn’t old he? He was a fantastic man – knowledgeable, clever, often very funny and ultimately very brave.
Diagnosed in the beginning of 2017 with the later stages of Prostate Cancer, Steve was able to spend some quality time for himself before treatment and the pokes and prods from all the specialists was to begin and travelled, visited friends and enjoyed life with the full knowledge of the dark days that were to shortly follow. Steve was able to enjoy the 10th Anniversary of Steam Traction World at the Banbury rally and to visit Great Dorset for their 50th Anniversary this year. He enjoyed both shows immensely. Steve was suffering in his last few weeks and the void he now leaves with his family, friends and colleagues is now helped a little with the knowledge he is suffering no longer. May he rest in peace.
Steam was Steve’s passion and we wish to continue his work. No doubt, Steam Traction World is a lesser place without Steve but it has galvanised the staff to ensure the company flourishes in memory of one of it’s founders. To work harder, to supply a higher quality, to send our your kits sooner, for you, both our loyal and future customers, to build a better engine, that will in turn be a fitting tribute to Steve. We look forward to seeing these engines continue to steam and win awards all across the showgrounds for many years to come.
#stevetractionworld
In memory of Steve, a donation page has been set up here: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SamanthaBaldock
All monies raised will be split equally between Macmillan Cancer Support and Prostate Cancer UK.
We wish you a Merry Christmas. Spend time with your family and friends this year and remember those that can no longer be with you.
Thank you
Well Tweedily deedily dee it’s time for some more festive fun with miniature steam engineers, Steam Traction World.
Each year, around Christmas time, to say thank you for the continued support of customers, friends and family, Steam Traction World offer a uniquely original, some may say masterpiece (most will not), yuletide yarn for your enjoyment. This year is no exception with some familiar faces returning to your screens.
Deedily diddy Dave returns after a triumphant introduction last year and, after whole 12 months of singing lessons for this time around, brings some of his old friends: Bear, Hare, Carrot, Coalaff (a slightly similar-looking character to a Frozen favourite*) and the staff at Steam Traction World.
This year has everything (sadly the kitchen sink did not make the final edit): steam, music, singing, dancing, steam, lights, steam (did we mention steam?) and a few slapstick jokes too. No characters were seriously hurt, although Dean did pull a muscle trying the splits. We didn’t ever ask Dean to do the splits!
So fetch a cuppa, a sherry or simply your favourite tipple, sit back and (hopefully) enjoy “Build a Burrell” from Steam Traction World. Please share on social media, comment on YouTube below and get involved to see if “Build a Burrell” can be the best ever Steam Traction World film.
Tweedily deedily dee, tweet, tweet (and Facebook)
Merry Christmas!!
#buildaburrell #steamtractionworld #JohnLewisChristmas
Things we have learnt from this.
It would have been quicker to teach Dean and Steve to actually dance than to animate this.
Lip syncing is quite difficult – and certainly takes a long time too.
Don’t ever give Coalaff a warm hug. It will only go two ways. If he is cold, you’ll get covered in soot. If he is hot, you will get burnt. He is also incredibly annoying either way.
We are better off as engineers and makers of the finest miniature Steam Engine kits.
From your feedback, you do enjoy our festive films – we are really pleased for that. Give us a Thumbs Up (Youtube) if you like this years. Thank you.
*Coalaff is made from Coal. For legal reasons he is not based on any other character from any other film and any similarities are purely coincidental. Dave (Number 2) is not the Dave from Sainsbury’s Christmas advert last year, or the Carrot was never from the Aldi offering again, possibly from last year.
Bear and the Hare were however, blatantly half-inched from the John Lewis Christmas advert from a couple of years ago – only because we love the John Lewis adverts though. So much so we had to squeeze #UnderTheBed in this year – we launched our Christmas advert before John Lewis for 2017!
Please do not sue. We do actually have an awesome creative idea for a future John Lewis Christmas advert, we’d charge you 50% less than you’ve just paid for your 2017 advert. Get in touch. Never Knowingly Undersold.
The annual tradition from Steam Traction World to produce some seasonal silliness for the Christmas holidays and this year see’s a new video based on the festive favourite ‘Stop the Cavalry’ by Jona Lewie. We have changed the words slightly but added them so you can sing or dubba, dubba dum hum along.
