by Sam Hawcroft
A popular heritage event once held at Welwick is being revived next month – with steam engines, vintage vehicles, tractors, stalls and family entertainment promised across a packed weekend.
Winestead Heritage Weekend will take place on Saturday and Sunday, October 10-11, with all proceeds supporting East End Cancer Relief.
The event is a revival of the former Welwick heritage gathering, which was remembered for its displays of steam engines and vintage machinery but has not taken place for several years.
Organiser Charlotte James, one of the three trustees of East End Cancer Relief alongside Andrea Robinson and Lisa Pryor, said there had already been considerable interest in bringing the event back.
She said: “It used to be at Welwick and it hasn’t been run for a while. Lisa was talking to various people about it and they said it was such a shame because everyone misses it.
“We’ve had loads of interest and we’re all really excited about it.”
The new event will be held across three fields at Winestead, behind the former Patrington Building Supplies site, with exhibitors expected to begin arriving several days beforehand and some camping for the weekend.
Charlotte said: “We have exhibitors bringing stationary engines, which are the ones that used to run farm machinery, and then the movable engines – the old-fashioned steam engines and big rollers.
“We’ve got classic cars, classic motorbikes and classic Land Rovers, and quite a few stallholders coming as well.”
Frank Hill will hold an auction on the Saturday, while Sunday will feature a car boot sale and an appearance by the Holderness Hounds.
A tractor run is also planned through the surrounding area towards Sunk Island, while games including welly throwing will help raise further funds for the charity.
Visitors will also find a wide range of food and drink, as well as stalls selling cakes, jams and pickles, dog treats, dried flowers, fossils and beach finds, crafts and other locally made goods. A yarn-spinning demonstration is also among the attractions.
The weekend is one of several events organised throughout the year by East End Cancer Relief, which has its roots in a fundraising group established around 50 years ago by Lisa Pryor’s mother and friends.
Charlotte said the group had always raised money to support cancer patients at Castle Hill Hospital’s Queen’s Centre and was later formally registered as a charity.
Rather than simply handing over money, the charity works with staff at the Queen’s Centre to identify equipment that is needed.
Earlier this year it bought three vein finders, meaning each of four wards now has access to one. The equipment helps staff locate veins in patients whose treatment may have made repeated injections and blood tests more difficult.
In 2025 the charity also bought three portable syringe drivers, allowing some patients greater flexibility to leave hospital, including for short stays at home or important family occasions.
Charlotte said the group had been raising around £10,000 a year in recent years through a mixture of large and small events, with the Heritage Weekend expected to become one of its biggest fundraisers.
She added: “We’ve decided we don’t need to do lots of events – we need to do ones that are really good for us. Hopefully the Heritage Weekend is going to be really big.”
Winestead Heritage Weekend runs from 9am to 5pm on Saturday, October 10, and 10am to 4pm on Sunday, October 11.
Admission is £5 per car or £2 for those walking in. Toilets, including disabled and baby-changing facilities, will be available. Dogs are permitted on leads.
Charlotte added: “It should be a really good weekend and hopefully everyone who comes will enjoy it. It’s nice to have something outside the main summer events as well.
“It was always held in October before, so we wanted to stick with that. Hopefully people will put a layer on and come out whatever the weather.”