IT’S one of the most popular events of the civic calendar – and once again, thousands of people flocked to Basingstoke’s annual Festival of Transport to admire a vast array of vintage vehicles.

Hundreds of exhibitors displayed their vehicles at the show in War Memorial Park, which is now in its 21st year.

Organised by The Thornycroft Society, around 20,000 people visited during the day, looking at the various cars on display or browsing stalls.

For Councillor Martin Biermann, it was one of his first engagements as the borough’s new mayor. He stuck to his promise of not using the services of a chauffeur, and arrived with his wife Chansopha by bike.

Referring to the festival, he said: “It’s massive. I hadn’t appreciated the scale of it. There is clearly lots of public support and lots of people coming along and having a look at our heritage. It’s nice to have the Thornycroft link to Basingstoke.”

Gary Bone, chairman of The Thornycroft Society, said: “We are pleased with the turn-out and support from the public. We have around 900 vehicles on display from all over the country. Because of the recent adverse weather, we were pleased to be able to put it on, because there were doubts at one stage that it would go ahead.”

Mervyn Annetts, membership secretary of The Thornycroft Society, was exhibiting his Mighty Antar, made by Thornycroft in 1959 to transport army tanks.

The 68-year-old did an apprenticeship with the company, and was one of the founding members of the festival.

He said: “The first rally was in 1991, before the factory shut down. It’s grown year on year and is always free. It’s a great event for Basingstoke.”

Other vehicles on display included Basingstoke racer Ben Willshire’s 125 Open Superkart, which the 29-year-old has raced at Silverstone as part of RG Racing UK.

His dad Rob, from South View, said: “The kids love it because they can sit in it and have their picture taken. Ben has raced it in international competitions.”

Andy Lawrence, 34, from Chichester, was displaying a replica police car from 1970, which will feature in a new Ray Winstone film called Hot Potato.

Michael Ward’s DeLorean car also received lots of attention from passers-by, as it is the same model that featured in the Back to the Future films.