As a young man, George Cushing was enthralled by steam and at the age of 20, gained his first job…read moredriving a steam roller. By the 1970s, he had amassed a collection of steam traction engines and associated paraphernalia. Other enthusiasts visited to first help restore and later to view the exhibits. He even conducted guided tours, personally shaking each visitor's hand before they left. A man therefore with a passion for steam, who clearly valued the people that came to visit him and his Thursford collection. Such enthusiasm rubs off and I can well imaging him being an engaging local individual. He was certainly recognised for the scale of his efforts in saving much of Britain's steam heritage, by the appointment of an MBE in 1989. Thursford collection today is a charity trust museum, (George Cushing sadly having passed on) containing a good number of polished showman's engines, a fine Wurlitzer organ, played by the talented Robert Wolfe, gift shops, restaurants and fairground rides of the era, amongst other attractions including the fairground organs. So the content is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but nonetheless, the open minded visitor should learn something of a bygone era and get to experience something of it first hand. The visitor just need imagine a time 100 years ago, when village life featured no electricity, no modern distractions as we know them, a time when entertainment was made by children themselves. Keep that in mind and imagine what impact the bright lights, sounds and thrills of a visiting fairground could have on a young person of the era. It must have been an experience to remember for years ahead. Today's average visitor probably won't appreciate this finer point and a modern mind filled with all of today's distractions and possibilities could also see Thursford as somewhat mundane. I couldn't help thinking that a lot of the context is missing for younger people, which the older generation might appreciate already. The restoration of steam engines is an expensive business, ranging from around £50 000 to £100 000. A good number of them still await the care of the enthusiast restorer, so attracting as many visitors to this venue as possible, ought to be priority number one. Enter stage right, the shining ray of doom that was our first contact with Thursford (and that of all the other visitors of the day). It did not begin well. The lady in the gift shop, taking money for entry was rude and miserable. The first experience many people get of George Cushing's Thursford Collection that he worked so hard to create is a middle-aged woman who was clearly offended by the idea that anyone should want to visit, so consequently made it her purpose to ensure that visitors felt similarly offended on arrival. Incidentally, our last visit to the attraction was a couple of years ago, early in the season. It was March 2010, when the place was mostly empty and we decided to take a lunch in the restaurant. We were left in no doubt that the plates we'd chosen were the wrong ones to be using and we should return them or suffer a severe thrashing by birch at sundown in the stocks. This kind of medieval customer service, whether a charity or not is just not acceptable these days. Attitudes which died out in Victorian times, where the customer knew their place, prevail in some parts it seems. But it does nothing to improve visitor satisfaction, which is to say nothing of word of mouth advertising that such attractions can depend upon. That reminds me. I mentioned the suave and talented Robert Wolfe, maestro of the Wurlitzer and a showman to boot. Wooing the crowds (although somewhat modest in size) with his fingers, dancing elegantly across the ivories and flicking of switches and valves to create an unsurpassed aural spectacular. The word that lingers in my mind above all others is arrogant. Off the stage, he managed to walk straight past our star-struck daughters, with neither a glance nor a smile. No recognition at all. Nothing. We weren't expecting to engage in lengthy conversation or request autographs, just some kind of acknowledgement that we existed would have been appreciated. But no. In spite of all this, 36/56 of Tripadvisor reviewers rate The Thursford Collection as excellent, with only four rating it as poor, one of which commented on the rudeness of the staff in the gift shop. Perhaps they don't wheel her out very often, it would be just as well. Thank goodness for Thursford having the foresight to employ a real gentleman. He's the star of the whole show. We didn't get his name unfortunately, but he ran the gondola ride and the gallopers, went round all of the mechanical organs in turn, giving a taster of the sounds of each. He did all of it with enthusiasm, entertaining the children and joking with the parents. We caught up with him in the children's play area, while he was emptying the bins and tidying up. He agreed that he's a multitasker, as are all the staff. He was polite and
