page_title: Great Dorset Steam Fair
section_title: Directors' Thanksgiving Service
hierarchical_section_title: Great Dorset Steam Fair / Directors' Thanksgiving Service
caption_attribution_description: English: A panoramic shot of the 2011 Great Dorset Steam Fair.
context_page_description: The Great Dorset Steam Fair is an annual show featuring steam-powered vehicles and machinery. It now covers 600 acres and runs for five days. This used to be from the Wednesday after the UK August bank holiday, but from 2016 has been from the Thursday before the Bank Holiday until the Bank Holiday itself. It is reputedly the largest collection of steam and vintage equipment to be seen anywhere in the world.
  The fair was founded by the Dorset Steam & Historic Vehicle Club, and has been held in Dorset, England, every summer since 1969. The show is now organised by Michael Oliver's son, Martin Oliver, through Great Dorset Steam Fair Ltd.
context_section_description: The end of the fair used to be marked with the Director's Thanksgiving Service on the Sunday, at 12 noon, which took place on the stage of Dean's Bioscope, organised for many years by Chris Edmonds, the Lay Chaplain until his death in 2007. The Rev'd Dr Michael Foster, a friend of Chris, and the local Rector of Tarrant Hinton, continued to organise the Thanksgiving Service, with Sally, Chris' widow. Fr Michael was appointed Chaplain to the Show at the Thanksgiving Service September 2011, having been Assistant Chaplain for some four years. It was Fr Michael who conducted the founder of the Fair, Michael Oliver's Funeral in 2009. The Directors' Thanksgiving Service is now organised to begin the Show, on the opening Wednesday, as was the practice in some past years.
caption: A panoramic view of the 2011 Great Dorset Steam Fair taken from high ground on the extreme South West of the edge of rally site adjacent to Blandford Camp.
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D7000", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Capture NX 2.2.6 M", "Image DateTime": "2011:09:07 17:35:536870912", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "228", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1170", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "924", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:09:02 17:18:35", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:09:02 17:18:35", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "23/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "70", "EXIF SubSecTime": "50", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "50", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "50", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "14957", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1000", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "105", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}