Knock Vintage Men's shed will showcase the country's rich agricultural heritage when its annual threshing festival takes place in Co. Laois next month.

The event, which will be hosted in Spink on Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13, is not just a fundraiser for Knock Vintage Men's Shed and Knock National School, according to Brian Brennan who chairs the organising committee.

It is also a harvest festival bringing in the corn grown in Knock, 10 minutes walk from the threshing field.

The site was ploughed using vintage machines and cut with binders more than 100 years old.

Brennan said: "A showman's steam engine will join us from Co. Tyrone which is a fantastic first. She will join engines from Laois, Carlow and Wexford.

"Knock Threshing Festival is unique. The reason it started in 2012 was to raise funds for Knock National School.

"Everyone who went there or knew someone who did turned up to support the festival. Many of those people still generously attend and partake in the weekend."

Knock Vintage Men's Shed organise the event as its annual fundraiser.

This year, the funds will go towards completing the final phase of the shed and installing a pottery loft.

"The Men's Shed is not just for men. We hope to see more people availing of the facilities we have, be it the geodome, wood turning, welding or just meeting to drink endless cups of tea," Brennan said.

Festival line-up

The festival will get underway on Saturday afternoon with a tractor run starting at 3.30pm, returning to Headen's Bar to view the steam engines and have food and drink before a cock and bull auction with upwards of 150 lots gets underway.

"The most unusual items turn up," the chairperson said.

There will be the chance to bid on vouchers for evenings out; a couple of hours hedgecutting; straw/hay silage; gravel; a car service; a bull calf; a bicycle, or a cock.

It is a convivial event as the engines are not the only things letting off steam, according to Brennan.

On Sunday morning, breakfast will be served in Josie's haybarn.

The threshing and field day will be the focus, with everything set for gates to open at 12 noon, according to the committee chairperson.

Music will be by Bernie Heaney with dancing, sideshows and displays, finishing with the raffle for the school funds.

"We're very grateful for all the help and support and of course could not have succeeded without assistance from LOETB (Laois Offaly Education and Training Board), Leader, and Laois County Council," Brennan said.