About Us

The Marlborough Vintage and Farm Machinery Society Incorporated was established on 27th September 1965 by Mr Norman H. Brayshaw. Norm began his collection in the early 50's with a chaff cutter. He realised that much of the area's heritage was disappearing and wanted to preserve it for future generations. He became secretary/treasurer of the Marlborough Historical Society in October 1960 and continued in this role until October 1972 being awarded the British Empire Medal (B.E.M.) in the Queen's honours list in 1975 in recognition of his great work. 

During that time he was able to persuade the council to allow the Society to use the old council rubbish tip to store vintage machinery and other heritage items. Finally in 1968 the former council tip was officially established as Brayshaw Museum Park. Since then the park has seen a number of clubs and societies make use of the park including the Marlborough Museum and the Vintage Car Club. Since then the collection owned by the Vintage Farm Machinery club has expanded to become arguably the largest collection of vintage farm machinery in the Southern Hemisphere and now includes a period cottage with dairy and fencers hut, historical fencing, items from Marlborough Lines electricity company and engines from the old freezer works. In short the collection has moved from being just a showcase of Marlborough's vintage farm machinery to a record of the history of the development of rural Marlborough. Amongst this collection are a number of very important and rare items, some of which are the only examples left in the world.