All home safely, I hope?
Well, after a very shaky start, which nearly saw us taking our ball home and sulking
we managed to have a great show - the weather was perfect, even a little too hot this afternoon, the company great, and we won yet another Show Stand award
Neil got to the showground early on Friday to be told that there were some clubs which didn't have stands, including us and S2C, but there was room on the showground for some of us - first come, first served!!
He rang me to find out if we could get everyone there as soon as possible, otherwise some of us might be turned away
After irate calls to Live Promotions head office and calls backwards and forwards between me, head office and the staff at the showground, it was all sorted out.
As usual with these things it turned out to be a misunderstanding and we had already been allocated stand space for us and S2C right by the main entrance
All of the other clubs had to fight for their allocation
Anyway, space was tight, but we managed to get all the vehicles on the stand, though unfortunately due to the lack of space, Mark & Cat's Marshall ambulance ended up hidden at the back of the stand
Being where we were meant that we were kept very busy both days as the public had to walk past our stands to get into the showground
We were asked to make our way to the arena for the last event of the show today, which according to the timetable, was for awards, so that gave us a clue
Unfortunately, shortly before we were due to go into the arena, Diana, the very enthusiastic and bubbly presenter was involved in an accident in the arena meaning a helicopter landing in the showground and a trip to hospital for her
Some of us have known Diana for quite a few years and we hope she recovers well and is back presenting at Billing in a couple of months time - it just wouldn't be the same with her presentation style
After all of the drama, the show carried on with a stand-in presenter finishing up the awards presentations, and we gained second place in the Best Show Stand catagory.
A little disappointing after two first places over the last two years, but hey, there were a lot of stands (28 I think?) so we were quite happy to come second
Lining up to go into the ring:
So, thanks to (in alphabetical order) Dave, John, Mark & Cat, Mick & Louise, Neil & Freda, Patrick and Philip for populating the stand, and to our neighbours, S2C for their company and afternoon tea, especially Kath for providing drinks, food, chat etc. throughout the weekend as usual, Chris for his award winning Lemon Cake, Jonny & Pete for their autojumble searching skills and others too numerous to mention!
A successful show, I hope you agree
Cheers,
Robin.