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The Longest of longest days!


andyram

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I suppose it is fitting that the 50th post in this blog marks the end of another show! The third Weston on Trent show is now behind us. In the previous two years I have followed up the event by posting a blog entry that suggested that the day of the show felt like the longest day. Without doubt this year's event can claim to be the longest of longest days. Here is the true story of Weston 2014!

 

The final preparation for the event did not go well. A hectic week at school with leadership courses, parents meetings and student visits added to my growing work load. Then my beloved wife, Sarah, decided to go down with the flu! Ironically she had only had the flu jab the previous Thursday, but by Monday she was confined to bed! So my evenings became a time for looking after our young daughter and trying to do as much as I could for Sarah whilst trying to stay on top of my workload. Predictably the show preparation took a back seat. All of the jobs I normally am so on top of were left to the very last minute - final confirmation e-mails, exhibitors passes, lunch passes and show guide were all completed at the very last minute. In the case of the latter it certainly showed as there were a couple of glaring mistakes that slipped through the net.

I had hoped to do so much to Skaleby West too. Sadly my exhibition layout saw very little work although I did manage to replace the goods shed and refresh the goods yard - more on the layout's own thread!

 

The morning of the show did not have the best of starts. At just 2am my daughter Amber woke up and decided to join us in bed. Nothing odd in that as it is par for the course these days. But she then inexplicably woke up at 3am, 4am and just before my 5am alarm. Once she drifted back off to sleep after the last of these I got up, bleary eyed, to begin the preparation. I did manage to avoid waking her again as I loaded the car with the layout and stock, and she was still asleep when I left at just before 6am.

The journey to school was interrupted by the need to put up road signs. Our attempts to do this the night before had been scuppered by a argumentative member of a local parish council - lessons learned for future years there! The signs did not go up smoothly. The first was no trouble, the second did not seem to want to play. The cable ties I had bought did not seem to be up to the job and I wrecked several in the battle that followed. At one point whilst trying to adjust the sign I got up and smacked my head on the underneath of the sign above and so started the day by seeing stars. Fortunately a small cut and a bump were the only outcomes!

Once that sign was up the rest played along nicely and I arrived at school well before my 7am opening time. At least the security firm had unlocked early so I could get straight in. That was lucky as two stall holders were sat on the doorstep! As soon as they were inside and all the rooms were opened up, lights switched on and water heater up and running I was able to start unloading Skaleby West. My plans had placed me in a different classroom, but a last minute moment of doubt had me change things around again and I was back in the same place as last year.

Things went smoothly from then on as I set up the layout in breaks between guiding other exhibitors and traders to their pitch. A number of exhibitors needed help with lifting and carrying and I was only too happy to oblige. By 8.30am Skaleby West was ready. I plugged it in and placed my trusty old Jinty on the track and held my breath. The layout had not run since the week following the 2013 show and had suffered two house moves and several location changes. Surely it would not work! It did though - with no issues aside from some track cleaning.

By 9am I was free to stroll around the show and take some pictures. Things seemed to be coming together well, but there were still 3 missing layouts and 1 missing trader. Time was ticking and I was starting to worry. Thankfully all turned up within a few minutes of each other.

The new head teacher was around and he was deployed to act as car park marshall, encouraging those who had set up to move their vehicles to the nearby pub car park. Last year a number (including school staff) did not and this led to a packed car park and some visitors turning for home without stopping. This year it seemed most answered our pleas and there were less cars left in the car park by the time the public started to drive in.

The official opening was listed as 10.30, but the cold temperatures saw the ladies on the door take the decision to let some people in twenty minutes early. Fortunately all exhibitors had (just about) set up in time!

Things seemed to go well. There was a good crowd throughout the morning and lots of positive comments about the show and the layouts. Quite a few people said some nice things about Skaleby West which was flattering.

I did have one heart sink moment when one of the girls from the door approached me at 10.35am stating that she had had the "first complaint". I held my breath and waited for the onslaught. Thankfully it was a gentleman who won a raffle prize last year and had never received it. In the hectic year of house moves it had slipped my mind, but fortunately I had the prize put to one side in case he turned up and was able to hand it over straight away. And that was it! The only negative comment all day. Lots of seemingly happy punters amongst a big crowd during the morning. Loads of nice comments from people as they went out! They did seem to be impressed with our collection of layouts and once again the battle for the "Best in Show" prize was hard fought. One of RMWeb's own "Up the Line" was the winner, and deservedly so.

The crowd thinned out spectacularly at lunch time and the afternoon had only a brief revival. On the face of it we thought attendance must have been down, but on closer inspection it can't have been. Unlike last year we ran out of show guides. We also matched our takings on the door and raffle. Once we added the profit from the kitchen we had pretty much matched last year's total - making just under £1000 profit!

The new head teacher was extremely happy and by the afternoon was taking down details of people who stated they would like to exhibit next year! Yes - next year! I had hedged my bets about 2015. Would our new boss want us to continue? The answer is an absolute yes. The date has been set for Saturday 14th November. And so I am starting all over again! Some layout owners have already agreed to return with some of their other layouts - but I need more. So here is the challenge!!

 

This year there were SEVEN representatives from this website. A special thanks to the owners of Wheelock Mill, Werrington Road, Muckton Bottom, Thomas, Foster Street and Up the Line which joined my own Skaleby West. My classroom was a total RMWeb zone. And so the question is - can we do it again? Is there anybody out there who would like to try and help us top the seven RMWeb layout total from this year? Come on we can do it!!

 

Finally I would like to thank all of the exhibitors, traders and visitors for making our show such a success. Of course the school staff deserve a real pat on the back and they will get their thanks and reward tomorrow.

 

Until next time....

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I may well hold you to that especially as I missed all the Jubilees and providing you keep Master Grimes in check again.

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I may well have more of them by then (Don't tell the DO though its a secret),

 

At one point the operating team told me to sit down on the floor in a special naughty corner created just for me. I blame those nice ladies in the snack bar supplying me with gallons of fizzy pop.......

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