Adventure Overland Show,Stratford Racecourse 24-25 Sept 2016
Posted: 09 Aug 2016, 12:22
Hi everyone. Just to let you all know, the show is very much on - bigger and better this year! A few points raised from the thread about AO`15 last September.
1. Grumpy marshals at the gate. Extremely disappointed to hear this. It's not how we do things. You'll be delighted to hear that we've have completely revamped the gate personnel. It'll now be run by my son dean and daughter Bonnie. Not saying they'll be any more efficient, but at least when they send you the wrong way, they'll do it with a smile of their face!
2. Arrival time. The reason cut off time is 21:00 is because of safety. Whilst I'm the last one to go along with half of what the Health & Safety Executive stipulate, they have it right on this occasion. It's all down to the time of year, because when darkness fall 'incidents' can happen. Children playing between the lanes, dogs running about that should be on leads of course, and even us adults who need protecting from ourselves at times - booze being the major factor. We used to close the gate at 22:00 and have a holding area until 09:00 the following morning, but when a tent got run over in the dark (fortunately nobody resident at the time), it was altered to 21:00. Realise folk come from afar, but as the Event Director the safety of everyone is my responsibility, so 21:00 it has to be. Sorry!
3. The lanes when you arrive. Because there are so many types of passes available upon arrival, lanes and entering the marquee to pay is the only way of dealing with it. Pain I know when you've just arrived following a long drive, but we've tried everything else in the last 20 years of running events, and this is the only way. The Pre-Paid 'tickets in advance' lane however flows quickly, plus you don't even need to to get out of the vehicle; this is the way to go. Inevitably, it will always clog up at some point, all we can do is keep it flowing as best we can.
4. Catering. Arrrrgggghhhh!!! You can lead a horse to water ...
Three caterers never turned up last year. Often there is one who can't make it due to illness/bereavement/1001 reasons, but three not arriving? Unheard of. Rest assured the situation has been rectified.
That's it really. For every negative there are 99 positives, but of course the bad un's raise their ugly head long before the good un's, it's human nature.
Club 80-90/VOLT/Campervan Culture will again be located in the same area as last year, this worked well by all accounts, so let's hope the sun shines on the greatest collection of VW 4x4 campers in the land ... and thanks for your continued support!
P.S. Anyone fancy giving a talk about Syncros (plus of course where they've travelled to in the world) as part of the ‘Been There, Done It’ Seminar Sessions. They are very informal as they are like having a chat with a group of like-minded enthusiasts. Armed with your favouite photos that off a lap-top can be flashed up on a projector screen, talks last about 30 mins. then a 20 min. Q&A session, then a 10 min. changeover to the next speaker. Anybody up for the challenge?
1. Grumpy marshals at the gate. Extremely disappointed to hear this. It's not how we do things. You'll be delighted to hear that we've have completely revamped the gate personnel. It'll now be run by my son dean and daughter Bonnie. Not saying they'll be any more efficient, but at least when they send you the wrong way, they'll do it with a smile of their face!
2. Arrival time. The reason cut off time is 21:00 is because of safety. Whilst I'm the last one to go along with half of what the Health & Safety Executive stipulate, they have it right on this occasion. It's all down to the time of year, because when darkness fall 'incidents' can happen. Children playing between the lanes, dogs running about that should be on leads of course, and even us adults who need protecting from ourselves at times - booze being the major factor. We used to close the gate at 22:00 and have a holding area until 09:00 the following morning, but when a tent got run over in the dark (fortunately nobody resident at the time), it was altered to 21:00. Realise folk come from afar, but as the Event Director the safety of everyone is my responsibility, so 21:00 it has to be. Sorry!
3. The lanes when you arrive. Because there are so many types of passes available upon arrival, lanes and entering the marquee to pay is the only way of dealing with it. Pain I know when you've just arrived following a long drive, but we've tried everything else in the last 20 years of running events, and this is the only way. The Pre-Paid 'tickets in advance' lane however flows quickly, plus you don't even need to to get out of the vehicle; this is the way to go. Inevitably, it will always clog up at some point, all we can do is keep it flowing as best we can.
4. Catering. Arrrrgggghhhh!!! You can lead a horse to water ...
Three caterers never turned up last year. Often there is one who can't make it due to illness/bereavement/1001 reasons, but three not arriving? Unheard of. Rest assured the situation has been rectified.
That's it really. For every negative there are 99 positives, but of course the bad un's raise their ugly head long before the good un's, it's human nature.
Club 80-90/VOLT/Campervan Culture will again be located in the same area as last year, this worked well by all accounts, so let's hope the sun shines on the greatest collection of VW 4x4 campers in the land ... and thanks for your continued support!
P.S. Anyone fancy giving a talk about Syncros (plus of course where they've travelled to in the world) as part of the ‘Been There, Done It’ Seminar Sessions. They are very informal as they are like having a chat with a group of like-minded enthusiasts. Armed with your favouite photos that off a lap-top can be flashed up on a projector screen, talks last about 30 mins. then a 20 min. Q&A session, then a 10 min. changeover to the next speaker. Anybody up for the challenge?