Ringing Roadshow 6 September 2014

SRCY at the Ringing Roadshow – were you there?

I can’t say the planning of this took ages: neither can I say that it was a massively onerous task. But it loomed large throughout the summer months and caused me a few sleepless nights – it was all new to me and I did not really know what to expect. In the end, a highly professional team working together bailed us (me) out and we duly arrived at Stand 224 at Newbury Racecourse on Saturday September 6th in full readiness.

Back in July, it became very clear that we needed to draw on previous expertise and Linda Garton kindly shared her knowledge and, from her experience at the last event, she suggested that we must have a clear idea of the impression that we wished to make at the Roadshow. We had nothing to sell and no gadgets to try out – in short; it could have been very dull. But after an enthusiastic meeting, our plan was to outline our history, give a short resume of our activities in photographs, have examples of our fine Peal Books on show, and generally be on hand to explain to people what we do. But fundamentally, we were keen to meet members, some of whom we had not seen for many years. It was the ideal opportunity to catch up and signpost some of our future events. All in all, it was a very social occasion with our younger members handing out drinks and generally drawing people in to look at our stand. The ringer–at–large would have gone away with the notion that the SRCY is a Society to be proud of.

The Roadshow generally was well laid out and there was plenty to see and do. I did not have time to visit even half of the exhibits and there were seminars, recitals, talks etc which were all going on while we nattered! The drinks tent was obviously popular but the food outlets disappointed – something for the organisers of the whole event to ponder. The avid ‘grabber’ had mini-rings to visit in great number and even my two forays into that area did not end in disaster, although I was somewhat upstaged by a young man from Sussex with a famous CY Dad!

Despite all my misgivings, it was a really enjoyable day and the time flew by! My thanks must go particularly to Adam Greenley who did a fantastic job on the visual display, aided significantly by Barry Mack who sourced the display boards and ordered a professionally made banner: to Judith Mack who organised the refreshments and generally made our area look inviting: to Derek Sibson who lugged the huge Peal Books to the venue and back again: to Linda Garton who lent us material and made stickers: to Tom Mack who drew up the helpers rota and, last but not least, to all the many members who helped on the stand.

Thank you all

Shirley McGill

Newbury Race course Everything for the ringer you are and the ringer you want to be