Gallery: August 2009 Ashwell Show
Report by Liz Goodyear, Cat Section Team Leader
Our Stall
Normal pack drill, Philippa, Steve and myself meet up with Nikki and Barry at 7.00 on the road to Ashwell (as we both come from different directions) and off we go to 'set up camp'. The weather was forecast as being the hottest of the bank holiday weekend, but when I started writing this at 10.00 on the morning it was overcast. By noon, however, the sun managed to burn off clouds and it became really hot!!
We were in a different position this year - opposite the dogs agility, so we do lots of 'dog watching'. Also opposite us was a bouncy castle and slide which did slowly deflate - and no we were not on it at the time, although I am sure our weight would have flattened it totally!!
Once the bouncy castle was inflated again the dog agility started. We saw two small black puppies - very cute - not sure what they were so we asked the owner. Apparently they were 5 month old jackpoo's (jack russell x poodles). I could quite easily have taken them home although what my dogs would have thought I dread to think.
We didn’t think that there were quite so many stalls this year, which could have made things better for us as people only have x to spend. As it turns out our soft-toy - win a prize every time - went well as usual and we sold all the marmalade and jam that Helen had made.
In fact we did sell things right across the board giving us a total profit of £220.00, which really was a good day’s work. Much better than last year when I think we struggled to take £100.
We also had an enquiry for kittens and the couple from Letchworth subsequently took 2 lovely 12 week kittens that we had. This is always the 'icing on the cake' because that is what we are here to do – re-home animals.
On our a-frames were quite a few photos of our new sanctuary and this did create quite a bit of interest. Several people took our number and have promised help, but, of course, whether it will materialise is another matter.
When you do outside shows such as this we are always asked where we are based and it was very rewarding to have something positive to tell them.
The sun came out later in the morning and was quite hot - we, of course, ate our way through the stalls - pork scratchings, scone/cream/jam, sweets, ice creams and pork pie. Not, I hasten to add all at once, but when you sit out in the sun all day watching the world go by it just seems to go with it - when we have done the County Show we have had Pimms as well!!
So, although we did not take so much stuff home with us the total weight in the vehicles was probably the same!! - weight-watchers here we come!!
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