The 23rd Cornwall VW Owners Club Jamboree took place at Stithians Showground, Nr Falmouth,Cornwall over the 2009 August Bank Holiday Weekend
The weather leading up to the event was, to say the least, inclement and this theme continued into the event proper with very high winds and heavy showers on the Friday being the order of the day. A few problems were experienced trying to keep the awnings and tents stable for sure.Saturday was still windy but we saw some sunshine and at least the evening was dry rather than the monsoon conditions ecperienced last year. Roger and his GSD Security team were relieved to be so much drier than in 2008.
Sunday dawned and oh yes, the mist had certainly descended and we had to endure driving drizzle and a stff breeze for most of the day. What have we all done to deserve it I wonder?
Thankfully in England we are so used to unreliable weather that spirits were not deflated too much and it appears a great time was had by one and all.This was confirmed by some of the lovely comments made to us as we cleared away at the show site on Monday.
In line with previous years our visitors came from all over England and farther afield with a broad mixture of accents being heard around the site. For once there were very few recovery vehicles visiting the premises this time around but one AA van was getting very frustrated at being unable to locate his broken down car. Should have been easily found as he was called to rescue a fairly young Jaguar and that should have stuck out like a sore thumb amongst all the VW’s.
We pride ourselves in providing a wealth of childrens entertainment and 2009 was no exception. The bouncy castles were only able to operate a restricted service due to health and safety constraints with the high wind and wet conditions preventing them from full operation, better luck in 2010 kids. Alan AKA Mr Wacky provided his magic act and as ever this went down a storm with the kids and the parets too if they are honest. Alan makes acting the fool look so easy, or, was he acting? emm makes me wonder.
Richard Reddy who also provided an act full of magic wonder and balloons bent into very intricate shapes was as well received as ever and no doubt both acts will be back with us in 2010.
My colleagues from my other Club the Cornish Radio Amateur Club mounted a demonstration station over the full weekend in the hope of passing on some of our passion for the Amateur Radio hobby. A good number of visitors were received in the tent, many of them already involved in the fascinating hobby but very few youngsters made it through the door. I am President of the Club and have held an amateur radio call since 1980 so guess I must love that hobby too. In 2010 the CRAC are offering training courses leading to obtaining the amateur radio qualifications, yes, you get to take exams to operate radio. Pop along and see Graham in 2010 and he will tell you what is involved.A hobby that is great at any age from 10 to 100 you can enjoy making international and local friends. a little like VW shows really.
The Saturday night party yet again featured fancy dress and this year it was a mellow yellow theme. Plenty of bananas were walking round and even a New York Taxi Cab made an appearamnce.Wonder what theme we will pick in 2010?
Even with the torrid financial times we are experiencing we had a terrific turn out of traders again for 2009, and we must thank all of them for travelling to us toply their wares with almost everything available from clothing and jewelery to toys and those all important VW bits and pieces, the rubber seals, camping accessories, number plates and shiny chromed after market toys spring to mind here. Oh yes, the rusty second hand gems to complete ypour project too of course.
Our caterers performed their task tremendously well and good food was available in abundance with great variety from the traditional Cornish Pasties from Rippons to the multi flavoured jacket spuds cooked within a steam engine’s firebox plus of course Ice creams provided by Kellys from Bodmin and for the first time a milk shake bar.
The Show & Shine on Sunday saw over 100 entrants and as ever the standard was very high and the Show & Shine teams worked their socks off to get them all in place within the correct class before the judging commenced. In the sign in tent forms were filled in and collated in virtually dry conditions whilst on the field Richard & Nigel Searles, who had marked the pitch out the day before,braved the attrocious weather dressed in their waterproofs but getting well soaked into the bargain.Well done again to all of them.We were very luckily really as the heavy rain leading up to the Sunday had not turned the site into a mud bath. The arena is actually a football pitch so leaving large deep ruts is not an option. Well done to the entrants for driving with great care to help us to cause the least damage possible.
The evening entertainment on offer was as varied as ever. On Friday we welcomed Guy Rosewall and colleagues and enjoyed their mix of blues rock provided by DEVILS CREEK. Seen below at Portscatho Regatta Aug 29th in daylight. Wow Guy can make the fender sing!
They were very well received indeed and worked with us to provide an ample sound level withiout causing problems in the local area. Unfortunately there is a locla group of residents hell bent on crushing evening entertainment on the site and this year there was to be some professional sound monitoring taking place over the weekend so we really needed to ‘behave’ and I’m glad to say we were given a clean bill of health being within all laid down guidelines.
The Saturday night band GINGER HITLAS performed a great mix of tunes old and new and kept the revellers happy.
Ginger Hitlas Jamboree 2009 photo page
On Sunday the Horse Band were with us again and just like the last time were very well received indeed playing a magnificent mixture of tunes and styles. Seen below performing at Eden last year. A great mix of music as ever.
To run this show requires a lot of help and for some of us it is from the Wednesday that we are walking miles around the 40 acre site so thats 5 1/2 days in all and to put it mildly the word that comes to mind is knackered especially on the final day, the clear up, when all the rubbish needs to be in one of the skips and not the pile it was dropped in in the middle of the field. We received plenty of help through the main daytime periods but on Monday the numbers dropped a little but we managed to clear the site by mid afternoon.
A great thank you to all of you who donned the new look crew shirts in black, white and yellow and actually helped. We are all unpaid volunteers at the end of the day and a great vote of thanks is owed to those who give their time freely to ensure our visitors enjoy the weekend. If everyone had walked across the field in line picking up litter it would have taken a lot less time than it did perhaps , next year we can get that sorted.
Thanks go to the Air Cadets who were with ius for the first time this year and their help was most welcome. I hope their stand made them a few pounds and that they make use of our Donation to their squadron.
A big thanks too to the judges for the Show & Shine who carry out what is basically not an easy task.
Thanks to the Company from Plymouth for providing an on site Bar.
Thanks to Tony Delight of T&S Entertainments for coming along with his bucking bronco [even if rain stopped play]
Thanks to the Chain Reaction Disco and the bands [marquee]
Thanks to Ty Rosewall – AKA Mr T for his excellent accoustic sets, boy he can play that 12 string
Ty also has a 3 piece rock band known as SINPUSHER, click the link to see hom playing at the Studio Penzanceon New Years Eve.
Thanks to Alan the Belfast Busker and his band, left and right hand, titanium rod, 4 self tapping screws and to the cast of
rainbow for backing him on his loud speaker cabinet. As even he managed to get a great sing song going in the afternoon just before the prize giving. Thanks for sharing your amp with Ty too Al.
From the proceeds of the show we make charitable donations.
In 2009 we had two nominated charities being the HCPT Trust and the George Appeal
HCPT are volunteers who give up their time and take children suffering with terminal illness to Lourdes for a week. Each week costs in excess of £700 and our donation of £1,000.00 will take a child there for their week and also cover some expence costs for the volunteer.
The George Appeal aims to raise money to buy two specialist childrens scanners one for Derriford Hospital and the other
for Treliske Hospital. Our donation of £1,000.00 equates to approximately 1% of the cost of one scanner. Hope this helps them to achieve the tsarget more easily.
Did we enjoy it……………ask me next week I’m too tired right now
With the comments received to date we will say yes I’m sure, as long as the guests go away happy we are happy. The weather was not very kind but the visitors braved the elements and came along in good numbers. Our investment into the show should have been covered so we will be able to organise another Jamboree of the same magnitude next year………see you in 2010? we hope so, in even greater numbers with any luck.
Keep an eye on our sites for the details of the 2010 event. Theme is yet to be decided but, rest assured, we will strive to provide you all with an enjoyable weekend experience. As ever, the Jamboree will be an event for the whole family from baby to zimmer frame age we will have something for everyone.
Finally many thanks to The Stithians Commitee and especially Paul Gluyas and Rex Andrews fo making our visit as simple as possible. A great site we all agree.
Norman — Secretary CVWOC
5th September 2009
