Well the year is gradually drawing to a close. We have one more major event in London just before Christmas, and a number of smaller events in the North East to round the year off. Overall it has been a cracking season, we have added a couple of traditional events (where we charge the public) which have bucked the trend and been very successful. We have picked up a lot of new corporate clients along the way and seen a steady stream of corporate events pass off very successfully, (although sometimes we have been a bit like ducks, all serene on the surface but paddling away furiously behind the scenes to keep everything running correctly), and we have a number of events pre booked into next year so that's a nice foundation to start the new year off on.
I had a sad trek into Nottinghamshire a few days ago to attend the funeral of Dave Houghton, or "Dave the lamp man" as he was universally known. Dave was a supplier of lighting equipment to the fairground industry, travelling about the country in his van delivering everything from a lightbulb to a complete lighting system for the rides you se on any modern fairground. In truth he was more than just a supplier, an honorary member of the Showmen's Guild, the industries national trade body, Dave was a genuinely nice guy. We never really bought a lot from him as in the past I used to import lights from Germany for our equipment and Dave used to deal in mainly Italian products which weren't compatible. However many a time I would be driving past his van and wind the window down to say hello, an hour later I would still be discussing a myriad of topics with him, as he was articulate and intelligent and could hold a conversation about anything. He died after a fairly short struggle with cancer, which came as a shock as after a recent operation he had been given a much brighter prognosis and we all thought he would be here for a while longer. One nice touch at his funeral was when his coffin was carried on the back of Anthony Harris's vintage Scammell, something Dave had expressed a wish for. The large turnout at his funeral was indicative of the esteem he was held in by many in the industry and he will be sadly missed.
I am up bright and early tomorrow for another long trek upto Livingston and Dunfirmline in Scotland to collect two of our chestnut barrows that have been hired to Sky television for a week. We don't normally hire equipment out unattended, but part of the deal was we provided training for their catering staff, and chestnuts are a fairly easy commodity to cook. Additionally we have found that large corporations such as Sky tend to be repeat customers once they have dealt with us so hopefully there will be some opportunities for further work.
I intend to actually take a day off on Christmas Day, then its back to updating and expanding our website portfolio ready for January and February which tend to be when a lot of the upcoming summer inquiries start arriving.
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I had a sad trek into Nottinghamshire a few days ago to attend the funeral of Dave Houghton, or "Dave the lamp man" as he was universally known. Dave was a supplier of lighting equipment to the fairground industry, travelling about the country in his van delivering everything from a lightbulb to a complete lighting system for the rides you se on any modern fairground. In truth he was more than just a supplier, an honorary member of the Showmen's Guild, the industries national trade body, Dave was a genuinely nice guy. We never really bought a lot from him as in the past I used to import lights from Germany for our equipment and Dave used to deal in mainly Italian products which weren't compatible. However many a time I would be driving past his van and wind the window down to say hello, an hour later I would still be discussing a myriad of topics with him, as he was articulate and intelligent and could hold a conversation about anything. He died after a fairly short struggle with cancer, which came as a shock as after a recent operation he had been given a much brighter prognosis and we all thought he would be here for a while longer. One nice touch at his funeral was when his coffin was carried on the back of Anthony Harris's vintage Scammell, something Dave had expressed a wish for. The large turnout at his funeral was indicative of the esteem he was held in by many in the industry and he will be sadly missed.
I am up bright and early tomorrow for another long trek upto Livingston and Dunfirmline in Scotland to collect two of our chestnut barrows that have been hired to Sky television for a week. We don't normally hire equipment out unattended, but part of the deal was we provided training for their catering staff, and chestnuts are a fairly easy commodity to cook. Additionally we have found that large corporations such as Sky tend to be repeat customers once they have dealt with us so hopefully there will be some opportunities for further work.
I intend to actually take a day off on Christmas Day, then its back to updating and expanding our website portfolio ready for January and February which tend to be when a lot of the upcoming summer inquiries start arriving.
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