What A Crick Up

However there were some good points about the Crick Boat Show and I will start with them!

• Saturday was dry!
• As "exhibitors" (i.e. helping on the Bath Narrowboats stand) we did not have to queue to get in and could park in the trade parking!
• Nb Echo Rivendale is a beautiful boat and both Bath Narrowboats and the owners should be and are proud of her.
• We were in great company - the BN team of Richard, Jon, Dave and Angie were really good fun to be with for the weekend.
• We saw a number of narrowboaters we know, including Del and Al from Derwent 6, friends from Pewsey and others. Unfortunately we did not make the canalworld forum banter as we were too busy on the stand.
• There was some serious enquiries from potential customers.
• We bought some bargain fenders!
  

So the "Crick ups"?

• Sunday was wet, wet, wet
• There were less of the usual boat builders and more of the new ones.
  
• There seemed to be less trade stands, but I didn't get much time to confirm this - too busy!
• Monday was squelch, squelch, squelch.
  
• Monday was a disaster for traders and serious customers alike. The show opened officially at 10 (although they were letting in people from about 9.30) and CLOSED at 10.30.
  
• It was too windy - the organisers were concerned for accidents. They were covered by insurance.
• Traders were not necessarily covered for loss of sales. They need to register for loss of earnings - considerable if they planned to close a sale that day.
  
• Customers were unable to look again and make their final decisions or buy the bargains they had planned on the day before.
  
• Event tickets for Monday were useless. Maybe it cleared up but the traders had cleared up too!

So what of next year? How many will book stands? How many builders will there be? Who will attend?

3 wet years on the trot means there is a new term for the weather forecasters - Crick weather!

What a shame for all those involved. Hope this is not too crickital!