Yesterday I drove down with a friend and the wolf pack to visit the Backpackers Club AGM & ‘Lightweight Equipment & Tent Show’.
Were the Backpackers ready for wolf pack mayhem?
They say first impressions are everything. In that case I was a little underwhelmed with the ‘Lightweight Equipment & Tent Show’. The show didn’t seem to buzzing.
This year there seemed to be less stands than the previous year, and attendance also appeared to be down. Outside of the hall booked were a Satmap stand, along with the Backpackinglight.co.uk stand. While the Backpackinglight.co.uk stand had a handful of people around it, the Satmap stand looked like ‘billy no mates’. So you can see the outside of the hall was not crawling with people.
Was the inside any better? Not really. Alpkit, Cameron McNeish, club merchandise, and Ultralight Outdoor Gear and one no show. None of the stands looked swamped.
Granted those on the stands did say it had been busier in the morning. But from my faded memory of last years AGM the afternoon was certainly less well attended at the hall this year.
I spent my time at the hall socialising. It was good to catch up with old friends. Ok I did buy some stuff as well. At the The Outdoors Show I missed the new Alpkit socks, so I was able to get a pack of three up here. Cameron was selling some of his dvd’s and books. It seemed the ideal time to pick up a copy of the book The Wilderness World of Cameron McNeish and get it signed by the man himself.
I bumped into Baz and Penny, Trentham Walker, and just before I was heading off to see the tent show Gayle and Mick turned up in the hall. I also bumped into Lilo and a couple of other Challengers.
We headed over to the tent show. The usual suspects were there on display, Terra Nova, Big Agnes, Golite and Vaude. Of course more socialising was done at the tent show and camp site. Cameron turned up to look at the tents on show, it was here that a young boy escorted by his father approached Cameron for his autograph. Oh to be famous.
I did a little show and tell with the stoves I took along. I think folks found them interesting. The stoves I showed were the Whitebox Solo, Voodoo #1, FeatherFire, Snow Peak Lite Max,Bios 2, the gnome and QMH kit,starlight, Magic Mouse and the Peak Ignition. The Peak Ignition was there for folks to have as a comparison to the Snow Peak Lite Max.
I hadn’t planned to attend the AGM part itself, I was going to stay with the wolf pack. But somehow I ended up in the AGM itself, standing at the back.
The AGM went through it’s usual business until it came to electing the officials for the club for another year. The club secretary was standing down, no one had come forward before the meeting expressing a desire to do the job. So if no one put their name forward then the position would remain empty. The fallout from this would mean that there would be no one to organise the AGM or the Christmas Meet. Even after explaining to those at the AGM what the job involved no one came forward. Well that’s not true, some poor soul standing at the back seeing no one else was going to do it, put his name forward. Yes that poor soul was me, and yes I am now the new Backpackers Club Secretary. My travelling companion for the day sat on the opposite side of the hall with a great big grin on his face laughing.
Anyway I’m off now to write this bit for the next Backpackers Magazine, apparently the deadline was last week, and they need a letter from the club secretary.
Read Gayle and Mick’s experience of the show here
Well done Darren for stepping forward I wish you all the best for your first year as The Backpackers Club Secretary.
thanks
Well done you for taking the Secretary crown!
Regarding the lack of buzz in the hall, I can confirm that at just after 10am, and for an hour or so afterwards, it was difficult to move around the hall for the number of people. It definitely tailed off remarkably as the day went on.
It was purely because of the people that we managed to spend 6 hours there though!
Good man!!
I got there after 1:00 after a very slow journey South down the M1 and through Chesterfield. I’d agree it looked quieter than last year.
thanks guys for the feedback on your impressions of the show.
Congrats on the promotion – what a rapid rise through the ranks
Ahem
It was a shame that Outdoor Warehouse(Shop is based in Windermere) did not turn up this year-I heard that the owners of the business had gone to a wedding.Anyway,it was nice to see Darren with his stoves and also Mick and Gayle again.I was a little disappointed with the Car Boot sale on Sunday Morning-nothing on show to tempt me to part with my money. There was,however,a nearly new Akto for sale at £180 plus a Paramo Velez smock at £25(too small for me )Anyway,a great weekend which I thoroughly enjoyed.
TW, thanks for the excellent comment.
Mr Hee, yes I’ve always had the problem
Thanks for taking this on Darren. And good luck!
I’m sorry I couldn’t make the AGM weekend. Just too much on at present.
Chris,
thanks, and see you at the end of TGOC.
I got told about this last night – got to admit it made me grin after the slagging of the BPC around this time last year!
Ross, glad you had a chuckle.
The “slagging off” I believe was two years ago. Last year I attended the AGM for the first time and became a member.
Time has flown since I left!
Did you I go to a different show? Arriving before 10, doing the rounds of the hall, over to the tent expo and then back around the hall again, on both ‘passes’ it was standing room only around the exhibitors…
As a first-timer I enjoyed this show much more than my last visit to an expo at the NEC! (where the music was so loud I had to leave early)
Oh, and I think I might have single handedly ended up putting down enough plastic to encourage all concerned to exhibit again!!! Oops…
Keep up the good work Mr Secretary!
Cheers, Rob
Ross, think I owe you a drink. So maybe see you at one of the local get togethers sometime.
Rob, I got there just before 1pm.
Ah, I’d long run out of money by 1pm and as I was only up for the show I was on my way home with the loot!
Next time I’ll try to do the social stuff too!
the social side of stuff is fun too