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Email from Matty,well done fellers.

Dear all

I'm writing to thank you for a marvellous weekend of displays. Despite the heavy rainfall (and some drunken paras) on Saturday everybody remained very cheerful and I hope had a really good time.

The army were extremely pleased with our contribution to Saturday's show, as was Snake in the Grass on Sunday. Lots of positive comment. Both days seemed busier than last year and although official figures aren't confirmed yet, I reckon we are looking at between 35,000 and 40,000 visitors (possibly even more as Sunday was much busier than last year), which would be excellent (especially for the Army Benevolent Fund). I'll let you know when we receive the official count.

Special thanks are due to the Sealed Knot members who helped out by manning Gate CP5 on Friday night, to my hard working (and unexpectedly tiny) team of Barbara, David and Tony; to The Garrison, RMRS and Britannia for stepping in/helping out when planned displays had to be replaced due to unexpected circumstances before the event; to the Volunteer Company and SoSkAn members present (especially Steve Boulton, gamely carrying on despite a quite nasty accident on Saturday night); to the owner riders and groups who took part at their own expense; indeed to everyone who did their bit to make the show the success it was - it was very much a team effort as always. And thanks again to Britannia for their generous donation to the Army Benevolent Fund. In addition the World War Two Living History Association made a substantial donation to (I believe) the Limbless ex-serviceman's Association.

All the arena displays - large or small - went very well (except when hit by that rain, of course) and looked terrific. We had a lot more people round our small arena this year too, which was gratifying. I was very squelchy in the trees on Saturday due to the rain (particularly unpleasant for barefooted Hoplites I should think) but no-one complained (well, not too loudly!) and Saturday's finale looked good even if (in my humble opinion) rather too static...Sunday's was better I think. I would have enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody more if I'd actually been able to hear it, but I gather hardly anyone else could either, due to the ghastly Dream 100 radio road show playing bad pop music too loudly (see below). Oh well!

The timetable worked well, although with hindsight Sunday's shorter day meant that a couple of groups were worked a little too hard. By the finale, some looked very tired out so we'll bear that in mind another time. As you'll know we don't usually arrange a formal multi-era finale at most events now unless clients specifically want one, as its often "a display too far" for some groups busy throughout the day. So the fact most still did both is much appreciated.

With regard to layout, I thought that our areas looked photogenic/picturesque and "flowed" well, with many excellent living history encampments. We just about had room for everyone despite our agreed area being encroached upon (the army's site plan is never quite to scale). I'll see if in future we can have more input to safeguard the space we need and to keep inappropriate/noisy/ugly stalls etc well away from us. And to get the ghastly radio road show turned right down or hopefully axed completely (however I don't think this spoiled the weekend). I welcome all and any comments from your members, every bit of feedback helps.

Saturday night entertainment: I hear that the idiot Para who stole and crashed the large white lorry has been arrested, whilst no effort is being spared to track down those that disgraced themselves in the VIP beer tent after hours. The army are furious with them. They realise of course that re-enactors had nothing to do with it. Indeed, quite a few off duty soldiers obviously had too much to drink - particularly in the 2.Para bar - and this will be raised in post event discussions.

Weather, road show and paras aside, there were one or two other glitches beyond our control, ie no beer tent on Friday night (the army's festival CO wasn't aware in time that this hadn't happened and will be investigating), but I'm sure you'll agree that Saturday night in the VIP tent (which we managed to arrange with Sunday's organiser at very short notice) was pretty enjoyable. There was also the apparent (but rather good!) army @#%$-up that led to free food for all participants in the DS tent, but as the food and staff were there anyway the extra cost to the army was hopefully minimal...and the food much enjoyed!

Overall, I'm sure you'll agree that it was a great weekend. The next military festival is due to be in 2009 not 2008 due to operational requirements ie the Paras all being deployed next year. More info when we know inc. the date. If however Snake in the Grass aim to stage something alone next year, we'll let you know asap.

Payment: Invoices should go as per contracts to major Casey at the Colchester Garrison please and not to us. They usually pay quickly I'm happy to say. However, we still haven't received contracts from some groups, so please return your signed copy to me to ensure prompt payment.

Photos: Martin Coulbert has published an initial selection of images for viewing/sale at www.coulbert.com. I'm sure EventPlan assistant Tony won't mind me passing on that he has posted some pictures on picasaweb.google.com/mong...uk/Col2007 . And as those of you who came to the beer tent on Saturday will know, Nigel and Linds Hilliard took a large number of pictures which you can see/order at www.actiontake1.com DVD: Alas, due to the weather, the hoped-for souvenir DVD had to be abandoned. C'est la vie.

Once again, thanks to all who took part, we do hope that you all enjoyed yourselves - please pass our thanks onto your participating members/feel free to copy this on. I look forward to seeing many of you again at other events this year.

All the best

Howard Giles