2011
Great Yorkshire Show, 12 – 14 July 2011
On Monday 11 July, members of the Yorkshire & Humber regional team, together with colleagues from the Regional Company, began the task of loading up the "Pink Bus" (on loan from Age UK Calderdale & Kirklees), taking boxes of information we had collected to take to the Yorkshire Show down three floors, along with the 6m x 3m marquee, and all its attendant poles etc. An hour later, hot and sweaty, we waved the bus off to the showground while we had a restorative cup of coffee, before setting off ourselves to join the bus, find our pitch and set to to erect the marquee. This was achieved in record time this year (three years of practice obviously helps!) and we were then able to begin stocking up the leaflet racks and setting up the flying banners creating our identity on our little patch (6m x 6m) of Yorkshire grass. We had once again established our place among the great and the good at the 153rd annual Yorkshire Show.
Tuesday 12 July dawned bright and blue as we set off for the showground at 6.45am. The show opens at 7.30am every day and closes at 7.30pm, and we are expected to man our stand every one of those opening hours – a tall order! Over the three days, and ably assisted by a representative from Age UK Retail and various staff, volunteers and trustees from local Age UK's, the entire Y&H regional team and Regional Company team were out in force, ready to take on all comers to the stand! Three very long and exhausting days were rewarded with an excellent response from members of the public who come from far and wide to attend this very prestigious show. Even Prince Charles attended, although sadly, he didn't quite reach our stand!
According to the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, who manage and run the show, this year was the largest footfall by far, with nearly 140,000 people coming through the gates over the three show days. This was our fourth year at the show and it was by far the busiest we have ever been. We handed out in excess of 1400 bags full of information about Age UK and the services provided by the local Age UK's, as well as the Products and Services provided by Age UK Enterprises. Along with hundreds of copies of all the various Information Guides, we also had thousands of leaflets promoting the More Money in Your Pocket Campaign, which, together with the magnetic notebooks, which proved to be very popular "freebies", we were able to get the message out there about the work we do nationally.
We had a number of people asking specific questions about Benefits Advice, I&A, Pensions, etc and other more personal queries relating to members of their families. We were able to assure them that Age UK, either locally or nationally, would be able to support them and in most cases, could put our hands on the specific Information Guide for their needs. It was also very helpful having Chief Officers, I&A staff and some Trustees on the stand to help answer some of these questions.
On Day 2 (Wednesday 13 July), we were joined by our Fit as a Fiddle colleagues who put on a number of demonstrations showing the benefits of chair based exercise, to music, including seated "line-dancing" which had to be seen to be believed! They also brought with them some home baked healthy eating fruit based cakes, which were given out freely to everyone walking past the stand, and much enjoyed by many! Copies of the various recipes were snapped up.
As the show came to an end at 6pm on a very sunny Thursday 14 July, the task of taking down the stand began. This was completed within the hour when we once again waved goodbye to the Pink bus, which had resided happily behind the marquee and proved invaluable as a space for the safekeeping of our boxes of information in a dry and secure environment. We congratulated ourselves on yet another very successful Yorkshire Show.
Grateful thanks go to everyone who volunteered to help on the stand, especially the staff and volunteers from local Age UK's who kept the information bags "stuffed and flowing", when at times we were struggling to keep up with demand. Particular thanks go to the members of the Y&H regional team and the regional company team who not only helped over the three days, but were also on hand to assist with loading/unloading of the "Pink Bus" and putting up/taking down the stand.
The weather was kind to us and not a drop of rain fell over the showground for the whole three days and I think we all managed to come away with a little bit of a tan.
We're now looking forward to the next show in 2012.