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10 Sept 2011

Report by Eddie Haig

 The club was recently contacted, by The Scottish Maritime Museum Irvine, re an event they were running, 10-11 Sept 2011, inviting us to attend.

The Sunday clashed with our End of Season Charity Show, so that was out, Saturday is usually a "get ready for the show day" but after a talk to Neil, he & Pamela said they fancied going, so with my lift secured, we agreed to put on a small display, next thing Malcolm said he would go & turned up with Higgy.

I invited John McAllister (Summerlee organizer) to attend, which he did, so we now had six people on our stand. I informed the museum, we could do a small display on the Saturday only.

 Neil turned up to collect me bang on time, he even got the right street this time, What are you taking, he asked, how much space have you? I replied.

He opened his boot & there was everything, including the kitchen sink, everything except the cooker for making his famous roll & sausage, so off we set back to Neil's house.

 I knew this would cause trouble with Malcolm, if he was waiting for the table cloths but no, Higgy had brought his own.

When we got there, I had arranged a trolley, to carry the boats in, where did you get that everyone said, preparation & planning, I replied.

We quickly set up, in plenty of time for the public, thanks to the work already done  by Malcolm, Higgy & John.

 Would you like a cup of tea & a biscuit  Eddie, I was asked, how nice, I thought but this was actually a fiendish plot.

As I sat there happily drinking tea, everyone else beetled off, to see the exhibits, must be loosing my grip, since they appeared regularly throughout the day with tea & biscuits & I got caught out each time!.

Higgy was in his element, all those old machines & ancient tools, “I’ve got one of those & those & those ……. think you get the picture.   

 Malcolm was his usual self & soon became best friends with everyone in the place.

 The show itself was a pleasant collection of the standing exhibits, plus clubs covering model boats, trains, planes, as well as craft & jewellery stands. Children were catered for, building pirate ships, which they raced on one of the two indoor ponds. The other pond was used by the modelers. They even had, what I would describe as, a Nip simulator, oh joy.

All in, the day was a great success; the size of our display was perfect, for the position we had, Higgy cant wait for our next invitation he said, cant remember when I enjoyed a show so much.

Pictures of the event can be seen here.