The weather this year wasn’t quite so kind to us as in 1999, but despite this the show was a great success. Attendances were up on ’99 and interest in dinghy cruising was, we all felt, decidedly up. Certainly, by Sunday, our sore feet and rasping throats told us it was!

‘On stage’ we had Peter Baxter’s magnificent Drascombe Lugger, fitted out in every detail, with awning up, and cooker, pots and leisure gear spread out beneath. Roger Barnes brought his Tideway along and rigged it in a similar fashion. In his case, the bunk was still in place for all to see, since he slept aboard each night. Peter lived nearer and preferred to drop anchor at Chez Baxter each night. Don’t blame him, the noise in the campsite I occupied was too much at times.

In addition to Peter, Roger and myself, we had a team of helpers who gave it everything they had. Veteran Jim Bailey and his wife Renee were there throughout, sleeping aboard their campervan and bringing with them a folding dinghy which was much used by the children on the lake. Daniel Moriarti came and camped, together with Brian Sanderson. They brought Brian’s Lune Pilot and a superb DCA sign Brian had made, which we hung between Peter’s main and mizzen masts. Colin Jones brought his 14’ Dory, adapted for disabled sailing and stayed, camping with us for the four days. Roy Rolf lent us his Porchester Duck — beautifully built and varnished, and stayed three out of the four days. All the boats attracted attention in their different ways, but the centres of attraction were undoubtedly the Drascombe and the Tideway. It wasn’t that they were ‘better’, but they showed ‘how to’ more clearly than a thousand words.

If we weren’t blessed with perfect weather, we certainly couldn’t say it about the stream of helpers who came each day to man the stand. Among them — and forgive me if I’ve overlooked anyone — were Dave Morl who did two days, Peter Bick, John Buckley, Werner Cook, Bob Measures, John Perry and Jo. We also had several members — new and old — visit the stand and help out whilst one or other of us nipped off for a coffee, a cake or a you-know-what. It was certainly pleasant to meet so many of the names that appear in the membership list, but whose faces we seldom get a chance to put alongside it.

The success of the show is hard to quantify. One old member, who had somehow lapsed, insisted on rejoining and thrust his cheque upon us! We have a new membership brochure and application form combined — the design proof done by Paul Constantine you may have seen at this year’s AGM. Since it is so different from previous membership applications, it will be easy to see how many filter through over the next few months. However, numbers aside, there was no doubt it was a public relations triumph and a significantly larger number of the population know of us, our activities and our website than before. This can only be good for future membership.

My personal thanks go to all those members who made it work so well.